For BGU students from all faculties
Scholarship subject to meeting program requirements and commitments.Places are limited.
Gain experience developing a venture with Prisma Negev’s ACT BGU. Work in a multidisciplinary student team with professional guidance to address a real need in the Negev, build a prototype and test it in the field.
You do not need a ready-made idea.
Practical experience, people to learn with and tools to practise as you develop your venture.
Connect what you study with questions from the field, your teammates’ ideas and feedback along the way.
ACTION
From understanding a need to prototyping and field testing.
Learn more ↗ACTION · 01
Practise researching needs, developing and testing a solution, and learning from feedback and results.
Back ↺COMMUNITY
A multidisciplinary team, professional guidance and connections with local partners.
Learn more ↗COMMUNITY · 02
Work with students from different fields, share responsibilities and receive guidance and feedback along the way.
Back ↺TRANSFORMATION
Needs research, AI for messaging, and tools to tell your story and present an idea.
Learn more ↗TRANSFORMATION · 03
Try digital tools and AI to develop messages and reach an audience. Shape your venture’s story, practise presenting it and receive feedback.
Back ↺INTERACT
Start with a real need and work together on a way to address it.
Meet people, ask questions and test ideas in the field.
COACT
Share responsibilities, get feedback from mentors and test ideas with field partners.
Share responsibilities, combine knowledge from different fields and make decisions together.
Bring questions and work in progress to your mentors, and use practical tools and feedback to move forward.
Listen to people affected by the challenge and work with them to test whether your idea fits their needs.
Build a prototype, test it in the field and prepare a presentation that tells your venture’s story and shares what you have learned.
12 anchor sessions, alongside enrichment sessions and tours, and individual mentoring sessions arranged with the teams. This journey outlines the program. A detailed syllabus and schedule will be sent to accepted participants.
What change would we like to be able to lead?
Meet the program and one another, explore social initiatives and begin connecting personal interests with regional needs.
You leave with: A personal map of interests and initial questions.
What can we do together that we could not do alone?
Discover complementary knowledge and strengths, practise collaboration and establish the foundations of a multidisciplinary team.
You leave with: A team skills map and principles for working together.
What matters to the people living with this challenge?
Plan listening and research: questions, sources and conversations with stakeholders. Learn to distinguish assumptions from evidence.
You leave with: A research plan and stakeholder map.
What can reality tell us that we did not know to ask?
Explore the local context, record observations and listen to different perspectives. Return with better questions.
You leave with: Field insights and initial evidence of a need.
Which problem is worth addressing, and who does it matter to?
Bring together the learning, define a focused problem, develop alternatives and test them with the people involved.
You leave with: A defined need and alternative approaches.
How can we test an idea before building everything?
Build a focused prototype, decide what to learn from it and explore feasibility and fit with the context.
You leave with: A prototype and a testing plan.
What needs to happen for the idea to reach the field?
Turn learning into an action plan. Work with partners to define responsibilities, resources and measures of success for a pilot.
You leave with: A pilot plan developed with the community partner.
How do we reach the right people in the right way?
Develop a message and outreach plan, try digital and AI tools, and retain human review and transparency.
You leave with: A message, an outreach channel and a record of AI use.
What changed, and what does the evidence allow us to say?
Analyse pilot results and field feedback. Distinguish success, limitations and questions that remain open.
You leave with: Results, lessons and proposals for improvement.
How do we tell the story without losing its complexity?
Connect the need, people, action and learning in one story. Explain what is needed for the initiative to continue.
You leave with: An initiative story and draft presentation.
What would help someone understand and want to join?
Present, receive peer and professional feedback, refine answers and improve the presentation.
You leave with: An updated presentation and answers to key questions.
How can the end of the program become a starting point?
Share outcomes and learning, meet partners and plan a responsible handover and continuation.
You leave with: An initiative portfolio and continuation plan.
Research, team meetings, mentoring and community action run throughout the journey. The field pilot takes place between sessions 7-9, alongside the learning.
Prisma Negev, Ben-Gurion University’s center for regional innovation, connects academic knowledge with local authorities, industry and civil society organizations. The center advances partnerships and initiatives that address the needs of people and communities in the Negev.
ACT BGU is a Prisma Negev program where students develop ventures in multidisciplinary teams, with professional guidance and a connection to needs in the field.
For BGU students from all faculties: bachelor’s students from their second year, and master’s or PhD students from any year. Final-year students may apply if available throughout the program, including summer.
Planned start: Planned end:
Alongside the sessions, you will work as a team on your venture.
The detailed session schedule will be set later, taking participants’ university timetables into account as far as possible. Participation is required across all three semesters, including summer.
NIS 10,000.
Subject to active participation, teamwork and completion of program outputs.
Submit an application with a PDF CV. Selection includes an application review and a personal interview.
Applications for the upcoming cohort are open.
Application deadline: 29 November 2026, 23:59 Israel time.
