MINISTRY OF HEALTH

Their core work

Israel's Ministry of Health acts as a national health research funding and policy authority within European research coordination networks. Their primary role in H2020 is aligning Israel's national health research agenda with European priorities through ERA-NET co-fund mechanisms — they co-finance transnational research calls in areas like rare diseases, cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, and antimicrobial resistance. They also contribute regulatory and public health expertise, particularly in pharmacovigilance, human biomonitoring, and pandemic preparedness. As a government body, they bring national-level health data access, policy implementation capacity, and the ability to bridge research findings into public health practice.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In 2014–2017, the Ministry focused on building ERA-NET infrastructure across broad therapeutic areas — systems medicine, cardiovascular disease, antimicrobial resistance, nanomedicine, and biotechnology — essentially securing Israel's seat at every major European health research coordination table. From 2019 onward, their participation narrowed toward deeper programmatic engagement: the European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases (their largest project), personalized medicine with EU-CELAC international scope, pandemic vaccine trials (VACCELERATE), and sustained cancer research funding (TRANSCAN-3). The shift signals a move from broad network-joining to targeted, data-intensive health research with emphasis on FAIR data principles, patient empowerment, and translational outcomes.

Moving toward data-driven precision health and translational research coordination, with growing emphasis on rare diseases, FAIR data sharing, and rapid-response clinical infrastructure.

How they like to work

The Ministry never coordinates projects — it participates as a national funding body alongside other ministries and research councils in large ERA-NET consortia, typically with 20-40 partners per project. With 401 unique partners across 51 countries, they operate as a well-connected node in Europe's health research funding ecosystem rather than a technical research performer. Working with them means gaining access to Israel's national health research funding streams and regulatory alignment, making them valuable for consortia that need non-EU associated country participation and co-funding commitments.

Exceptionally broad network spanning 401 unique partners across 51 countries, reflecting their systematic participation in large ERA-NET consortia that bring together national funding agencies from across Europe and beyond. Their geographic reach extends well past the EU through initiatives like EULAC-PerMed (Latin America) and their role as an Israeli associated country representative.

What sets them apart

As Israel's health authority in H2020, the Ministry is the gateway for any consortium seeking Israeli co-funding, clinical data, or regulatory pathway alignment in health research. Unlike research institutes or universities, they bring the power to commit national research budgets to transnational calls — making them essential for ERA-NETs that need non-EU associated country buy-in. Their decade-long track record across 14 ERA-NET Cofunds means they understand the administrative mechanics of joint transnational calls better than almost any partner.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EJP RD
  Largest single project (EUR 482K) — the European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases covering data sharing, FAIR principles, omics, and patient empowerment across a massive consortium.
• VACCELERATE
  Represents a pivot to pandemic preparedness — joined Europe's COVID-19 vaccine trial accelerator platform, their first direct clinical trial infrastructure project.
• HBM4EU
  Flagship European human biomonitoring initiative linking chemical exposure data to health outcomes — demonstrates their environmental health capability beyond traditional clinical research funding.