Tag: Tel Aviv University

New Perspectives on Tackling Human Trafficking

Written by AUFTAU on 28 July 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

In light of the World Day against Trafficking in Persons on July 30, we caught up with Prof. Hila Shamir to discuss her trailblazing legal research aimed at combating human trafficking in Israel and around the globe.

According to the latest estimates, over 40 million people are victims of modern slavery in which individuals perform labor or services under highly exploitative conditions. Their vulnerability to exploitation is often the result of poverty, exclusion or migratory status.

While trafficking is generally thought of as the exploitation in the sex industry, Shamir is among scholars helping to expand the understanding of the phenomenon to include severe forms of labor market exploitation in other labor sectors. For example, this includes the exploitation of workers in industries such as domestic and care work, construction, agriculture, mining, and fishing who are forced to work in inhumane conditions. Such circumstances include working for long hours, in physically unsafe work environments with little to no pay, and with limitations on their liberties and freedom of movement.

Top-Down Approach

“While it is possible to effectively combat human trafficking, to do so requires a willingness to address structural elements, such as restrictive migration regimes and harmful labor market regulation,” says Shamir.

She heads the TraffLab research group at the Buchmann Faculty of Law. Her interdisciplinary team includes students and researchers as well as lawyers from TAU’s Workers’ Rights Clinic, where she serves as the academic advisor. The Clinic supports Shamir’s research through the cases it represents in court.

Shamir won a competitive grant from the EU’s European Research Council for TraffLab’s research. She was the first legal scholar in Israel to win the ERC Starting Grant for outstanding early-career researchers. The ERC also nominated her lab as a finalist for its 2022 Public Engagement with Research Award for its activity building bridges between research and policymaking.

Prof. Hila Shamir. (Photo: Hadas Parush/Haaretz)

New Legal Tools

Shamir’s research seeks to formulate new legal tools to fight human trafficking with labor-based strategies alongside traditional approaches focused on criminal law, border control, and human rights. These strategies target the underlying economic, social and legal structures of labor markets prone to severely exploitative practices.

With her work, Shamir aims to transform the way trafficking is researched and, as a result, the way anti-trafficking policy is devised.

While this is no simple feat, she remains optimistic: “There are examples around the world showing us that this can be done if we are willing to move beyond criminalization and expand anti-trafficking toolkit towards strengthening the bargaining power and improving the rights of the most vulnerable workers.”

She explains that migrant and non-citizen workers are among those most vulnerable to labor trafficking, often due to their legal or social status and institutionalized corruption among employers.

Impacting the National Debate

In a significant project, Shamir’s team devised a comprehensive policy plan that proposes alternative recommendations to Israel’s current national plan on trafficking. Shamir recently presented the strategy suggestion to various Israeli government stakeholders and Knesset committees, and held a public roundtable about the plan with the UN Rapporteur on trafficking. The project also led her team to submit several branch-off policy papers over the past year to Israeli policymakers overseeing foreign workers’ rights and related topics.

Going forward, Shamir is pushing full force ahead with her research as well as public and policy engagement on trafficking. This includes several recent and impending publications based on her research on Israel, modern slavery in global value chains, and bilateral labor agreements, which are among the types of structural frameworks that affect the recruitment practices and labor conditions that can lead to trafficking.

Historic Designation for TAU’s Cymbalista Synagogue & Jewish Heritage Center

Written by AUFTAU on 28 July 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

The Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Center at Tel Aviv University was designated as a protected “Heritage Site” by one of Israel’s top conservation authorities, TAU announced this week.

Completed in 1998, the building is currently the most-modern from around the country to hold the status from the Council for the Conservation of Heritage Sites in Israel. The designation of this status signifies the building’s unique qualities, both in its architectural and social aspects. The designation ensures the physical preservation of the Cymbalista Synagogue as a building of historic significance.

The Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Center is located at the heart of the campus. With its broad rectangular base rising into two spiraling towers emblematic of a Torah scroll, the impressive building is a landmark work of architecture on campus and in Israel. It functions as a synagogue. The Center also serves as an academic and cultural meeting ground and includes a study room, a library, an auditorium, and a museum. Those affiliated with TAU can use the synagogue as a venue for weddings and bar mitzvahs.

In the Spirit of Respect

Swiss real estate developer, philanthropist, and TAU Honorary Doctor and Governor Norbert Cymbalista and his wife Paulette commissioned the building. It was devised to house a synagogue and bridge the gaps between religious and secular segments of Israeli society—and between the different denominations of Judaism: Orthodox, Conservative and Reform—in an academic environment.

“I am thrilled about the new designation, which reaffirms my decision to create a space in the spirit of respect for tradition, but also in the realization that dialogue and acceptance of different viewpoints are essential for Israel’s development as a democratic society,” says Cymbalista.

Cymbalista explains that the building’s initial construction plans were solely for a synagogue. However, the assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by an Israeli Jew reinforced Cymbalista’s fear that the most dangerous challenge facing Israel was the rift between the religious and secular segments of the population, which he believed could tear the country apart.

Therefore, he identified the opportunity to do more and create a comprehensive center, where those two realities of Israel life could meet and engage in dialogue within an academic environment. As such, the building’s design was expanded to nearly double the original blueprint to include an auditorium, beit midrash (study facility for Jewish scripture), and Judaica museum—the first of its kind in the Tel Aviv area.

“I hope that the Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Center will continue to serve as a focal point of activity and that I will see its impact on further strengthening ties in my lifetime,” adds Cymbalista.

Symbol of Unity, Community & Pluralism

“Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Center is situated at the heart of campus and is a symbol and an example of unity and community,” says TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat. “The Center reflects the liberal and pluralistic nature of Tel Aviv University. I would like to express my gratitude to Norbert Cymbalista, a loyal friend of the University and the State of Israel, for his significant contribution to promoting these important values on campus.”

Renowned Swiss architect Mario Botta designed the building. It contains materials and furnishings from around the world, including the Torah ark made of Pakistani onyx stone, golden-hued stone interior walls from Tuscany, black granite flooring from Zimbabwe, a red brick stone exterior from the Italian Dolomites, and a light wood ceiling from Switzerland.

Dr. Yair Lipshitz, Head of the Cymbalista Jewish Heritage Center at TAU: “The new designation is an immense honor for the Center, and an exciting recognition of its architectural and cultural importance. In many ways, the building is a profound response to the question of what it means to foster Jewish culture at the heart of Tel Aviv University.”

“Its multipurpose functionality offers a complex, dynamic and unique interplay between the various facets of being Jewish in Israel today,” he adds. “The preservation of such a building as a heritage landmark ensures the endurance of the vision that is set in its stones – a vision for a rich, pluralistic, multi-voiced Israeli culture.”

Tel Aviv University 1st in Israel According to Taiwan University Rankings for 2022

Written by AUFTAU on 24 July 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

Impressive achievement for Tel Aviv University in the Bar Association Exam

Written by AUFTAU on 17 July 2022. Posted in Alumni News, Newsroom.

100% of the TAU alumni who took the Bar Association exams for the first time, passed successfully and Tel Aviv University also leads with the highest average grade.

Startups On the Right Track

Written by AUFTAU on 10 July 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

These teams wowed the judges with their innovative ideas at this year’s Coller Startup Competition.

The sixth annual Coller Startup Competition final took place recently on TAU campus, as the final teams of TAU students and alumni pitched their startups for an investment of $100 000 on each track.

Encouraging Entrepreneurial Venturing

The goal of the competition is to encourage TAU students and alumni to engage in entrepreneurial venturing and launch successful startups, and previous winners have gained recognition, support, and millions of dollars in follow-on investments. Diverse team are welcome to join, hailing from different faculties and disciplines.

