The Minerva Stiftung is the flagship of German-Israeli Scientific Cooperation

The Minerva Stiftung

The Minerva Stiftung is the flagship of German-Israeli scientific cooperation. It is financed by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space, and works closely with leading universities and research facilities in Israel.

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Minerva Center Programme

Minerva Center Programme

Minerva Centers are scientific pioneer institutions in Israel with topics that are innovative and of special interest to the scientific community in Israel and Germany. The research at the Centers is carried out in cooperation with German partners and are funded by the Minerva Stiftung. Minerva Centers are located at the six Israeli universities and the Weizmann Institute of Science.

© Michael Nagel

The Minerva Fellowship Programme

The Minerva Fellowship Programme

Since 1973 the Minerva Fellowship Programme enables Israeli and German scientists to complete a research residency at institutions in the respective other country. Graduates and postdocs get the possibility to further their scientific background while conducting a research project at their host institution in Israel or Germany. They promote research and strengthen the cultural and scientific exchange between Germany and Israel. To date, more than 2000 Minerva Fellowships have been awarded to German and Israeli researchers.
© MPG

The Minerva Weizmann Programme

The Minerva Weizmann Programme

The Minerva Weizmann Programme was the first scientific Programme between Germany and Israel. For its implementation, the Minerva Stiftung was founded to maintain and cultivate the scientific exchange between the two countries. Since 1964 the agreement has been renewed every year and secured funding for roughly 2,000 projects in chemistry, physics, mathematics, and the biosciences. Today approximately eighty projects are supported with a total of € 3,580,000 annually.

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The Alumni Programme of the Minerva Stiftung
The Max Planck Symposium is an intensive, two-day career conference serving as a platform to connect international Max Planck and Minerva Alumni and Max Planck Early Career Researchers of all disciplines and Institutes. We will be conducting an exclusively onsite symposium in 2025. All participants have the opportunity to participate in exciting onsite meeting formats.

Minerva Programmes

Special offer of help
The Minerva Foundation and the Max Planck Society are watching with great concern as the conflict in the Middle East continues to escalate. Fellows from the Minerva Stiftung as well as employees of the Max Planck Society are also affected by the current escalation. The Max Planck Society is offering immediate psychological counselling through the EMAP - Employee and Manager Assistance Program, including in Hebrew, Arabic and Farsi. 
Group Picture of the Minerva Fellowship Meeting in Spring 2025 in Berlin
On the occasion of the spring meeting of the Minerva Fellowship Committee, also the current German and Israeli Minerva Fellowship holders were invited to meet in Berlin at the Max Planck Society's conference centre, the Harnack House.
Statement on the terror attacks against Israel
We, the Max Planck Society and the Minerva Foundation, condemn the horrific attacks by Hamas against Israel in the strongest possible terms.

Minerva Topics

President Cramer during his solidarity trip to Israel in November 2023 
Copyright: MPG / Minerva Stiftung
President Cramer gave an interview to the Israeli daily newspaper Times of Israel in the course of the solidarity trip to Israel at the end of November 2023 regarding German-Israeli research relations in view of the current Middle East crisis. 
Solidarity trip to Israel by President Cramer, the MPG, and the Minerva Stiftung in November 2023
President Patrick Cramer and a small delegation from the Max Planck Society and the Minerva Stiftung traveled to Israel at the End of November 2023.
Team of the Minerva Stiftung
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Minerva Inside

The Minerva Management 
A joint team: Prof. Dr. Ulman Lindenberger and Maximilian Prugger
Delegation of the Max Planck Society at the airport in 1959
Copyright: MPG
Today, the Minerva Stiftung, founded in the 1960s as a subsidiary of the Max Planck Society, is the flagship of German-Israeli scientific cooperation. It is financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and works closely with leading universities and research facilities in Israel.

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