UvA will not enter into new partnerships with Israel via EU fund
The University of Amsterdam (UvA) will not enter into any new research collaborations with Israeli institutions via Horizon Europe. Horizon is the most important partnership for individual researchers with Israeli institutions. The UvA has decided to suspend these collaborations following an investigation by the EU into its own association agreement with Israel.
The University of Amsterdam (UvA) will no longer enter into partnerships with Israeli organisations via Horizon Europe due to “the ongoing and large-scale violence against the Palestinian population”. The UvA announced this today. Horizon is the most important European fund that enables individual UvA researchers to conduct research in collaboration with academics from other countries. As of today, UvA researchers are no longer allowed to start new projects involving Israeli institutions, according to a decision by the UvA Executive Board.
The Executive Board decided to suspend the programme because an EU investigation into the EU Association Agreement with Israel has been ongoing since 20 May. This agreement allows Israeli institutions to participate in Horizon. According to Rector Peter-Paul Verbeek and interim board member André Nollkaemper, a clear signal is needed that the UvA also considers the EU investigation into Israel to be of great importance. Furthermore, by suspending the agreement, the UvA is preventing researchers from committing to collaborations that they will eventually have to withdraw from.
Tel Aviv University
The decision to suspend cooperation follows advice from the joint meeting (GV) of the Central Student Council and the Central Works Council. They had already recommended a complete halt to ongoing cooperation with Israel, not just new cooperation within Horizon.
The UvA has not yet decided to suspend all ongoing collaborations, including existing collaborations via Horizon Europe. However, the exchange with Tel Aviv University will be reassessed. This is the only exchange still ongoing, after the collaboration with Hebrew University was previously suspended on the advice of the Ethics Committee on Collaboration with Third Parties.
Occupation group demands
Not entering into new ties with Israeli institutions was also a demand of the pro-Palestinian group Amsterdam Encampment. They said they walked out of talks with the UvA because the university “did not even want to discuss suspending new collaborations”.
Rector Verbeek and FMG dean Christa Boer did indicate that they were personally struggling with the situation in Gaza, where, according to the UvA, Israel is committing “genocidal violence”.
They entered into talks with the occupation group Amsterdam Encampment at the beginning of last month. This group of UvA members has been occupying a field on the Roeterseiland campus since 2 June. The organisation demands that the UvA sever all ties with Israeli institutions.
