Since 1989 Ben-Avraham has been Max Sonnenberg Professor of Marine Geoscience at the University of Cape Town.
[2] In 2007 Ben-Avraham started as the first director of the Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences at the University of Haifa.
[4] In this capacity a team under his guidance has taken samples from the sea bottom to determine its history.
[6] In 2011 Ben-Avraham discovered that fault-finding coral reefs could provide indications on where future earthquakes could take places.
The jury praised him for his exploring skills, knowledge of innovative research methods and data-collecting and management capabilities.
[6] Ben-Avraham was elected a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006.