By Ulrike Goldenblatt >
It was certainly the highlight of an evening on October 8th when pianist Einav Yarden took her seat at the Steinway piano and carried everyone present away with her interpretation of Robert Schumann’s “Kreisleriana”, inspired by a narration of E.T.A. Hoffmann. Not only could the crowd of science talents and their leading administrators plunge into the emotions that this 8-part composition evokes, but her explanations gave rise to a deeper understanding of her performance.
“It’s a bit like the work of a scientist” she says, meaning the ups and downs, highs and lows on the way to success. Research is the thinking ahead for many years, of things to be, which for the layperson is hard to imagine. Einav, an Israeli living in Berlin, is married to an employee and has thus become herself “a member of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin family”, as director Bernd Rech put it.
5 years of close collaboration in energy research
The evening itself was not only an homage to classic music and excellent performances, but it was also a symbolic act of the mutual path that the Israeli and German scientific community share. After all, in the crowd were another 20 Israeli scientists who had followed the HZB invitation to Berlin in the framework of the HI-SCORE project, to mark the milestone of 5 years of shared scientific endeavor in the field of materials research for sustainable energy. The project and adjacent platform had collected a network of over 100 scientists and young talents from participating research institutions in Israel and Germany. Not Corona, not the flaring conflict and not the cyber-attack that befell the institute, could stop the dedicated work of PD Daniel Abou Ras and Israeli matching partner and HI-SCORE spokesperson from Weizmann, David Cahen (among many others) to keep the project alive and flourishing, generate collaborative publications, send young researchers to lab and exchange visits, run educational webinars and gather in retreats, putting science diplomacy in action.
Celebrating the connection
And here in October 2024, the project, financed by the initiative and networking fund of the Helmholtz Association, came to an end with a celebration, expressing the deep and reliable connection between the two countries and their science talents, as well as re-assuring the support for continuous efforts in this realm. Asking for that, falls on fertile ground (and open ears) with Otmar Wiestler, president of the Helmholtz Association, a longstanding friend of Israel and its scientific community. He followed the invitation of Bernd Rech to join a panel on the future of HI-SCORE together with scientific advisor of the Israeli government Michael Baror, Leeor Kronik of Weizmann Institute and Eva Unger from HZB, both members of HI-SCORE. “You can always count on our support,” stated Wiestler to the Israeli guests, an important confirmation in these troubled times.
Partners: Lost and found
Moderated particularly well by HI-SCORE speaker Roel Van de Krol of HZB, the panel participants related narratives from their own adventures in Israel and Germany. When rumor had it that Eva Unger lost and found a start-up partner in Israel while riding on a camel, it now turned out to be true. A funny incident that led to a good partnership mediated by HI-SCORE members. Leeor Kronik’s (on behalf of David Cahen) fascinating presentation of some historical aspects of scientific diplomacy dating back to the time before diplomatic relations between Germany and Israel, showed impressively why a network like HI-SCORE is so important. It is hard to cut ties of like-minded brains.
“I had the time of my life” said Education and Research Ministry representative Gabriele Hermani in her greeting speech, referring to her 3-year-deployment in Israel some years ago. Many of the listeners that evening would subscribe to this summary, with strong hope for re-normalization of the war-struck region.
Please find more information about the project on the HI-SCORE website