Goethe University Frankfurt (GU) and Tel Aviv University (TAU) recently held a Winter School that brought together leading early career researchers (ECRs) from Germany and Israel for an engaging academic exchange on Adaptive Cognition in Noisy Environments. Hosted in the Brain Imaging Center building at GU, the event featured dynamic lectures, interactive group activities and ample networking opportunities.

A Platform for Collaboration, Learning, and Scientific Exchange

 “The school brought people together to discuss and meet face-to-face; this creates a real human connection that can lead to scientific collaborations,” reflects Prof. Tom Schonberg—a neuroscientist from TAU—who co-organized the event with his colleague Prof. Christian Fiebach, from GU’s Department of Psychology.

“It really was a heartwarming success.”—Prof. Christian Fiebach, GU’s Department of Psychology.

The success of this Winter School was made possible through the generous support of multiple institutions, including TAU’s The Lowy International School, as well as the German-Israeli Foundation, the German U15, and TAU’s Minerva Center for Human Intelligence in immersive, augmented and mixed realities.

The Winter School included 12 Israeli early career researchers and 13 German early career researchers, as well as more advanced academics who gave talks on their work.

The event attracted 12 ECRs from Israel and 13 ECRs from Germany, alongside distinguished faculty members who gave talks on areas of expertise like attention, language, and motor control methods utilizing cutting-edge research methods like virtual reality and mobile EEG. With thought-provoking discussions, hands-on sessions, and even research on primates and rodents, the program offered an expansive and immersive educational experience.

“Participation in the Winter School was a truly valuable and very inspiring opportunity. It enabled me to interact with experts in the field, create potential collaborations with researchers from diverse backgrounds, and acquire new insights into my own research.”—Tamar Ben David, a PhD student at TAU’s Sagol School of Neuroscience 

Cultivating Community in and Beyond the Classroom

Beyond academia, the Winter School featured an engaging social program, including a cooking class and local market tour, creating a relaxed environment for participants to connect beyond the classroom. The initiative also emphasized collaborative learning, with attendees divided into research teams and delivering a group presentation on the final day.

Winter School participants not only collaborated on academic matters, but in the kitchen, too.

Lea Alexandra Müller Karoza, a PhD student who attended from GU’s Scene Grammar Lab, said the whole experience was transformative. “I have honestly profited from it so much more than I ever thought possible,” Müller Karoza says.

“It was a unique experience, the atmosphere was open and collaborative and to meet people from all over Israel and Germany was so insightful.”—Müller Karoza, a PhD student at GU’s Scene Grammar Lab

Looking Ahead: Opportunities for Future International Projects

Interested in creating a joint international project like the Winter School? Learn more about how The Lowy International School can support.

The winter weather, which decided to visit us in Tel Aviv for only a few hours, added to the festive atmosphere of the Open Day held on February 6th at our campus. Thousands of prospective students gathered to learn about admission requirements and the registration process, and to meet with academic and administrative staff as well as current students from the fields they are interested in. They found themselves congregating in the faculty buildings across campus and in the registration and counseling halls, where they were greeted with workshops, lectures, and panels—everything they needed to begin their academic journey.

Throughout the day, attendees had the opportunity to ask questions and discover information about the diverse study program combinations offered by Tel Aviv University.

“The university offers over 200 study programs, and is part of a movement to create innovative interdisciplinary programs”, says Sharon Ariel, the university’s marketing director.

She continues: “We encourage our students to choose unconventional combinations, believing they will find ways to integrate their different areas of interest throughout their professional and personal lives. For example, students can study Biology alongside Philosophy, combine Computer Science with Music, or deepen their understanding of Law and Film Studies. This approach allows each student to find their unique path and fully realize their academic and personal potential”.

This year, Tel Aviv University also introduced special conditions for reservists who were called up for extended periods, as well as for evacuees from war zones, offering a unique undergraduate admission track to help them succeed. Visitors to the Open Day participated in immersive tours through the faculty buildings and study departments, offering a taste of various fields of study and a glimpse into the different labs. The first 200 registrants at the event received a special surprise—a pair of Saucony running shoes as a gift.

Open Day at TAU. Photo credit: LENS Productions.

