The United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) is a grant-awarding institution that promotes collaborative research in a wide range of basic and applied scientific disciplines, established in 1972 by an agreement between the governments of the United States and Israel. Numerous scientists participating in BSF programs have won prestigious awards such as the Nobel, Lasker and Wolf prizes.[1] The Foundation grant recipients include 43 Nobel Prize laureates, 19 winners of the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award, and 38 recipients of the Wolf Prize.[2] [3]
The BSF's income is derived from interest on an endowment of $100 million which was established in equal parts by the United States and Israeli governments. The organization is governed by a Board of Governors consisting of five American and five Israeli members, appointed by their respective governments. The BSF's base of operations is in Jerusalem.
Grants are awarded on a competitive, peer-reviewed basis, a process juried by scientists from the United States, Israel and around the world. To be eligible for consideration, grant requests must be of outstanding scientific quality and demonstrate substantive collaboration between American and Israeli principal investigators. They must be for peaceful purposes and conducted under the aegis of not-for-profit institutions such as universities, research institutes and governmental bodies.