The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists was held in Jerusalem on March 19, 2017. The awards recognized the innovation and excellence of early career scientists and engineers.
The awards look at support scientists and engineers with their independent research. The judges had selected three young and promising faculty members from Israeli universities. The Awards honor young scientists and engineers in three disciplines, which include Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering, and Chemistry. The Blavatnik awards for Young Scientists are one the largest unrestricted prizes offered to early-career researchers. The winner will each be presented with US$100,000 to further their research.
The universities include all Israeli universities, like Technion and the Weizmann Institute. The awards are jointly administered by the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities (IASH). The awards are also overseen by the Scientific Advisory Council, co-chaired by IASH member, and Nobel Prize Laureate, Professor Aaron Ciechanover. The winners are chosen by disciplinary juries composed of the world’s most distinguished scientists and engineers.
The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists commenced in 2007 by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. Len Blavatnik, the Founder, and Chairman of Access Industries, funded the awards to encourage and support young scientists to help promote discoveries in science and technology that will benefit the world in the future.
The professor Nili Cohen, the President of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, said that the Blavatnik Awards help to support young scientists in Israel who have demonstrated outstanding merit in the field of science and engineering.