I recently finished my first term as FAAB Director and have begun my second term. It is important to remind all researchers that in exactly two and a half years, we will hold the elections for the next director of the institute. In the first term, I invested a great deal of time and resources to recruiting new researchers. Three researchers have already joined us (Nina Kamennaya, Max Kolton, and Tarin Paz-Kagan), and the fourth will start his job in January 2024 (Gilad Gabay). Soon we will start the process of recruiting two more researchers, and thus, we will continue to advance the institute’s vision: Advancing sustainable solutions in agriculture: from the desert to the world.
As we are all surely aware, in recent years, there has been a tremendous growth of interest in the topics of agriculture and desert biotechnology, as they occupy an important place in research and teaching around the globe. Biotic and abiotic stresses of plants, soil degradation, and agricultural production in extreme climate conditions have become vitally crucial issues in areas that are beginning to experience climatic changes. We must continue to be the leaders in these topics; indeed, this is where all the institute's resources will be directed.
The "Research Model" of the Committee for Planning and Budgeting (VATAT) determines the distribution of a significant part of the budget of research universities in Israel. Essentially, this budget is distributed according to the relative output of each university. The impact of each component of the scientific outputs on the budget is as follows: the number of publications in recognized journals (34%), the amounts of competitive grants (34%), non-competitive grants, research agreements with industry, and the establishment of startups (15%), the number of PhD students (15%), and the number of master’s degree students with a thesis (2%). We are trying to find ways to improve our scientific outputs so that we can receive a more significant part of the budget for our important activities.
Happy Rosh Hashana to all!
Naftali
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