Photo: Bjørn Lymann Jespersen

EliteForsk scholarships awarded to researcher talents

Mathematical analysis Construction materials Bridge constructions Fuel cells
Three PhD students from DTU were presented with travel scholarships at the annual EliteForsk Conference. The conference also celebrated the other prize winners from the Sapere Aude programme and the heads of the new Centres of Excellence.

Three PhD researchers were among the recipients when Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary and Minister for Higher Education and Science, Sofie Carsten Nielsen presented a number of awards at the EliteForsk conference on 26 February at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen. Held in the Ceremonial Hal, the conference was filled to capacity with researchers and award recipients.

EliteForsk scholarships

Twenty of the awards were EliteForsk scholarships of DKK 200,000 each, which went to talented PhD students. DTU was represented by three scholarship recipients—Mads Sielemann Jakobsen from DTU Compute, Mia Schou Møller Lund from DTU Civil Engineering and Anders Filsøe Pedersen from DTU Physics. All three were proud and delighted to receive their awards and are now looking forward to using the money to become even better within their respective fields of research.


Twenty-six-year-old Mads Sielemann Jakobsen, researcher in mathematics
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Mads is concerned with abstract and applied harmonic analysis which can be used for image, radar, audio, and signal analysis as well as voice recognition. His main focus is the theory behind the applications.

The grant will be used for a visit to the Norbert Wiener Center for Harmonic Analysis and Applications, which is an hour’s drive from Washington, D.C. at the University of Maryland. Here he will concern himself more with the practical applications. Besides his visit to the US, Mads also hopes that the scholarship will cover travel expenses for several short stays with research groups in Norway and Austria, as well as various conferences and summer schools—all before completing his PhD studies in 18 months’ time.


27-year-old Mia Schou Møller Lund, researcher in construction and building materials
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Mie conducts research into improving the durability of the materials used in so-called pearl-chain bridges. Her PhD is on the concrete drainage systems that must be placed on top of pearl-chain bridges. These systems possess a wide range of properties that can enhance bridge durability.

She will use the money to boost Danish research into concrete drainage internationally. She will form part of a team of researchers at Iowa State University specializing in concrete drainage system design. Among other things, her research will focus on optimizing concrete drainage systems for the Danish climate, which exposes bridges to repeated frost and thawing.


25-year-old Anders Filsøe Pedersen, researcher in physics.

Anders conducts research into how to improve hydrogen-based fuel cells to find a better catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction, which affects energy loss in the cells. The search for a better catalyst may result in energy storage, thus reducing fossil fuel dependency.

The money will be used to extend his stay at SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center), which is part of Stanford University in the USA. Here he has access to equipment essential to his research.
In addition to the three scholarship recipients, the recipients of the Sapere Aude grants 2014 and the heads of the new Centres of Excellence were honoured with flowers and applause. Here, too, DTU was well represented.

Sapere Aude:


Young talents:
Maria Escudero Escribano, DTU Physics
Krzysztof Iwaszcuk, DTU Fotonik

Heads of Research:
Philip Bille, DTU Compute
Niels Gregersen, DTU Fotonik
Morten Sommer, DTU Systems Biology

Top researchers:
Leif Katsuo Oxenløwe, DTU Fotonik
Ole Sigmund, DTU Mechanical Engineering

Heads of Centres:
Anja Boisen, DTU Nanotech
Jan Henrik Ardenkjær-Larsen, DTU Electrical Engineering
Leif Katsuo Oxenløwe, DTU Fotonik

Read more about the centres here.