Israel Space Agency Academic Research Grants
A historical reference for Israel Space Agency and Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology research calls in space science and applied space technology.
Israel Space Agency Academic Research Grants
Status: historical reference
This page describes the Israel Space Agency’s recurring academic-research funding channel and preserves the latest dated research call that could be verified on the Agency’s official calls index. It is not an open application. The official index does not show a newer general academic-research round after the 2025 research call listed below, so no future deadline is supplied here.
The verified archived cycle was the Call for research proposals within the framework of Israel-Italy cooperation with the space agency for 2025. The call was published on 2025-06-23 and closed on 2025-07-31. That call required an Israeli research team to work jointly with an Italian team already selected by the Italian Space Agency. It was a bilateral call with a specific research topic, not a general invitation for every space proposal. Keep that distinction in mind when using this page as a reference.
The Israel Space Agency’s standing academic-research page says that the Agency supports theoretical and applied space research and that the Ministry publishes calls for proposals at the Agency’s initiative. It names examples such as observations from space toward Earth, observations of outer space, and development of equipment suitable for operation in space. Those statements describe the program family. They do not create a continuously open grant, guarantee a budget, or establish eligibility for a future call.
At a glance
| Field | Verified information |
|---|---|
| Opportunity | Israel Space Agency academic research calls |
| Status | Historical; the verified cycle is closed |
| Archived deadline | 2025-07-31 at 15:00 Israel local time |
| Funding amount | No standing amount stated on the official program page or the verified call page |
| Applicant base | Israeli research teams and scientists, subject to the specific call |
| Archived call partner condition | Joint work with an Italian research team already selected by the Italian Space Agency |
| Archived call topic | Applied research on irrigation needs |
| Submission system | MOST Science Forefront system |
| Official program page | Israel Space Agency academic research page |
What the official program page confirms
The official English academic-research page presents the Agency as a supporter of both theoretical and applied research in space science. It says that the Ministry publishes public calls each year, at the Agency’s initiative, for subjects including Earth observation from space, observation of outer space, and space-capable instrumentation. It also describes outcomes such as publication in academic journals, presentation of results in international workshops, and support for knowledge centres operating through recognised research institutions.
That description is useful for deciding whether a future call might fit, but it is not a grant notice. It does not state a live closing date, an award ceiling, a universal applicant category, or a single application form. Each published call supplies those details. A proposal should therefore be judged against the text and attachments of the specific call rather than against this evergreen program description.
The archived 2025 call illustrates how narrow a particular round can be. Its cooperation area was Irrigation Needs, and it asked Israeli researchers to submit applied research proposals jointly with Italian research teams. The call explained that the purpose was to build bilateral research networks, strengthen scientific cooperation, exchange knowledge, and support work with possible technological applicability and product development. A space-related idea outside the stated cooperation area would not become eligible merely because it belonged to the broader ISA research family.
Funding amount: do not use the old fixed figure
The earlier version of this page listed funding of up to ₪1,500,000. The official academic-research page does not publish that figure, and the verified 2025 Israel-Italy call says only that qualifying applicants may receive research grants from the Ministry under the applicable national funding procedures, regulations, and call requirements. It does not state a universal amount in the page text.
The fixed figure has therefore been removed. A future applicant must read the funding rules and the full call documents for the applicable budget, duration, eligible costs, matching requirements, and payment conditions. The absence of a number on the program landing page is not evidence that every proposal receives the same amount. It is a reason to avoid putting an unverified ceiling into a listing.
Who could apply in the verified archived call
The 2025 call invited Israeli research teams and said that proposals had to be submitted by Israeli researchers. The research had to be carried out jointly by the Israeli and Italian teams. The Italian teams had already been selected by the Italian Space Agency, so an applicant could not treat the call as an open search for an overseas partner or submit an Israeli-only project.
The call’s instructions identify the Israeli principal investigator as the person who submits the proposal through the Science Forefront system. The affiliated institution also had a formal role: it had to approve and submit the proposal by the final deadline. This means that an individual researcher could not complete the process independently of the relevant research authority or institution.
For a later ISA call, check at least these points before drafting:
- Is the applicant an Israeli researcher, research team, recognised institution, company, or another category named in the notice?
- Does the research question match the exact subject area and subtopics in that round?
- Is a foreign partner required, and if so, is the partner open for selection or already designated?
- Does the institution need to approve, edit, or submit the application after the principal investigator files it?
- Are there national funding procedures or regulations that add conditions beyond the short web notice?
The official sources support the first two requirements for the archived call and show that the remaining conditions were call-specific. They do not support a blanket claim that all Israeli companies may apply to this academic-research channel.
How the archived application worked
The 2025 call gives a concrete sequence that is useful for future planning, while its dates should be treated as historical:
- Confirm the call and research match. Read the official notice and its appendices. For this round, the proposal had to concern Irrigation Needs and be conducted jointly by the Israeli and Italian teams.
- Coordinate the Israeli research team. The proposal had to be prepared and submitted by the Israeli side. The Israeli principal investigator was the responsible online submitter.
- Prepare the Science Forefront account early. A first-time applicant had to submit an account request in the Science Forefront system. The request required approval by the research authority of the affiliated institution, after which the applicant received an email that the account was active.
- Write the proposal in English. The official call required the proposal to be written in English. The proposal should follow the call, the applicable national procedures, and every required form or attachment rather than relying on a generic research template.
- Submit the researcher version. The principal investigator had to submit through Science Forefront by 2025-07-24 at 15:00 Israel local time. The system would close to researcher submissions after that time.
- Coordinate edits with the institution. After the principal investigator submitted, the proposal could be edited in coordination with the affiliated institution until the final joint submission deadline.
- Obtain institutional submission. The affiliated institution had to submit the proposal through Science Forefront by 2025-07-31 at 15:00 Israel local time. A proposal not submitted by the institution by that deadline was not accepted.
- Allow technical time. The notice warned that technical problems were possible and that the process could take significant time. Account approval, institutional review, and final submission should therefore be completed well before the closing hour.
These steps are not a promise that a later call will use the same system or deadlines. They are the verified procedure for the archived 2025 call. For a future round, the new notice and its attached forms control.
Materials and review preparation
The official page links to attached call documents and program forms. The archived instructions make clear that the proposal itself, the English-language submission, the Science Forefront account, and institutional approval were essential parts of the process. Before a future call opens, a team can prepare a controlled document set without inventing fields:
- a concise research question tied to the published subject area;
- a work plan showing the Israeli and partner-team responsibilities;
- a method, milestones, and measurable research outputs;
- a budget built from the applicable funding rules rather than an assumed ceiling;
- principal investigator and team information in the format requested by the call;
- partner confirmation and institutional approvals where the notice requires them;
- the exact forms and appendices linked from the official call page.
For a bilateral round, the technical narrative should explain what each country contributes and how the joint work produces a result neither team would deliver as effectively alone. For a general ISA research call, the narrative should map the proposed work to the published space-research topic without stretching a broad phrase into an unsupported fit.
What to do now
Do not submit to the archived 2025 call. Monitor the Israel Space Agency calls index for a new research notice and read the full attachments when one appears. A new listing should replace the historical deadline only after the Agency publishes a new official date. At that point, update eligibility, funding, partner requirements, application system, and required documents from that specific notice.
If no new call is listed, this page remains useful as an archive entry: it shows how the program family is announced, the kind of research the Agency supports, and the institutional submission pattern documented in the 2025 bilateral round. It should not be read as evidence that applications are currently accepted.