• Promoting contact and cooperation between young scholars from various and diverse disciplines.

• Encouraging joint research and collaboration with young researchers around the world.

• Encouraging government, research foundations, philanthropic organizations and others to channel resources to selected projects.

 

• Introduction to Science Initiative: The goals set for itself by the Israel Young Academy include promoting science education in Israel at various stages of primary and secondary education; encouraging youth and young adults to view a career path in science as an attractive option; and exposing every young person in Israel to the scientific work being done in research institutions. The vision behind the Introduction to Science initiative is based on the finding that, although the gates of the universities are open to everyone, very few people who are neither students nor researchers actually set foot on campuses. This disconnection has led to the Israeli public’s perception that academics sit in ivory towers. Nevertheless, the relationship between academia and the public is essential and exigent for society as a whole. Strengthening this connection is expected to encourage greater appreciation and understanding of the importance of scholarship in general and of a range of research disciplines, from the humanities to the natural sciences; to raise the status of young scholars in society; to build relationships with potential future students; and to arouse the curiosity of young people who might never have considered higher education or an academic career path.

 

The Israel Young Academy believes in promoting the relationship between Israeli academia and society. Making the universities accessible to society as a whole is a social obligation of the State of Israel whose fulfillment will contribute to strengthening disadvantaged populations and maintaining the status of academic research. We hope that policymakers in government ministries will join our initiative to establish a program to enable every student in Israel, without exception, to visit a university at least once. Exposing students to institutions of higher learning, to the possibilities of research and to the wide spectrum of scholarly disciplines will offer them a new, intriguing and stimulating experience.

 

• The Future of the Humanities: A think-tank has been established to address the subject of promoting the humanities from the point of view of young researchers, in order to deal with issues relating to the future of research and pedagogy in the humanities; multidisciplinary avenues of research; budgetary concerns; and possibilities for promoting the humanities both within the walls of the university and beyond them, in the public sphere. Issues raised by the think-tank that are currently being discussed and developed include the following:

 

o The definition of a discipline in the twenty-first century.

o The future of the humanities in a changing academic world, including access to resources in contemporary research and interdisciplinary research trends.

o The future of research libraries, their nature and function in academic and social life.

o Defining the "toolbox" required to pursue an undergraduate degree in the humanities, including reading, writing and language skills essential for research.

o Encouraging exceptional M.A, and Ph.D. students to advise high-school students carrying out final projects in the humanities.