Current student exchanges

The UvA currently has one student exchange agreement, with Tel Aviv University. This is being reviewed by the Ethics Advisory Committee. An exchange program with Hebrew University was previously not extended on the committee's recommendation.

Current research collaborations

In addition to the exchanges, the UvA is participating in ten research projects involving Israeli partners within the Horizon Europe programme.

Four collaborations began after May 2024, when demonstrations took place on campus. These collaborations—with many more partners than just Israeli ones—were submitted to the advisory committee for advice before they began. The committee recommended strict conditions to better protect the collaborations against the risk of violating our ethical boundariesExternal link. For example: excluding direct data exchange with Israeli partners and preventing UvA research groups from collaborating directly with Israeli organisations in the same work packages.

The committee's recommendations are not shared publicly because they contain sensitive information about individuals, funding and research ideas. However, the committee intends to issue an annual report with an anonymised overview of the advisory requests it has processed. All research collaborations can be found in the  CORDIS databaseExternal link.

How is a research collaboration established?

The research collaborations in question are funded by a European fund: HorizonEurope. Researchers from various countries around the world jointly apply for a grant from this programme. This almost always involves large-scale research projects that last several years.

Researchers from different institutions jointly develop a research proposal. Folia outlined this process: "They devise a plan for the research, how to allocate the research tasks, and who needs what budget. Then, together, they form a so-called 'consortium,' a research group." This planning process can take up to a year and a half and is strictly confidential to prevent their research plans from being hijacked.

The UvA requires researchers to conduct an ethical review once they know who is participating in a consortium. 

The consortium then approaches the European Commission to apply for a Horizon grant. Agreements are laid down in two contracts: one with the European Commission concerning the grant (Grant Agreement), and one between the participants concerning tasks and responsibilities (Consortium Agreement).

These contracts are signed by the university on behalf of the researchers. Participants cannot simply withdraw afterward. Breaking the agreements is only possible if both contracts (Grant and Consortium) are broken.

Folia explains that the European Commission has already issued a ruling (at the request of another university) in which it said it will not grant permission for the contracts with Israel to be broken. Therefore, breaking the agreements can have serious consequences - financial ones, but even more importantly, years of research work will be lost. So far, no Dutch university has been able to take this step. Folia described why this is so difficultExternal link.

Additional step: temporary freeze on new collaborations

In June 2025, the UvA decided to temporarily suspend new collaborations with Israeli organisations within HorizonEurope. This measure remains in effect.

This step signals to the European Commission that the investigation and debate on potential sanctions against Israel are of paramount importance. The UvA also wants to emphasise the need for political and diplomatic efforts to end the horrific violence in the region. The UvA previously issued a letter urging the Dutch government to take decisive action.