Environment and Health Fund

RGP / Research Grants and Projects Office
EHF / Environment and Health Fund

WEBSITE: Access the EHF website.

SCIENTIFIC AREAS: Research relevant to Environment and health.

AWARD MECHANISMS:

• Opportunities for Short Courses Overseas 2012: The Environment and Health Fund (EHF) will award stipends for short professional courses abroad. Short courses are intended for graduate students, including medical students and practitioners, in academia, government and NGOs, wishing to expand their knowledge and deepen their understanding of the impact of environmental pollution on human health.
Doctoral Fellowships: Each year, the program awards up to four fellowships to highly qualified students to pursue doctoral studies at Israeli universities in fields of research relevant to Environment and Health: life sciences (including medicine), public health, social sciences, environmental sciences and engineering sciences. EHF doctoral fellowships are intended for doctoral students whose research proposal was approved no earlier than June 1, 2010 or is expected to be approved no later than December 1, 2011. The award amount is $22,000 per year for up to 3 years plus travel allownace and a one-time personal award. Fellowship recipients are required to spend a study period of between 3 to 6 months in the research group of an overseas researcher.
Post Doctoral Fellowship: For the academic year 2011-2012, EHF will award 4 fellowships for specific research groups at leading departments and institutions in the USA and Europe. Fellowships are offered with research groups investigating environmental hazards such as air pollution, water pollution, radiation and pesticides and their health effects on cardio-vascular and respiratory disease, cancer, reproductive health and neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative illnesses. MDs and PhD graduates from Israeli universities are eligible to apply. The fellowship is comprised of a $40,000 stipend, a travel grant and a family allowance for one year.

• International Course on Advanced Principles of Toxicology: 5 March 2012
• Advanced Exposure Assessment: 1 April 2012
• Utrecht Summer School: Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology: 1 April 2012
• 25th Residential Summer Course in Epidemiology: 5 March 2012
• Utrecht Summer School: Toxicology and Environmental Health: 20 March 2012

1 December 2011.
27 April 2011.

11 April 2011.

MODE OF APPLICATION:

• Candidates interested in applying for an EHF short course stipend for one of the courses offered in 2012 should apply in writing to the EHF before the relevant submission deadline. For more information please see here.
• For the fellowships, guidelines and forms are available on the EHF website.

• From the Feinberg Graduate School: Confirmation that if and when the fellowship is approved, the candidate will be eligible to be a post-doc at the Weizmann Institute for the entire duration of the proposed fellowship.
• From the candidate's supervisor (a Weizmann Institute researcher of rank Senior Scientist or higher): Confirmation that the supervisor agrees to host the post-doc for the entire period of the fellowship.

Please note that according to Weizmann Institute procedures, fellowships are paid as stipends at a fixed rate. Consequently, if the amount provided by the funding source is lower than this rate, the difference will have to be supplemented (with an a priori written commitment to this effect to the RGP) by the host researcher at the Institute.

If the fellowship on offer is higher than the Weizmann Institute standard rate, the Institute will be able to receive a stipend only up to its standard rate. Alternatively, if allowable by the funding agency, the fellowship can be paid by the agency directly to the bank account of the recipient. In such a case, the host researcher should apply for post-doctoral status for the fellow at the Institute, either with or without the additional standard Weizmann Institute post-doctoral stipend (as allowable by the external funding source, and according to the resources available to the prospective Weizmann Institute host). For further information and/or clarifications, please contact the Feinberg Graduate School or the RGP.

Please note that foreigners are required to obtain the relevant visa (i.e. for a fixed-amount stipend: category A2; or for an employment contract: category B1 = work permit) prior to taking up an appointment at the Weizmann Institute:

• Non-Israeli fellows receiving a post-doctoral fixed-amount stipend at the Weizmann Institute standard rate are required to obtain a category A2 [student] visa, with the assistance of the Feinberg Graduate School.
• In the case of an external funding source which is willing to provide support only in the form of a salary with social benefits (as opposed to a stipend), the fellow must be engaged by the Institute as a Visiting Scientist on an individual contract. In order to obtain approval for Visiting Scientist status, the prospective host must contact the Visiting Scientists Section at the Housing Directorate and follow their guidelines in this regard. The Visiting Scientsts Section will also assist in the procedures required for obtaining a B1 work permit visa. Please note that the procedures will be different, depending on the location of origin of the prospective Visiting Scientist:
  1. Foreigners intending to come to the Weizmann Institute from abroad, without having previously completed studies in Israel: the Visiting Scientists Section at the Housing Directorate must be contacted to initiate the B1 work permit visa application procedure, long enough in advance for the prospective Visiting Scientist to receive the visa at an Israeli embassy/consulate (outside of Israel), prior to his/her arrival in Israel.
  2. Foreigners who are currently in Israel and hold a category A2 [student] visa: According to the laws of the State of Israel as regards foreign citizens (who do not possess Israeli citizenship), engagement by the Institute of such researchers will only be possible if they a priori leave Israel and then return to an appointment as a Visiting Scientist (conditional upon approval of the Ministry of the Interior, which must agree to issue a category B1 work permit visa for this purpose).
  It should be noted that the work permit approval process - a prerequisite to the approval of the status of Visiting Scientist - usually takes several months. Consequently, a Weizmann Institute researcher intending to host a Visiting Scientist who is not an Israeli citizen should begin the relevant procedures several months in advance of the desired start date. For further details regarding the issue of obtaining a work permit for a Visiting Scientist, contact the Visiting Scientists Section at the Housing Directorate.