Crown Princess Mary hands out research prizes

Crown Princess Mary handed out a series of research prizes to five of Denmark’s top researchers in a ceremony in Copenhagen on Monday.

The EliteForsk Awards, which are presented by the Ministry of Education and Research, are given to five young researchers and research students who are contributing at a skillset at an international level and who want to advance causes in Denmark.

Crown Princess Mary joined the Minister of Education and Research, Jesper Petersen, at the Ministry to present the awards to Professor Eva Boxenbaum, Professor Anders Engberg-Pedersen, Chief Physician Emil Loldrup Fosbøl, Professor Gemma Clare Solomon Larsen and Professor Signe Normand.

Each recipient received 1.2 million Danish kroner: 200,000 of which is a personal award for the researcher and 1 million of which is to advance their research activities.

The Ministry website notes: “This year’s five award recipients are conducting ground-breaking basic research that contributes to solving global challenges. It is researchers who master international collaboration and who connect insights from different disciplines and add new concepts and methods. They are modern leaders who create research environments of international distinction.”

Professor Boxenbaum’s research focuses on “organisational processes that can create permanent societal changes”, while Professor Engberg-Pedersen’s focuses on war and culture from the 18th century to the present day.

Doctor Fosbøl focuses on research into heart valve disease; Professor Solomon Larsen focuses on chemistry and molecules to figure out complex problems and create inventions, and Professor Normand focuses on how plants affect and are affected by climate change and how this can be viewed in a wider lens of Danish nature.

Crown Princess Mary also presented 20 PhD candidates with travel scholarships valued at 200,000 kroner. The money can be used to fund travel and research at institutions around the world.

The EliteForsk Prize was first awarded in 2007.