Israeli academia is simultaneously one of the strongest research communities in the world  – and one of the most vulnerable. That contradiction is not accidental; it is the product of five interacting crises. My perspective on this contradiction comes from work I have done outside Israel, where I have seen how scientific institutions can strengthen – or lose – their societal relevance.

For the past 15 years I have worked in the development of a trans-European research infrastructure whose goal is to monitor the health of ecosystems and the human societies that rely on them. Its goals included not only understanding complex human–environment interactions, but also to design an institution capable of integrating science and policy needs and working with communities to realize these goals collectively. Whether examining the socio-economic impact of our work, advancing gender equity and ethical conduct in our scientific community, evaluating transdisciplinary methodologies, or drafting and revising our strategic vision, my work has always been rooted in the same framework: that science must be integrative, reflexive, stakeholder-engaged, and oriented toward societal transformation. While my experience accumulated through my involvement in the European Long-Term Ecosystem and Socio-Ecological Research Infrastructure (eLTER-RI), developing conceptual frameworks, ethical guidelines, sustainability protocols, and organizational reforms aimed at increasing the societal relevance of science, the lessons learned apply to any scientific research institution.

This experience honed my understanding of challenges facing Israeli academia today – academia which is facing at least five such challenges that are severe enough to challenge the relevancy of the entire enterprise of scientific research in Israel. Individually, each one is tough to confront, but when the five interact, we are facing a maelstrom.

The first challenge is the degradation of global........

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