Cooperation with Israeli knowledge institutions

In recent weeks there has been much talk about cooperation between Dutch universities and Israeli knowledge institutions. The board of Wageningen University & Research (WUR) considers international scientific cooperation of paramount importance. Science benefits from the exchange of knowledge and students, especially in the domain of WUR, where science contributes to sustainable living within the limits of the planet.

We provide high-quality knowledge, education and research to develop and implement paths of change addressing challenges we face such as climate change, the misuse of land and sea, biodiversity loss, and the fragility of our ecosystems. We cannot do this alone. We need partners - both our current and new ones, both national and international ones. When we enter project collaborations, we apply our Principles of Collaboration.

WUR cooperates with Israeli knowledge institutions in various ways:

1. Exchange of students

WUR as an institute has an exchange agreement with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In the agreement we regulate how we deal with the exchange of students. Now, of course, there are no Dutch WUR students in Israel because of the security situation there.

2. European Network of Life Science Universities (ELLS)

WUR is a member of the Euroleague for Life Sciences Universities (ELLS). Non-European universities cannot become members of the network but can partner with ELLS. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is such a partner.

3. Research projects with EU funding

WUR is involved in many multinational collaborations in research consortia. Projects with sometimes dozens of academic partners from all over Europe. In some of projects both WUR and the Israeli institutions are involved. These collaborations are (and already were) publicly available through the EU's CORDIS website. All collaborations are in WUR's knowledge domain. None of the collaborations are related to warfare or the development of military knowledge.

WUR works in these extensive collaboration projects with hundreds of partners in which the following Israeli knowledge institutions also participate.

  • Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  • Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
  • Reichman University
  • University of Haifa
  • Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Limited
  • Tel Aviv University
  • Weizmann Institute of Science
  • The Agricultural Research Organization of Israel