Safeguarding Israel's energy system by decentralizing electricity production and storage, managing extreme weather events, moderating the impact on world food and energy commodity markets of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, using AI to manage natural resources more efficiently and responsibly, exploring technologies for edible protein production, upgrading Africa's coffee supply chains, empowering Ghanaian women with eco-friendly mushroom farming.
These initiatives and more are among those being studied and developed at Reichman University's School of Sustainability. Unique in Israel, the School's curriculum combines environmental and earth sciences with economics and government. Based on leading academic programs in the United States and the United Kingdom, its double majors in Government & Sustainability and in Economics & Sustainability educate young men and women who go on to hold central positions in technological, economic, government and other sectors.
The School of Sustainability promotes what a 2003 Israeli government resolution describes as, "sustainable development that combines a dynamic economy, wise use of natural resources, protecting ecological systems and providing equal opportunities." Or, put more simply, ensuring that we leave future generations a habitable planet.
A breathing evolving organism
The School's acting dean is 40-year-old Dr. Asaf Tzachor. Israeli-born, he brings rich experience in global sustainability science. A former research scholar at Cambridge University and Columbia University, and a graduate of Balliol College at the University of Oxford, Dr. Tzachor is a member of the Cambridge Global Food Security Research Center and the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge. His research at the intersection of environmental risks and emerging technologies has been published across Nature portfolio journals, and featured in the Washington Post, Financial Times and Forbes. Moreover, he has advised European and Far Eastern governments as well as international organizations.
Four and a half years ago, as Covid raged, Dr. Tzachor joined the faculty of Reichman's School of Sustainability. As Acting Dean, he oversees its 275 students and 30-plus academic faculty members. He views the School and curriculum as "breathing evolving organisms," where students and faculty not only follow the formal degree curriculum but also remain current with the latest developments in Israel and the global community in the field of sustainability and its interface with economics, society and institutions. What happens outside the Herzliya campus, nationally and internationally, is essentially part of the syllabus: natural disasters, climate change and global warming, extreme weather events, over-exploitation of natural resources and over-harvesting of food and water sources.
"National security has, of course, had special prominence for us these past months," says Tzachor, who began his tenure as the School's acting dean on October 1. "Some of our students were injured in the war against Hamas, and one, 28-year-old Idan Shtivi from our School, is still held being hostage in Gaza."
Under this shadow, the School of Sustainability nevertheless continues to lead the much-needed transition towards sustainability. It maintains close ties with industry — especially in the fields of FoodTech, AgriTech, WaterTech, EnergyTech, air, soil and water pollution, and the transition required in every energy system. It also brings experts to give master classes for the benefit of its students. One focus of this year's master classes is artificial intelligence as a tool to promote sustainability in agriculture, environmental systems, and more. Another is innovation and entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneur Tzippora Nusbaum came to the School to show students how responsible social businesses can have a lasting impact worldwide. She illustrated it with her own initiative, Fix the Chain, which helps women across Africa lift themselves and their communities from extreme poverty through eco-friendly mushroom cultivation.
Flagship honors program
Innovation and entrepreneurship at the School are further fostered in hubs and special honors programs, where outstanding students have the opportunity to create new ventures. One such student is Wayi Thok Aguer, who was born in South Sudan and grew up in Egypt, Israel and Uganda. His particular interest is sustainable development and agricultural technology. Collaborating with researchers in the Netherlands, he is designing a system to improve the coffee supply chain in Uganda.
Wayi is among some 20 percent of students at Reichman's School of Sustainability who come from outside Israel, adding international flavor and perspective to its study and discussion. He mixes easily with his Israeli classmates – Jews, Christians and Muslims – and, like the other 2,500 overseas students from 90 nations at Reichman, he is affiliated with Reichman's Raphael Recanati International School.
The program in which Wayi is developing his African coffee initiative is a one-year flagship honors program founded by Tzachor at the start of this academic year, funded by Israeli businessman, investor, and philanthropist Ziv Aviram, and his family. Known as the Aviram Sustainability and Climate Program, it provides a state-of-the-art curriculum for 20 exceptional undergraduates.
"We see these students as future entrepreneurs, executives and decision-makers," says Tzachor. "The program encourages them to address some of the greatest challenges of our time — climate change, extreme weather events, food security and transitioning to a zero-carbon future. Aviram Program students are taught and mentored by leading professionals."
In addition to their studies in the classroom, these honors students also benefit from a large selection of field trips in Israel and abroad. Wayi is among several students in the program who have already started their own ventures, attracting the necessary seed-funding in order to do so. One of these is working to improve efficiency in the financing of energy projects. Another is turning agricultural waste into energy.
Internationalization
The Aviram Program is the newest and perhaps most prestigious program, but it joins several others in the university — the Zvi Meitar Emerging Technologies Program, Argov Fellows Program in Leadership and Diplomacy, the CO-OP Startup Experience Course, the one-year Upstart Venture Creation Program, and the Green Business Club.
It is not only the university, however, that creates these hubs, clubs and programs. The FoodTech Club was set up by Sustainability students. With the support of faculty and staff, its purpose is to help cut through the hype around FoodTech, visit FoodTech companies, study sustainable protein production, and solve technological deficiencies.
"With sustainability still relatively new to academia, Reichman's School of Sustainability both shares its knowledge and expertise and learns from that of others," says Tzachor. "Reichman's internationalization strategy has linked it with leading universities all over the world, including in the U.S., the UK, Germany, France, Austria, and Singapore." Many Sustainability students take part in exchange visits or semester-long exchange programs at sister schools in these countries, and some continue on to advanced degrees at foreign universities once they graduate.
And after that? "Our graduates easily find jobs," continues Tzachor. They are welcomed into positions related to food, agricultural and energy technology, including the 1,200 Israeli start-ups that are tackling pivotal concerns such as waste, the role of mobility and micromobility in shaping sustainable cities, energy, agriculture and water. "By achieving sustainability, we'll rid our world of its greatest problems," he advocates. "So sustainability must be society's top priority."
For more information about Reichman University, visit www.runi.ac.il/en >>
About Reichman University
Reichman University (formerly IDC Herzliya) is Israel's only private, non-profit university. Founded in 1994 as the brainchild of renowned Israeli Professor Uriel Reichman and modeled after Ivy League universities in the U.S., Reichman University has changed the face of higher education in Israel. The university's founders sought to create an Israeli institution in which personal achievements go hand in hand with social responsibility, emphasizing initiative and leadership alongside community service.
Reichman University is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in education and research, combining academic study with practical, hands-on training and fostering innovative thinking. In addition to giving students the tools they need to become leaders both in Israel and abroad, the university is committed to strengthening Israel's society and economy.
The Raphael Recanati International School (RRIS) at Reichman University is the largest international school of higher education in Israel, with all classes taught in English. Over 2,000 students from 90 different countries are enrolled at RRIS at any given time. They study towards a large selection of degree programs:
- BA degrees in Psychology, Business, Business and Economics, Communications, Government, Government and Sustainability, Computer Science, Entrepreneurship and Business, and Entrepreneurship and Computer Science.
- Master's degrees in Government, Financial Economics, Organizational Behavior and Development, and Behavioral Economics, as well as a 1-year MBA, MBA in Healthcare Innovation, and a Global MBA.
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