Dr. Eyal Benjamin, Head of Entrepreneurial Projects, Coller Institute of Venture, and Director of the Coller Startup Competition, opened the event stating that “Being a unicorn should not be perceived as the ‘holy grail’. Being successful and achieving what you set out to achieve with your venture – that is the ‘holy grail’. First, it is important to articulate what you wish to achieve and your desired reach. That’s what we’re doing here. We help [TAU students and alumni] move forward and grow their ventures. This is the reason why the competition was established in the first place.”

The Coller $100,000 Startup Competition was established five years ago, by Mr. Jeremy Coller, Chief Investment Officer at Coller Capita and Co-Founder of the Competition and Chief Entrepreneurship and Innovation Officer at the Coller School of ManagementProf. Moshe Zviran. It is a multi-staged process, offering mentoring and enhancement process for participating startups, as investors and innovation experts give valuable feedback on the ventures, serving the startups for the long run. At the final event, the teams gain exposure to additional investors who come to watch the ventures’ presentation.

Multiple Tracks

We did not envy the 52 judges (among them were VCs, angel investors, academics and entrepreneurs), as we listened to 13 hopeful teams (out of the 110 startups that applied) who took turns pitching their ideas. Each team got five minutes to wow the judges.

The ideas presented were diverse – covering tools to help children with special needs, personalized real time makeup assistance, production of egg proteins, solutions for the freight forwarding industry, and more.

Whereas last year’s competition featured only two tracks, Prof. Zviran explains, “We started with the Technology track. We then proceeded to add the food tech track – and this year, we’ve chosen to distinguish between Deep Tech and Online, which means that this year we offer three separate competition tracks.” The plan is to expand to include additional tracks, covering additional fields with new partners.

The judges of the Coller Startup Competition 2022 had to make some tough decisions (photo: Nimrod Glickman)

Taking the Chicken out of the Equation

This year’s winner of the FoodTech track (the only track that is not preconditioned by TAU affiliation) was PoLoPo, a biotech startup developing a plant platform for high-scale, economical custom-made production of proteins. PoLoPo exploits the full potential of plants as diverse metabolite and green protein factories, and have successfully engineered egg proteins (= animal proteins), without chickens. Eliminating the need for chickens is good news for those of us who do not eat regular eggs, as well as for the climate and the environment, and in particular given the context of recent bird flu viruses. The founders of the startup are Dr. Raya Liberman- Aloni and Dr. Maya Sapir-Mir.

PoLoPo share celebrate their victory on their LinkedIn page

In a Heartbeat

Symbiosis won the DeepTech Track. The Symbiosis team are developing a novel personalized platform for anchoring and sealing of irregular anatomical structures in real time, with emphasis on the mitral valve apparatus for moderate to severe MR patients. Or, in simpler terms, the project is developing a solution to the problem of heart failure.

The project’s Co-Founder, Shira Burg, got the idea after witnessing many dogs suffer from the problem as a veterinarian. Today, she is a doctoral student in the field of electrophysiology of the heart at TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, and symbiosis C.M. offers a solution to the problem for humans (and in the future also in dogs). Burg and second Co-Founder, Varda Badet, also a TAU alumni, were awarded a $100,000 investment from Coller Capital.

Insert a Good Shipping Quote Here

Due to the significant changes Covid-19 brought to the freight forwarding industry, companies are looking for solutions to stay competitive. According to Pierate.io, winner of this year’s Online track, the global shipping industry is “inefficient, outdated, and manual,” and the company argues that “one quote should not take so long to generate.” Pierate.io offers a SaaS platform which collects data from all sources to allow the freight forwarders’ sales teams to generate highly accurate price quotes in just a few clicks.”

Pierate.io won the online track at a $100,000 investment by PALSAR Ventures (specializing in early-stage investments in the online field)), which was surprisingly joined by Jeremy Coller, who pitched in with an additional $100,000 investment while the team was still on stage.

A happy post on Pierate’s LinkedIn page

The company’s founders, Eyal Daniel, TAU alumnus Sidney Feiner and Maayan Weinheber, also a TAU alumnus, went home (or perhaps to the nearest bar to celebrate?) with a check totaling $200,000.

