GIFTS 2026: German-Israeli Forum for Tomorrow's Scientists

GIFTS - the German-Israeli Forum for Tomorrow's Scientists, brings together early-career researchers from Germany and Israel for a full day of scientific exchange, collaboration, and networking during Berlin Science Week.

Organised by the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF) and ScienceAbroad, the forum gathers postdoctoral researchers, advanced PhD candidates, early-career principal investigators, and Israeli researchers working abroad. It is designed as a working forum built around active research and direct professional contact, rather than a one-way lecture programme.

The daytime programme opens with research-collaboration pitches and discussion, followed by an "Ask the Experts" session on funding and mobility, interactive roundtables on building successful research partnerships, and a cross-border conversation on research mobility in real life. Case studies of two established German-Israeli research partnerships close the day sessions. In the evening, the forum continues with a keynote fireside chat, lightning talks, a panel discussion, and a poster session with a networking reception, where full-day participants present their work.

The forum connects directly to Berlin Science Week's 2026 theme, In Touch. GIFTS is about the human infrastructure of science — the trust, mentorship, mobility, and collaboration that let research advance across borders. It brings early-career scientists into contact with peers, institutions, and funders before formal collaborations exist, at a career stage where such networks are hardest to build and most valuable. In doing so, it strengthens the long-term connection between the German and Israeli research communities and gives visitors a direct view of the next generation of scientific leaders.