Among the most popular sessions were those introducing Tel Aviv University’s innovative teaching methods, including virtual reality experiences and workshops on choosing a field of study from the Career Counseling Center at the Dean of Students’ Office. In addition, prospective students learned about the opportunity to spend a whole semester at leading universities abroad through the student exchange program, and participated in a workshop at the Campus Entrepreneurship Center, where they learned how to start advancing their startup dreams during their degree.

We were delighted to host everyone at our beautiful campus, and we hope that together with us, the prospective students will begin their journey toward the discoveries, innovations, and theories waiting to be uncovered.

Couldn’t make it to Open Day and Interested in TAU’s International Track? All the information about admission pathways and what needs to be done to start studying at Tel Aviv University is available on the TAU International website >

In January, Tel Aviv University (TAU) hosted Nobel Laureate Professor Reinhard Genzel for a lecture on recent advancements in understanding black holes and their role in shaping galaxies, as part of TAU’s annual Ne’eman Physics Colloquium. Genzel visited under the auspices of the Lowy Distinguished Guest Professors framework, made possible by The Lowy International School.

During his visit, Genzel also participated in a podcast discussion with his host and longtime colleague Prof. Amiel Sternberg, from TAU’s School of Physics and Astronomy; the two delved into how Genzel’s research career developed, including what led him to ultimately discover a compact object at the center of the Milky Way and win the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics.

In the podcast episode, Genzel also details his long history of collaboration with his Israeli colleagues, reflecting, for instance, on a recent three-day symposium in December that brought together top German and Israeli science organizations and universities: “It was fantastic to see how much we appreciate each other,” he said.

Similarly, Genzel began his lecture, Massive Black Holes & Galaxies: Experimental Evidence & Cosmic Evolution, by emphasizing the decades-long connections he has had with Israeli research institutions. “I am absolutely proud, as a German and as a scientist, to have had that companionship,” said Genzel, who was officially representing the Max Planck Society. “In difficult times, I think it’s important to stand by your side.”

The Mystery of Black Holes

The focus of Genzel’s talk was the enigmatic nature of black holes, particularly the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy, called Sagittarius A*. He explained that black holes, first predicted by Einstein’s general relativity, were initially theoretical. However, through years of patient observation and technical innovation, scientists started to gather direct evidence of their existence. “The question was … do they really exist, and can we prove it?” Genzel remarked.

“It’s mind-boggling that three different techniques – observations with high resolution of gas and stars, gravitational waves and also very high-resolution short wavelength radio interferometric observations – have in the last 10-15 years really pushed this topic from pure speculation to scientific truth.”

Genzel highlighted, for instance, the breakthrough observations of stars orbiting Sagittarius A* at incredible speeds, reaching thousands of kilometers per second. These stellar orbits provided compelling evidence of a supermassive object. “We can see [these stars] moving night to night … and how they orbit,” he explained. “That’s incredible … and it gives us very precise information on the mass.”

The Galactic Center and Cosmic Evolution

The lecture also delved into the relationship between black holes and galaxy formation. Genzel discussed how black holes accumulate material and release energy, shaping the environments around them. By studying active galactic nuclei in distant galaxies, researchers have traced the growth of black holes and their co-evolution with their host galaxies, with the ratio of the black hole’s mass to the galaxy’s mass roughly constant.

He also shared intriguing results from gravitational wave astronomy, which has revealed new insights into stellar black holes, which suggest that black holes might grow faster or through additional processes than previously thought. “All of this is on the table right now,” Genzel stated. “Of course, that will be the goal of understanding the story in the next 10 years.”

Future Prospects

Looking ahead, Genzel emphasized the need for more advanced instruments to probe black holes further. He described how future experiments with gravitational waves and next-generation telescopes, for instance, could help resolve some of the field’s most perplexing questions. As part of this, Genzel pointed to the recent discovery of a star orbiting in the vicinity of Sagittarius A*, something which suggests that a black hole’s gravitational force may not be as destructive as previously understood.

Genzel ultimately ended his talk by encouraging the future generation of researchers to take up the mantle, including those attending the colloquium: “Come on, join the crowd,” he told them. “This is exciting stuff.”

Interested in The Lowy Distinguished Guest Professors framework and how it helps to bring eminent scholars to TAU? Learn more here.