The Pierate team left the competition $200,000 richer. From left: Prof. Moshe Zviran, Chief Entrepreneurship and Innovation Officer at the Coller School of Management; Adv. Eyal Bar-Zvi, Partner in PALSAR Ventures Fund; Pierate CEO Eyal Daniel; CTO Sidney Feiner; CEO Maayan Weinheber and Dr. Eyal Benjamin, Director of the Coller Startup Competition (photo: Shlomi Mizrahi)

Congratulations to the winning teams and good luck with your new ventures!

Featured image: Dr. Eyal Benjamin (far left) and Prof. Moshe Zviran (far right) with the competition’s winning teams

Tackling a Worrying Rise in Cyber Crimes and Warfare

Written by AUFTAU on 3 July 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

Israel’s 12th Annual Cyber Week Conference was attended last week by 300 speakers, 7000 in person and 2000 online attendees from 80 countries. The speakers included top Israeli government figures such as then Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Defense Minister Benny Gantz; leading American and British cyber figures, including Chris Inglis, the National Cyber Director at the Executive Office of the President at the White House and Lindy Cameron CEO of the British National Cyber Security Centre, and security executives from large companies, such as Walmart, SolarWinds,Apple and Netflix.

TAU researchers presented different academic perspectives on cybersecurity challenges, demonstrating the broad interdisciplinary scientific research on cybersecurity at TAU: Prof. Eran Toch from the Department of Industrial Engineering on “The Science of Cybersecurity in Organizations: Why is it so hard and what it takes to do it right”; Prof. Niva Elkin-Koren from The Buchmann Faculty of Law on “Digital Surveillance: Rethinking the Design Approach” and Prof. Yehuda Afek from the Blavatnik School of Computer Science on “Securing the DNS System.”

This year’s gathering took place against the backdrop of unprecedented cyber challenges and events including Russia’s war on Ukraine. Speakers described a dramatic and concerning rise in cyber warfare as well as cybercrime – cyber-related damage is predicted to hit $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, while cybersecurity spending on data protection and risk management could reach $172 billion globally in 2022. Yet they also expressed hope in the effectiveness of properly implemented defenses and evolution in defensive cyber techniques to meet the challenge.

The Human Aspect of Cyber

Ira Winkler, CISSP, Chief Security Architect of Walmart, outlined the important role government plays saying, “at a high level, governance tells people how to do things correctly with cyber security at the forefront.” He also recognized the need to account for the human aspect of cyber and to be realistic when devising and implementing strategy, “A user is as much as part of the system as a computer. Stop expecting people not to click on suspicious content, but rather have a strong network protecting them.”

The human face of fraud victims was highlighted through Norwegian Netflix star, Cecilie Fjellhøy, from “Tinder Swindler,” who was scammed of hundreds of thousands of US dollars by a man she knew as Simon Leviev. Fjellhøy uses her own experience to fight for justice for fraud victims around the world, and discussed the subject of “the day after” for those affected and what we as a society can learn from it.

Cecilie Fjellhøy from “Tinder Swindler used her own experience to speak up for fraud victims (Photo: Chen Galili)

In contrast, self-professed “Hacker, Helper and Human,” Jason E. Street, VP Infosec, Sphere NY, USA, illustrated weak points – human factors were highlighted – of companies and institutions with regard to security breaches. Street showed video footage of himself strolling into banks and compromising their security on the highest level in next to no time. He reminded those in the audience who were shaking their heads and laughing that their companies could be next in line, and urged them to prepare for such a scenario.

Terrorists with Keyboards

Israel’s former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett pointed out how “inevitably cyber is going to become one, if not the most, prominent dimensions of future warfare,” while drawing attention to the vital need for global collaboration in the cyber sphere. In cyber, he reasoned, the same actors who attack one company or country are often attacking others at the same time. Information sharing can help all vulnerable parties defend themselves.

