University of Haifa

We are honored to announce a NIS 50 million gift from the Kadas Family Charitable Fund to support the creation of an International Faculty Initiative of Global Climate Change, with an initial emphasis on marine and coastal ecology research. The largest one-time donation in the University’s history, the gift will be used to create a virtual community of scholars, spanning universities and research centers across the globe. This project, will begin with an initial focus on waterways in general, and on the Mediterranean, in particular. “The Eastern Mediterranean Sea hosts more than 17,000 marine species and contributes an estimated 7% to the world’s marine biodiversity. Today, this rich ecosystem has come under threat from climate change, pollution, over- fishing and coastal infrastructure projects,” explains Prof. Dan Tchernov, Scientific Director of the University’s Mediterranean Sea Research Center of Israel. “The generous gift from the Kadas Charitable Fund will be crucial in predicting the ongoing effects of environmental and climate change in the rapidly changing Eastern Mediterranean basin, with the ultimate aim of using this research to predict the impact of climate change on other waterways and coastal regions. A consortium of global universities and research centers, employing virtual technology, will offer online educational modules, and employ cutting edge technology to create virtual research platforms untethered by geographical location. Each and every one of the nodes in this venture will think local, but act globally.”