The Weizmann Institute of Science celebrates 124 new PhD graduates – more than 20 percent of them international students – and 227 master’s degree recipients. Meet the class of 2026.
“I grew up in Nof HaGalil, in a home where no one had an academic education, but where there was always curiosity, creativity and a love of learning. My parents taught me to ask questions, observe the world and never be afraid to dream big. When I arrived here, I felt I had found a place where that curiosity could become a way of life.” With these words, Mazal Faraj opened her speech on behalf of the alumnae and alumni at the annual graduation ceremony of the Weizmann School of Science.
The class of 2026: 351 new graduates
This year, 144 women and 207 men completed their studies at the Weizmann Institute of Science’s School of Science, including 124 new PhD graduates and 227 master’s degree recipients. Despite the state of war in Israel, which directly affected the Weizmann campus, 47 international research students were among those donning gowns and caps. They came to study in Israel from China, India, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Sweden, Czechia, Italy, France, Belgium, Serbia, Hungary, Switzerland, Finland, Colombia and the United States. International students accounted for more than 20 percent of this year’s doctoral graduates.
“Our journey toward a master’s degree did not take place in a sterile bubble. It began just a few months after October 7. We tried to balance rotations, courses and experiments with a reality of war and uncertainty. Some of us – myself included – served at the same time in the reserves and in emergency organizations, and volunteered in our communities. Through it all, the Weizmann Institute was an island of stability amid the storm. Our laboratories became anchors, sanctuaries and family. Even when the labs were damaged by a missile strike and shut down for a time, we worked tirelessly to restore them. We learned how to keep going – just as we do in science: to cope with the unexpected, recalculate our course and try again from the beginning,” Faraj said.
A third graduating class in the shadow of war
The class of 2026 is the third graduating class since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, and the first since missiles struck the Weizmann Institute during Iran’s attack on Israel in June 2025. These dramatic events left their mark on everyone in attendance and featured prominently in the ceremony’s speeches.
“On a day like this, it is impossible not to remember that exactly one year ago, two missiles struck the Weizmann Institute. Two missiles that turned the world upside down for all of us,” said Prof. Maya Schuldiner, Dean of the Weizmann School of Science. “I felt it very personally because one of them directly hit the lab of my husband, Oren [Prof. Oren Schuldiner]. I remember the moment we received the news – the painful realization that 20 years of research, work, thought, dreams and discoveries had turned to dust in an instant. It was heartbreaking.
When we were allowed back on campus and into our lab, we found – as many labs did – that the windows and doors had been blown out and everything was covered in dust and shattered glass. Our safe space for doing science had been disrupted. So we did something very simple. We turned on some music. We rolled up our sleeves and spent an entire day cleaning and organizing until, little by little, the lab became ours again – and we became ourselves again.”
Great responsibility in challenging times
Weizmann Institute President Prof. Alon Chen also spoke about the unique challenges facing Israeli science and the broader challenges of the current era:
“You are going out into the world at a time of uncertainty, but also of unprecedented opportunity. Never before have human beings had so many tools with which to understand the world, and never before has so much responsibility been required in how those tools are used. The knowledge you have acquired, the abilities you have developed and the values you have absorbed during your studies will enable you not only to navigate a changing reality, but also to shape it.”
Speaking on behalf of the Institute’s scientists, Prof. Nir Davidson, chair of Weizmann’s Scientific Council, stressed the graduates’ continuing journey and their responsibilities to society and the scientific community:
“The degree you receive today is both a great privilege and a great duty. A duty to yourselves: to continue developing the talents and abilities that brought you here. In science, learning never ends. A duty to the families who loved, believed in and supported you unconditionally – repay them with love and support, and justify their trust. A duty to the scientific community you are joining: to teach and share the knowledge you have gained and will gain in the future. A duty to Israeli society, which is in need of excellent, creative and courageous scientists to lead it forward. And above all, a duty to humanity itself.
As Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the Institute’s founder and Israel’s first president, once said: ‘I have always known that above science stand higher values, and that only in them lies a remedy for the afflictions of humanity – justice, integrity, peace and brotherhood.’ Be scientists and be human beings. Remember: The knowledge, talent and opportunities you have received are not merely a gift – they are also a loan. Pass it on.”
Source and complete article: WIS