MARKING 35 -YEARS OF EXCELLENCE

 Special recognition granted to BARD for its postdoctoral fellowship program

 

Special recognition was granted to BARD (the U.S.-Israel binational agricultural research and development fund) at the opening session of the Israel Agricultural Science Conference 2021, a three-day conference (October 04-06) that brought together over 800 participants. BARD's director, Prof. Yoram Kapulnik was awarded recognition by the chairman of organizing committee, “In appreciation of your support of agricultural research and marking 35 years of activity of the Va’adia-BARD postdoctoral fellowship program”.

“This recognition is a testament to the fact that the Va’adia-BARD postdoctoral fellows are an invaluable component of the agricultural research and development community, said Prof. Kapulnik upon receiving the recognition. The Va’adia-BARD postdoctoral fellowship program was established in 1986 by Yair Guron, BARD’s first director. It was set up to strengthen the competencies of American and Israeli scientists to deal with the most modern challenges agriculture is facing. The program, alongside the other BARD funding programs, promotes cooperative agricultural research between postdoctoral fellows from one country (the United States or Israel) and established scientists from the other.

In its years of operation, the program has achieved its strategic goals and funded 270 fellows.  Currently, 17 fellows are still conducting their post-doctoral research funded by BARD post-doc grant. The program has proven itself as a source of powerful impact. The majority of the program's graduates (73%) are part of the academic community anf hold academic leadership roles. They teach and conduct research in agricultural sciences. A snapshot report of the program achievements shows that the most popular fields of research through the BARD postdoc fellowship program are Crop Production (38%), followed by Crop Health (24%), Soil water Environment & Renewable Resources (17%), Animal Health and Production (13%), Food Products (3%), Agricultural Economics (3%) and Agricultural Engineering (2%). Most of the Israeli postdoc fellows choose to conduct their research in California (82 fellows) followed by New York (38) and Maryland (9).