Shalom,
The School of Sustainability and Climate Change is committed to promoting sustainable climate resilience by fostering multidisciplinary collaboration in teaching, research, policy, education, and community engagement.
We are opening the second year of the undergraduate Sustainability degree program with 36 students enrolled under the School. The satisfaction of the students who completed their first year exceeded all my expectations, thanks in large part to our Teaching Coordinator, Shiraz Aboudi, and the Chair of the Teaching Committee, Prof. Ofir Rubin.
We are also launching the new year-long course, “Living Sustainability” (6 academic credits). The course bridges academic learning with real-world challenges in Marsabit County, northern Kenya, and will be conducted in collaboration with the Desert Stars Center for Innovation and Sustainability. I would like to thank Prof. Osnat Gilor for leading the course from the planning and grant-writing stages through to its implementation during the coming academic year. I would also like to thank Prof. Dorit Nitzan, Prof. Tarine Paz-Kagan, Prof. Erez Gal, Prof. Orly Sarid, Prof. Yaron Ziv, and Prof. Ofir Rubin for their commitment to helping design and teach the course.
The School also supported additional courses, including “Connecting the Campus to the Red Sea,” conducted in collaboration with EcoPeace and focusing on regional environmental issues concerning the Red Sea. As part of the course “The Shared Sea,” Maya Amitai and Avigail Haslavsky, students in the Psychology program, developed an educational-environmental project addressing light pollution.
Four projects were selected and funded through the “Researchers Together for the Environment” call for proposals, in collaboration with the Vice President for Research and Development, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, environmental organizations, and the Climate Policy Institute. More information about the winning projects can be found later in this newsletter.
More than 20 proposals were submitted to the “Partnership for Sustainability” call for proposals, jointly launched with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Since it was decided to send the proposals for external review, the process has been delayed, and I hope that we will be able to announce the winners in November.
Last August, I had the privilege of taking part in the Israeli delegation to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (COP17), held in Mongolia. This was a major international event, attended by more than 10,000 participants from 196 countries. As Head of the School, I held working meetings during the conference with Mongolia’s Ministers of Agriculture, Education, Health, and Culture.
Over the past year, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev also completed its first assessment process under the STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System) framework, operated by AASHE. The STARS framework is based on a comprehensive reporting system that includes hundreds of data points, indicators, and criteria covering teaching, research, operations, governance, community engagement, and more, and is considered the leading framework for assessing sustainability performance in higher education institutions worldwide. Following the external review process, the University was awarded a STARS Silver rating, making it the first and, to date, the only university in Israel to receive a rating under this framework. I would like to thank Prof. Middad Kissinger for the tremendous amount of work invested in bringing the University into the STARS framework.
Finally, I would like to update you that the School's Executive Committee has approved a new procedure, which will take effect in June 2027. According to the new procedure, only School members who have listed the School as a second affiliation on at least one publication during the past two years will be eligible to apply to calls for proposals issued by the School. The calls will include both research proposals and scholarships for research students. Students will be eligible to apply only if their supervisor has listed the School as a second affiliation on a publication. Please remember to add the School as your second affiliation. The full text of the procedure will also be circulated in a dedicated email.
I invite all members of the School to keep us updated about publications, grants, conferences, and activities in the fields of sustainability and climate change in which you are involved.
With hopes for peace,
Shimon
דיוור אלקטרוני
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