Israel’s Minister of Defense, Benny Gantz, outlined the increasing shift of conflicts to the cybersphere, noting that bad actors are already carrying out cyberattacks, particularly Iran. The country uses new [cyber] proxies, who Gantz referred to as “terrorists with keyboards,” in addition to their direct actions. He stressed the need for private companies to follow government guidelines and cooperate on a response, stressing that “Iran is first a global challenge, then it is a regional challenge, and only finally is it a threat to the State of Israel. The same goes for the cyber dimensions – the same framework of cooperation vis-a-vis Iran is expanding to cyber.”

Then Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks at Cyber Week 2022 conference at Tel Aviv University (Photo: Chen Galili)

About Cyber Week

Cyber Week is a leading international cybersecurity event that provides a unique opportunity for experts from industry, government, military and academia to share their knowledge about the challenges and opportunities in the field. Cyber Week is jointly held by the Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center (ICRC); The Yuval Ne’eman Workshop for Science, Technology and Security at Tel Aviv University; and the Israeli National Cyber Directorate under the Prime Minister’s Office.

Cyber Week 2022 at TAU: Combating ‘Real and Growing’ Threats

Written by AUFTAU on 24 June 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

Cyber Week, one of the top cybersecurity events in the world, is making a full return to Tel Aviv University campus in its usual in-person format on June 27th – 30th.

With thousands of attendees from more than 80 countries, including top CISOs and government decision makers from around the globe, this year’s conference offers a thought-provoking exchange of knowledge, methods, and ideas on burning topics like fraud, crypto, cloud, the supply chain, cybersecurity for aviation, maritime, automotive, data protection, capacity building and the future cyber landscape.

The events will run for a full week and include over 40 roundtables, panels, workshops, forums, competitions, and more.

Pressing Need for Cyber Security Solutions

Cybercrime has never been a bigger threat than it is now, with a 600% increase in malicious emails since the beginning of the pandemic and related damage predicted to hit $10.5 trillion annually by 2025.

Furthermore, since the outbreak of Russia’s war on Ukraine, cyber experts have seen a dramatic and concerning rise in cyber warfare activity, with a sustained and ongoing conflict which still threatens to escalate dramatically.

It has become increasingly important as a result, to inspire innovation and effective cyber security solutions in the industry. Major Gen (Ret) Prof. Isaac Ben Israel Head of the Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center and Chairman of the Conference stresses, “Cyber is an increasingly vulnerable space that is affecting everyone. Businesses must wise up to the real and growing threat of cyber-attacks, and cybersecurity experts must be ready to respond to the escalating demand for cyber security with novel solutions. We must prepare now to be ready for what we know tomorrow will inevitably hold.”

Cyber Week’s events span a wide variety of topics dealing with all aspects of the issue, including regulation and law, startup innovation, artificial intelligence, financial technologies, healthcare and cyber defense, and aim to inspire innovation, drive solutions and encourage collaboration.

Israeli outgoing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke at last year’s Cyber Week conference at Tel Aviv University

Experts from Near and Far

The Conference is now in its 12th year, and its Main Plenary Event (held from June 28th to June 29th) is the largest and most anticipated event of Cyber Week each year, during which some of the most renowned names in the cyber world will discuss crucial dilemmas and issues facing the public and private sectors of every company, city, and country in the world today.

This year’s speakers include: Outgoing Prime Minister of Israel Naftali Bennett; Benjamin Gantz, Israel Minister of Defense; Anne Neuberger, Deputy Assistant to the President & Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber & Emerging Technologies, White House, USA; Chris Inglis, National Cyber Director of the Executive Office of the US President; Gaby Portnoy, the Director General of the Israel National Cyber Directorate; Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Prof. Isaac Ben-Israel, Conference Chairman of Cyber Week and Director of Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center at the Tel Aviv University; Jane Horvath, Chief Privacy Officer of Apple, Inc.; Lindy Cameron, CEO of the National Cyber Security Center; Tim Brown, CISO of SolarWinds; Cecilie Fjellhøy, Founder of action:reaction, Netflix-star Tinder Swindler; Jason Chan; Former VP, Information Security of Netflix and many more.

