Grants in Israel: case study
During 2005 Trustees of the Wolfson Foundation and Wolfson Family Charitable Trust awarded a combined grant of £640,000 for equipment for water desalination research at the Technion Institute in Haifa, northern Israel.
The equipment supports wide ranging research: the removal of a variety of contaminants from water, the development of new membranes, the reuse of wastewater and the monitoring of water quality. The search for cheap, clean water (in which Israeli universities are pioneers) is one of the key issues not just regionally but also internationally.
The grant was part of a nation-wide initiative (2006-2008) to support desalination research at Israeli universities, co-ordinated by our Advisory Committee in Israel and led by the Technion's Professor Rafi Semiat. It is an example of Wolfson funding in Israel: supporting outstanding research across a nationally co-ordinated theme with an important practical relevance.