Bar-Ilan University part of consortium of European universities to win €4.5m Erasmus+ grant for prestigious Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree in Chemoinformatics
A consortium of 10 universities – nine in Europe and one in Israel – has won the EU’s highly sought-after Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree (EMJMD) grant, which is valued at more than €4.5m, funded by the EU, and will be spread over a six-year period, providing scholarships to hundreds of students from all over Europe and Israel for the international program. This is the first time since 2018 that an Israeli university has been included as a full partner in an EMJMD grant.
This EMJMD grant will enable the partner universities to offer scholarships to exceptional candidates who apply for the joint MSc in Chemoinformatics through their home universities. EU scholarships cover the cost of a student’s participation in the program, travel, and a living allowance.
An Erasmus Mundus Joint Master is a prestigious, integrated, international study program, jointly designed and delivered by an international consortium of higher education institutions from different countries worldwide. It is funded by Erasmus+, the EU’s program that supports education, training, youth, and sport in Europe.
The 10 universities include the University of Strasbourg (France), which will manage the program and the funding; Bar-Ilan University (Israel); the University of Paris (France); the University NOVA of Lisbon (Portugal); the University of Milan (Italy); the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia); the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Ukraine); the Kazan Federal University (Russia), the University of Vienna (Austria), and Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University (Azerbaijan).
“Being part of the consortium that has won this remarkable grant is an honor for Bar-Ilan University,” said Prof. Moshe Lewenstein, BIU’s Deputy President. “Our partners are all top universities in their respective countries, and we feel privileged to be one of them. We are excited to be able to offer scholarships for such a unique joint degree to our deserving students.”
According to Prof. Hanoch Senderowitz, who was head of the department until this past October, Bar-Ilan University’s participation in winning this grant is the result of over four years of efforts to promote the field of Chemoinformatics within BIU’s Department of Chemistry. These efforts started with establishing a Data Science track within the BSc degree, continued with establishing an internal MSc degree in Chemoinformatics, and culminated with the establishment of a joint MSc degree in Chemoinformatics with the University of Strasbourg (Unistra) in June 2021.
This was the first collaboration for a joint MSc in Chemoinformatics between an Israeli and European university. The entire process was greatly assisted by Bar-Ilan’s International School, in particular, Daniel Schuval, Director of Academic Partnerships and Projects, and Bar-Ilan’s newly-established Data Science Institute (DSI) and its scientific manager, Dr. Oren Glickman, with the support of the Israeli National Erasmus+ office. The International School team facilitated the new partnership and helped to develop the degree program and schedule.
“The Department of Chemistry at Bar-Ilan University was the first to create a Data Science track and is the only university in Israel that currently offers a Master’s degree in Chemoinformatics,” said Prof. Senderowitz. “The idea to establish a joint Master’s in Chemoinformatics with the Unistra was first conceived when Prof. Alexandre Varnek, who heads the Chemoinformatics Lab and is director of the MSc in Chemoinformatics at Unistra, and I were attending a conference in Japan in 2016, and further reinforced when I was invited to be a visiting professor in Strasbourg in 2017.”
L-R: Prof. Hanoch Senderowitz (BIU) and Prof. Alexandre Varnek (Unistra)
together at Bar-Ilan University in 2017
The partnership between Bar-Ilan and Unistra led to further collaborations with the eight other European universities, which already had joint Master’s degrees in Chemistry, Artificial Intelligence, and Data Science with Unistra, and together, the consortium then applied for the prestigious EMJMD grant.
“We believe that this new international degree program will play a huge role in increasing the number of students in the innovative field of Chemoinformatics,” said Prof. Lewenstein. “It will also improve the scientific excellence and employability of the graduates. In addition, the support of the European Commission will encourage recognition and visibility for the scientific community in Chemoinformatics and will provide an answer to future innovation challenges.”
Bar-Ilan’s International School team (L-R): Prof. Moshe Lewenstein, BIU’s Deputy Director; Prof. Rachel Dekel, Academic Head; Ofer Dahan, Executive Director; and Daniel Schuval, Director of Academic Partnerships and Projects
This innovative joint degree program means that students spend their first year of the MSc in Chemoinformatics program at their home university and the second at Unistra. Unistra students can choose from any of the other nine universities to spend their second year. As the program will include students from many other countries, the degree will be taught entirely in English.
Chemoinformatics is a rapidly-evolving field at the intersection of chemistry and computer science. It concerns the application of informatics methods to solve chemical problems and its specific methods have become an essential part of the development of new compounds, materials, and processes. The Master’s degree in Chemoinformatics aims to train specialists for the Chemical and Pharmaceutical industries, with strong skills in chemistry, basic computer science, and specific Chemoinformatics methods.
