ITMO Students Win Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Scholarship

The scholarship of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been given out for 20 years. It is offered to international students under 35 with a Bachelor’s degree, great academic performance and proficiency in English.

As the Consul General of Israel in St. Petersburg Dr. Uri Resnick emphasized at the ceremony, ITMO and Israeli universities have long-term scientific and academic partnerships leading to fruitful collaboration, including with Tel Aviv University.

“Science is a bridge between the Israeli and Russian communities. Therefore, to reflect the importance of our scientific cooperation, we have offered two scholarship grants in the fields of physics and photonics, the scientific areas that have always been significant for both parties,” said Uri Resnick.

This year, two Russian students received the scholarship and both of them study at ITMO. Eugenia Soloveva and Georgy Alexan are first-year Master’s students in the Physics and Technology of Nanostructures program. In order to make it through the selection, they had to write letters of motivation and explain why the contest matters to them and how studying in Israel will help them in the future. They’ve also attached their CVs and portfolios listing scientific and professional achievements: publications, participation in conferences, and work experience in research.

“I’m studying hybrid materials based on nanoporous aluminum oxide and their optical properties. Such structures can be applied as matrixes for active elements of a laser. I presented my research results at the international conference SPIE Photonics Europe 2022 and the Congress of Young Scientists and also published them in a scientific journal. The scholarship offered by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs isn’t the first one I’ve won: I’ve also received a grant from the School of Physics and Engineering, a Russian government scholarship, and an enhanced academic stipend at ITMO,” says Eugenia Soloveva.

Georgy also has an experience of participating in large scientific events, such as the international school and conference Nanostructures. Properties and Application and FLAMN-22, where he presented a report on chemiluminescent luminol with silver particles and on chiral properties of particles. His research results were also published in the IEEE Spectrum scientific journal. Georgy has been participating in grant research since his third year of Bachelor’s studies.

Thanks to the victory, the students will be able to study at Tel Aviv University for eight months from October 2022 to June 2023. They are also going to be provided with medical insurance and financial support by both Russian and Israeli universities.

“Eugenia and I are grateful to the staff the International Research and Educational Center for Physics of Nanostructures, the Photophysics of Surface lab, and Daler Dadadzhanov and Anton Starovoytov in particular for letting us know about the scholarship, as well as Ekaterina Tulugurova, the head of International Educational Programs Department, who helped us apply. This is the first major scholarship for me. At Tel Aviv University, I’ll continue to study chirality of nanoparticles under the supervision of Prof. Gil Markovich,” says Georgy Alexan.