The Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental & Energy Research

Researchers in the Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology use deserts as model ecosystems for advancing ecological knowledge in general, and specifically to understand the ecological properties of deserts.

The main idea being to apply the tools of Mathematics, Physics and Engineering to a wide range of problems of relevance in the study of the environment, and specifically, that of arid regions. Work conducted in the department focuses on applied and fundamental research, with these two aspects intertwined to various degrees.

The Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center is dedicated to conducting renewable energy ​research and its graduate programs. The research scope ranges from harvesting solar energy to storage, material science, optics, and surface physics, such as high concentration photovoltaics, physics of solar cells at very high efficiency, organic photovoltaics, highly concentrated electrolytes for super-capacitors and batteries, light-matter reactive metamaterials, and electro-molecular surfaces.