Five top researchers win the prestigious Elite Research Award today
What happens inside a star when it dies and goes supernova? How do micro-organisms interact with each other? Is it possible to identify all the bacteria in Denmark? How may legal issues affect people's right to flee and become refugees? Can the interreaction between human creativity and artificial intelligence be explained scientifically?
These are some of the major questions that daily preoccupy the five award-winning researchers. Many years of asking questions and following the drive to find answers have led the five researchers to remarkable results that have provided society with new knowledge.
Today, at an award ceremony at The Black Diamond in Copenhagen, they will be honoured for delivering world-class research that may inspire other young researchers to follow in their footsteps and strive to reach the same high professional standards.
The award recipients will each receive DKK 1.2 million in recognition of their outstanding work and the impact it will have on society. DKK 1 million goes to the recipients' research activities, while the remaining DKK 200,000 is a personal recognition grant.
The five winners of the Elite Research Award 2024:
In addition, 18 highly talented PhD students will each receive an Elite Research travel grant of DKK 200,000. These grants will be used to fund study trips to the very best research environments in the world, helping the students to acquire new knowledge in their own fields.
The Minister for Higher Education and Science, Christina Egelund, comments:
- We live in a time of great challenges such as the climate crisis, wars, and epidemics, all of which many people have opinions about without the knowledge to support those opinions. Science is at risk of drowning in a sea of misinformation and fake news, which also threatens our democracies. However, science stands in sharp contrast to the spread of misinformation. Therefore, it is important that we celebrate and acknowledge the researchers who contribute to our society's ability to address the challenges we face. The five Elite Research winners we are celebrating today are among the most talented researchers in their fields - every day they dedicate themselves to making us all wiser while combating misinformation. Congratulations to the five Elite Research Award winners and to the 18 talented PhD students receiving a travel grant.
Facts
- The Elite Research Awards are being presented for the 18th time this year and were first awarded in 2007.
- The award programme focuses on cutting-edge Danish research, raising awareness about the quality of Danish research.
- Elite Research aims to showcase researchers as role models and to ignite curiosity and enthusiasm for science among students and young researchers.
- Among previous winners, we find Eske Willerslev, who won the prize in 2011, and Vincent Hendricks, who won the prize in 2008.
For more information
Press enquiries to the Minister for Higher Education and Science may be directed to the Ministry of Higher Education and Science press desk: + 45 7231 8181, or email: presse@ufm.dk
Press enquiries concerning the presentation of the Elite Research Awards may be addressed to the press desk of the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science: 72 31 90 00, or email: POK-Presse@ufm.dk