Israeli scientists want to come home

Half of Israeli scientists affiliated with one group are showing significant potential for coming home and 39% are “seriously considering” such a move within the coming year, according to a new survey by the voluntary organization ScienceAbroad, which encourages Israeli scientists to return.

The survey queried 2,500 members of the organization who are academics in the sciences who live outside of Israel. Some 76% of those who completed their post-doctoral fellowships abroad said – when they left – they intended to return after completing their studies. Two out of five said the main reason for remaining was the difficulty in finding employment in their field in Israel.

Since ScienceAbroad was established a few years ago, 644 Israeli scientists have returned with their families. Of those, 60% found jobs in academia and 36% in industry, contributing a total of some NIS 79 million in income taxes.

More than half of the post-doctoral scholars surveyed study and work in the field of life sciences. Twenty-one percent of respondents said that if they return without finding work in a university or college, they would look for another career to utilize their talents.