Want to Join?

Cyber Week is hosted by the Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center and the Yuval Ne’eman Workshop for Science, Technology and Security, at Tel Aviv University, headed by Major Gen. (Ret.) Prof. Isaac Ben-Israel, together with the National Cyber Directorate at the Prime Minister’s Office, The Ministry of Economy and Industry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The “Nobel of Mathematics”: TAU Prof. Noga Alon Wins the Prestigious Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences

Written by AUFTAU on 9 June 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

Prof. Noga Alon of Tel Aviv University and Princeton University has won the 2002 Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences. Prof. Alon, one of the world’s leading researchers in mathematics and computer science, is the second Israeli in history to receive the prestigious prize.

Noga Alon, born in 1956, is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Computer Science at Tel Aviv University and Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University. Prof. Alon joined Tel Aviv University in 1985, where he served as head of the School of Mathematical Sciences and was entrusted with the Chair of Combinatorics and Computer Science at TAU’s Blavatnik School of Computer Science. He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the Academia Europaea. In the past, he has won the Israel Prize, the EMET Prize, Gödel Prize and the Steele Prize.

The Shaw Prize was awarded to Prof. Alon for the entirety of his groundbreaking work, which has included laying the foundations for streaming algorithms used in Big Data analysis and the development of algebraic and probabilistic methods to deal with problems in graph theory and additive number theory. “[Noga Alon] introduced new methods and achieved fundamental results which entirely shaped the field,” the judges wrote.

Equivalent to the Nobel

The Shaw Prize was founded in 2002 by Hong Kong media tycoon Run Run Shaw, who decided to award it annually to “individuals, regardless of race, nationality, gender and religious belief, who have recently achieved significant breakthroughs in academic and scientific research or applications and whose work has resulted in a positive and profound impact on mankind,” in three categories – mathematics, astronomy, and life sciences and medicine. The prize in each category is $1.2 million.

“Because there is no Nobel Prize in mathematics, there are two prizes, the Abel Prize and the Shaw Prize, which see themselves as equivalent to the Nobel in this field,” explains Prof. Alon. “Obviously, as with any other award, winning depends on various factors, including the composition of the committee, and perhaps ultimately it’s also a matter of luck – because there are certainly quite a few researchers in the world who are deserving of this award. For me, this is a very pleasant surprise; the list of previous winners of the Shaw Prize is really very impressive.”

“Israel is a country that is very strong in the sciences in general, and in mathematics and computer science in particular,” says Prof. Alon. “The global standing of Israeli research in these fields far exceeds the relative size of the population. My own research focuses on combinatorics, which is the mathematics of finite structures, with uses and applications in computer science, additive number theory, combinatorial geometry and other related fields.”

“Prof. Noga Alon has been one of the most influential and prolific scientists in the field for the past decades,” says Head of the School of Mathematical Sciences, Raymond & Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences,Yaron Ostrover. “His research is characterized by originality, an exceptional ability to solve difficult problems, often using an impressive variety of tools and methods. In addition to his outstanding scientific achievements, Prof. Alon has established a long line of outstanding students who have become leading researchers in mathematics and computer science in their own right, and hold positions at prestigious research universities in Israel and abroad.”

In 2020, the Shaw Prize was awarded to Prof. David Kashdan of the Hebrew University, and this year Prof. Alon shares the prize with another Israeli – Prof. Ehud Hrushovski of Oxford.

Featured image: Prof. Noga Alon (photo: Wikipedia)

BOG 2022: Kadar Family Award for Outstanding Research Presented to Four TAU Scholars

Written by AUFTAU on 6 June 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

8th annual Kadar Award ceremony honors excellence in science and teaching.

In recognition of their trailblazing academic work, the 2022 Kadar Family Award for Outstanding Research was presented to four Tel Aviv University scholars: Prof. Michal Feldman (Exact Sciences), Prof. Leo Corry (Humanities), Prof. Jonathan Berant (Exact Sciences) and Dr. Roy Tzohar (Humanities).

