Seizing Every Opportunity at Lowy International School

Daphne Cavanaugh’s first days at Tel Aviv University were also the last days of her IDF service before her release. By the time she finished at TAU just two years later, she held two master's degrees, two hackathon first prizes, and a wealth of unique experience thanks to the many opportunities for young people from abroad wishing to live in Israel at TAU’s Lowy International School. Daphne, a recent graduate of the Lowy School and an olah (new immigrant) from the US, completed both the MA in Conflict Resolution and the Sofaer Global MBA after voluntarily serving in the IDF. During her studies, she entered and placed highly in numerous innovation competitions for which she and fellow TAU students conceived tech solutions focused on aiding citizens of developing countries. In between semesters, Daphne volunteered with nonprofits in Africa and assisted with Israeli civil society initiatives. She has gone on to enter the Israeli startup industry with a job at a PR firm that serves tech startups and venture capital operations. 

Two Degrees are Better Than One 

Daphne began learning how to build cultural bridges during her bachelor’s degree studies in international relations. After making aliyah on her own, she gained experience by joining the International Relations unit of the IDF as a lone soldier, participating in cooperative efforts with Israel’s allies. Hoping to continue her professional development in the field, she began the MA in Conflict Resolution and Mediation at the Lowy School immediately after finishing her service. 

"TAU's Global MBA was an easy choice: the rigorous curriculum challenged me to grow and I continue to feel supported by the professors there even today."

“Through the Conflict Resolution program, I learned many valuable skills such as negotiation and mediation that could aid in diplomacy.” After her MA, Daphne interned at Innovation Africa, a Herzliya-based nonprofit providing clean water and solar energy to African villages in need. It was there she decided to apply for TAU’s Sofaer Global MBA. "My experience at Innovation Africa revealed how business expertise could amplify my ability to further humanitarian causes. TAU's Global MBA was an easy choice: the rigorous curriculum challenged me to grow and I continue to feel supported by the professors there even today. I was particularly grateful to receive a merit-based scholarship from the University which helped me focus completely on my studies.” 

Competing for a Cause 

During her MBA, Daphne’s professors encouraged her to enter Tel Aviv University’s premier MedTech hackathon, setting off a string of wins and near-wins for projects that address real-world problems. 

For the TAU MedTech Hackathon, partially supported by the Edmond J. Safra Center for Bioinformatics, Daphne’s team of TAU students came up with an aid for doctors in the operating room. They designed OReye, an AI-based computer vision solution to track surgical objects’ whereabouts in real-time and keep doctors alerted. To her surprise, her team won first place. “It was such a confidence boost for me that also furthered my interest in entrepreneurship. Our team was accepted to join the hackathon from the waitlist at the last minute, and it only pushed us to work harder.” After their win, TAU flew the team to MIT to compete in a hackathon where they were also able to network with leading medical innovators.  

Daphne (left) and her team present their winning idea, OReye, at TAU's MedTech Hackathon.

Hoping to truly pursue OReye, Daphne and her team applied for TAU’s Coller Startup Competition. Though their rivals were industry professionals, they made it to the final round and were able to present to potential backers for a possible $100,000 investment. “After that my teammates had to turn their focus to their medical degrees, but we have a website and still bounce potential ideas off of each other.  Meeting them was one of the best parts of my TAU experience,” she says. 

Daphne began looking for more projects to take on and was directed by her MBA professor Tamar Many to the Hong Kong Water Challenge, a joint competition with Hong Kong University. She and her team were paired up with her old employer, Innovation Africa, and decided to help tackle the organization’s donor shortage. Working together virtually as Daphne was volunteering in Rwanda at the time, they created a phone game that puts users in the shoes of someone searching for water. The application, which won first place, guides users to donate and also brings in money through advertising.  

Daphne also worked on a personal venture with a classmate during her degree: LIAN, which would provide pre- and postnatal vitamins to breastfeeding women through patches. For her design, she won second place in the TAU Coller School of Management's Sofaer Pitch Competition. 

Helping at Home 

When Hamas attacked Israel and the Gaza war broke out, Daphne had finished her MBA and had just returned from volunteering in Tanzania teaching business and health to young women from disadvantaged backgrounds. Immediately, she turned her pro-social efforts toward her community at home. “I really wanted to do reserve duty, but it didn’t work out. So I looked for ways to help through TAU.”  Working again with Prof. Many from the Coller School of Management, she helped organize a workshop for other students on combatting disinformation and hate called “From Crisis to Creation.”  Daphne and several of her classmates also created programming that could be used to build empathy for victims of 10/7. 

Today, she has entered the startup scene through work at a public relations firm. “Helping Israeli founders articulate their vision while playing a direct role in their success has been so rewarding. One of my venture capital clients funds an entire portfolio of digital health companies, so I’m able to continue in the health tech world like when I studied,” she enthuses. 

“Helping Israeli founders articulate their vision has been so rewarding. I hope to one day make an impact by building something of my own.”

Alongside her work, Daphne continues to come up with ideas and to even compete in hackathons. “I recently won the Blockchain Challenge sponsored by Collider Ventures with my boyfriend, himself a TAU student. Our idea was AllPlanned, secure estate planning for modern law firms.” she says. “I hope to one day make an impact by building something of my own.”