A quiet boycott in the EU? The decline in Horizon grants for Israeli researchers continues
Israeli researchers secured only 11 ERC grants under the Horizon program, a sharp decline from previous years. Experts attribute this to a mix of technical changes and potential academic boycotts.
Only 11 Israeli researchers secured ERC (European Research Council) grants for early-career scientists under the world's most prestigious grant program, Horizon. This figure is a sharp decline from the 30 grants awarded in 2024 and continues the downward trend observed in 2025, when the number fell to 10.
Senior figures in academia are divided on whether this trend stems from a quiet academic boycott of Israel or from increased competition and changing selection criteria, though a combination of these factors is considered most likely. Until 2024, Israel consistently won about 30 ERC grants, reflecting the immense global appreciation for Israeli academia. Since then, the number of successful applications has dropped by 67%.
Technical factors also play a role. Switzerland’s return to the program in 2025 after an absence between 2022 and 2024 accounts for a small portion of the decline. Furthermore, the evaluation process was adjusted to increase the weight of interviews while reducing the weight of CVs. Since early-career researchers in Israel typically complete post-doctoral fellowships at elite US universities, their CVs previously provided a significant competitive edge.
Grant distribution among Israeli institutions this year is as follows:
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Tel Aviv University — 5 grants
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Technion — 2 grants
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Bar-Ilan University — 2 grants
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Weizmann Institute — 1 grant
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Ben-Gurion University — 1 grant
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Hebrew University — 0 grants
The Horizon program, with a total budget of approximately 95.5 billion euros, is the world's largest R&D framework for scientific and industrial cooperation. Israel has participated in these programs for 25 years through association agreements with the EU.
"If Israel is removed from Horizon, it is equivalent to removing Israeli sports from the Olympics," warned a senior official at the Council for Higher Education.
Prof. Michal Bar-Asher, Vice President for International Relations at Ben-Gurion University, stated that "Horizon is the oxygen tube of academia and a matter of life and death for Israeli research." With negotiations for the next agreement set for 2027, the continuation of the war in the Gaza Strip may lead to increased pressure to prevent Israel's participation.