Now in its eighth year, the Kadar Family Award honors pioneering scientists and scholars who have reached the highest levels of excellence in both research and teaching. The Award is granted annually to four TAU researchers, two senior and two junior faculty members, from across the entire spectrum of faculties and disciplines at TAU.

The Award Committee selects the winners based on a number of criteria including: groundbreaking research; teaching quality; research grants earned from competitive foundations; quality and quantity of scientific publications; and their status in the global scientific community.

Prof. Dan Peer, TAU Vice President for Research and Development, conferred the awards to the recipients at a festive ceremony, which also included presentations of the researchers’ work, during TAU’s 2022 Board of Governors meeting.

Professor Corry spoke on behalf of the recipients and noted that while scientific advancements in TAU’s hard science faculties are globally recognized, “One important aspect of this award is in the explicit acknowledgment that a great university, like ours, promotes not only one kind of achievement, but also excellence in the humanities and social sciences.

“Precisely in an era of deep technological and scientific change…the study of the humanities is more relevant and necessary than ever before to help interpret and place new context on how these changes are affecting us as a society and individually,” he said.

The Naomi Foundation established the Award in 2015 to honor the memory of Naomi Prawer Kadar PhD, a lifelong Yiddish specialist and the late wife of TAU benefactor Dr. Avraham Kadar, a TAU graduate, physician, educator and innovator. The three Kadar children, Einat Kadar Kricheli, Nadav Kadar, and Maya Kadar Kovalsky, are all TAU alumni and active board members of the Kadar Foundation along with their father. Avraham, Nadav and Maya are also members of TAU’s Board of Governors.

Maya Kadar Kovalsky opened the ceremony and welcomed everyone via a recorded message. She lauded the laureates: “Congratulations…on reaching this high level of distinction and thank you for your pathbreaking contributions in your respective fields.”

TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat also addressed the crowd; “The Kadar Foundation does an excellent job in advancing academic research and excellence,” he said, noting other programs the Foundation supports such as MD-PhD scholarships and the Naomi Prawer Kadar International Yiddish Summer Program, housed in TAU’s Goldreich Family Institute for Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture at the Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities.

The 2022 Kadar Family Award recipients:

Prof. Michal Feldman – Professor of Computer Science at the Blavatnik School of Computer Science, Raymond and Beverly Faculty of Exact Sciences. She is one of the most visible and successful researchers of her generation working in the rapidly emerging field of algorithmic game theory, which is situated at the intersection of theoretical computer science and economics. She is also a trailblazer in the field, where women are significantly underrepresented.

Prof. Leo Corry – Professor at the Cohn Institute for History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities, and former Dean of Humanities. Corry is a historian of mathematics. His research explores the historical development of some of the main threads of twentieth-century mathematics, such as the rise of modern algebra and the development of the idea of a mathematical structure. Since 2013, he has held the Bert and Barbara Cohn Chair for History and Philosophy of Exact Sciences.

Prof. Jonathan Berant – Associate Professor at the Blavatnik School of Computer Science, Raymond and Beverly Faculty of Exact Sciences. His research examines Natural Language Processing (NLP), which stands at the crossroads between linguistics, computer science, and artificial intelligence.

Dr. Roy Tzohar – Associate Professor at the Department of South and East Asian Studies, Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities. His research, publications, and teaching are driven primarily by an interest in the Buddhist philosophical understanding of the role and function of language. His first book, A Yogācāra Buddhist Theory of Metaphor, was published by Oxford University Press and won the Numata Prize for the best book in Buddhist Studies in 2018.

Featured image: The 2022 Kadar Family Award recipients from left: Prof. Jonathan Berant, Dr. Roy Tzohar, Prof. Michal Feldman, and Prof. Leo Corry. (Photo: Israel Hadari)

Blavatnik Prizes for Computer Science Awarded to Doctoral Fellows

Written by AUFTAU on 5 June 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

TAU hosts annual ceremony recognizing standout research in growing field.

