McMaster is joining its U15 counterparts on a week-long trip to Israel to expand and explore research and academic cooperation with some of Israel’s top research universities.

Peter Mascher, McMaster’s associate vice-president, International Affairs is among the delegates taking part in the trip organized by the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA).

The U15 and CIJA are strengthening past collaborative efforts and exploring new research partnerships in a number of broad fields ranging from the Humanities to Engineering.

While in Israel, Mascher will sign two memoranda of understanding (MOU); the first with Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU), the second with Technion (Israel Institute of Technology). The agreements are aimed at exploring joint research projects, pursuing joint grant applications and the looking into the possibility of joint supervision of PhD students.

McMaster will also work with Hebrew University to establish an international research internship program and will work with HU to develop initiatives that engage the Greater Toronto-Hamilton-Golden Horseshoe community.

“Formalizing and strengthening these networks will help us to identify areas of common interest and lay the groundwork for the development of joint initiatives that could lead to partnerships in a number of areas of study, as well as with the broader community ,” says Mascher. “Building these relationships will further enhance opportunities for students and researchers and ensure that a broad spectrum of fields can benefit from these partnerships.”

During the visit, Mascher, along with the members of the U15 delegation, will meet with officials at a number of other leading Israeli universities including Ben Gurion University, the Weizmann Institute of Science and Tel Aviv University.