Antwerp (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The University of Antwerp, led by Rector Herwig Leirs, will continue a 2024-funded epilepsy research project with Tel Aviv University, despite ethics concerns and student protests, involving researchers from 5 countries.
As VRT News reported, the University of Antwerp will continue a research project with Tel Aviv University, even though its own Human Rights Ethics Committee issued a negative recommendation. The project was granted in 2024, before the university decided to stop entering new collaborations with Israeli universities.
The ethics committee later raised concerns about the partnership, pointing out that Tel Aviv University often works with the Israeli army. Rector Herwig Leirs said the committee considered the collaboration problematic because of these connections.
“We believe that there is no chance that we will violate human rights with this research project.”
Herwig Leirs, rector of the University of Antwerp
What is the future of the University of Antwerp’s 2024 epilepsy project with Tel Aviv?
After careful review, the university’s board decided the project can continue. Rector Leirs explained that the board believes this specific project carries no risk of violating human rights. The board and the rector stressed that the choice was made after detailed discussions and careful consideration of the project’s impact.
A collaboration of researchers from Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Italy, and Israel is working on a project to create more rapid treatments for a hereditary severe form of epilepsy in babies and young children. Funding from each country is provided to each partner, meaning that all teams will have the necessary funding to complete their work.
“We are halting other projects; we’re fully engaged in them,”
Leirs emphasises.
“Those projects do involve European funding for the Israeli university. We obviously want to avoid that”
The University of Antwerp further clarified that, on the side of this project, it will not enter into any new partnerships with Israeli universities. These comments were made in the context of recent public deliberation and student protests leading to student-led demands to cut ties with Israel altogether.
The university stressed that it continues to support the ongoing project because it does not involve human rights risks and has significant potential to improve medical treatment for children suffering from severe epilepsy.
The University of Antwerp has faced growing scrutiny over its collaborations with Israeli institutions in recent years. Student protests and public debates have repeatedly called for the university to end partnerships due to concerns about human rights and connections to the Israeli military.
In 2024, the university decided to stop entering into new collaborations with Israeli universities. Despite this policy, existing projects awarded before the decision, such as the international epilepsy research initiative, continue.