The second annual Blavatnik Prizes for Outstanding Israeli Doctoral Students in Computer Science were awarded on June 8 to four recipients, in a ceremony at Tel Aviv University.

With generous funding from the Blavatnik Family Foundation, the Prizes were established to highlight excellent research by Israeli PhD candidates in the field of computer science and emphasize the importance of doctoral studies in general.

The 2022 recipients were:

Nave Frost of Tel Aviv University
Gal Yona of the Weizmann Institute of Science
Assaf Shocher of the Weizmann Institute of Science
Leshem Choshen of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Honorable mention went to:

Hagai Rossman of the Weizmann Institute of Science
Elad Romanov the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Gilad Yehudai of the Weizmann Institute of Science
Lior Rotem of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Among the ceremony attendees was British-American industrialist and philanthropist Sir Leonard Blavatnik (Len Blavatnik), for whom the Prizes are named. The Prize is among the latest programs backed by the longtime TAU benefactor and dedicated supporter of science, innovation and higher education in Israel.

Forefront of the Computer Science Revolution

“Israel is at the forefront of the ongoing computer science revolution that increasingly affects everyday lives around the world,” said Sir Leonard Blavatnik. “As such, it is vital to amplify the academic achievement of emerging trailblazers, who are poised to become future leaders and innovators in academia and industry.”

Sir Leonard Blavatnik, a TAU Governor and Honorary Doctor, has a transformative legacy of giving at TAU, which began over a decade ago with backing for scholarships and the Blavatnik School of Computer Science. From there, his Foundation pledged sizeable gifts to establish the Blavatnik Initiative, a multi-year program in the fields of computing, cyber, drug development, film production, and faculty recruitment. Key programs benefited by the Initiative include the Blavatnik Center for Drug Discovery and Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center.

The Prizes are conferred at TAU by the Blavatnik School of Computer Science at the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences and the School’s Blavatnik Computer Science Research Fund for high-impact areas that contribute to Israel’s economic prosperity. As computer science becomes increasingly central to life today, the Blavatnik School of Computer Science plays a cutting-edge role in TAU’s academic achievements and real-world contributions advancing innovation. Graduates fill leading positions in high-tech companies, Israel’s defense establishment and defense industries, and academic institutions worldwide.

New Avenues for Excellence

TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat welcomed Sir Leonard Blavatnik to campus in front of a packed auditorium at the state-of-the-art Check Point Building: “Again and again, Sir Leonard Blavatnik has demonstrated his heartfelt commitment to nurturing the next generation of outstanding young scientists and creators – at TAU, in Israel and globally. We at Tel Aviv University are grateful for his support and friendship that is felt throughout the campus, and that is opening new avenues for excellence in crucial fields.”

Prof. Sivan Toledo, Head of the Blavatnik School of Computer Science at Tel Aviv University, who moderated the event said: “Israeli PhD fellows in computer science contribute immensely to research and teaching that move the field forward. Sir Leonard Blavatnik and his considerable contributions play an immeasurable role in propelling them to new frontiers. The Blavatnik Prizes celebrate the achievements of the best of these PhD students, and the Blavatnik School of Computer Science is honored to award these prizes for the second time.”

A jury of computer science experts from Israeli universities including TAU, the Weizmann Institute of Science, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem select winners from a pool of doctoral students and recent PhD recipients from all Israeli universities.

Also on June 8, the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel were awarded in a separate evening ceremony held at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation. The Awards recognize the country’s most promising faculty-rank (academic staff) researchers in life sciences, physical sciences & engineering, and chemistry. The Blavatnik Family Foundation funds the Awards, which are co-administered by the New York Academy of Sciences and The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. To date, two outstanding TAU scientists, Prof. Oded Rechavi of the School of Neurobiology, Biochemistry and Biophysics, and Prof. Yossi Yovel of the School of Zoology, have been Blavatnik Award laureates.

Tag: Tel Aviv University