Eight research talents from DTU will receive a total approx. DKK 15 million from the Danish Council for Independent Research for their ground-breaking projects. The postdoc grants fall within the categories ‘Technology and Production Sciences’ and ‘Natural Sciences’.
Internationalization and research across disciplines are among the trends in this year’s allocation of 62 individual postdoc scholarships for ground-breaking research projects in the field of health sciences, humanities, natural sciences, technical sciences, and social sciences. In total, the Danish Council for Independent Research has awarded DKK 120 million to innovative research.
Among the recipients are eight research talents from DTU who will receive a total of approx. DKK 15 million. The postdoc grants fall within the categories ‘Technology and Production Sciences’ and ‘Natural Sciences’.
In a press release, the Chairman of the Danish Council for Independent Research I Culture and Communication, Professor Frederik Tygstrup says:
“The projects demonstrate that solving complex problems requires multiple approaches. Humanists offer ways of understanding human interaction, which for example mixes with technical, medical, and geological issues. Both diversity in knowledge and interdisciplinary collaboration form the basis for innovative solutions. The researchers show immense curiosity and daring in combining subject areas, which is a trend that bodes well for the future.”
Read about the grants within the category ‘Technology and Production Sciences’.
Read about the grants within the category of ‘Natural Sciences'.
Read more about The Danish Council for Independent Research.
Project title: Microstructurally engineered piezoelectrics for lead-free, high-resolution ultrasound imaging
Grant recipient: Astri Bjørnetun Haugen
Place of employment: Technical University of Denmark, DTU Energy
Awarded amount: DKK 1,729,521
Project description: Most deaths in Denmark are a result of cardiovascular diseases which to an increasing extent are diagnosed by means of intravenous ultrasound scans. This project will investigate the potential of a new measuring probe which is manufactured in a fundamentally different way and with a special microstructure enabling the use of new, unleaded components.
Project title: Multidisciplinary design and optimization of a 20 MW wind turbine rotor with analytical vortex-based aerodynamics
Grant recipient: Emmanuel Simon Pierre Branlard
Place of employment: Technical University of Denmark, DTU Wind Energy
Awarded amount: DKK 1,854,000
Project description: Current wind turbine designs employ relatively rigid blades for withstanding the loads that occur during the lifetime of the turbine. This project will use nonlinear beam theory and vortex aerodynamics to make aeroelastic simulations of flexible wings that are a not straight. This project will help wind turbine manufacturers and other researchers by offering a new data design tool as well as a new, advanced design of a large wind turbine of 20 MW.
Project title: Fast Solvers for Nonlinear Model Predictive Control of Energy Systems
Grant recipient: Gianluca Frison
Place of employment: Technical University of Denmark, DTU Compute
Awarded amount: DKK 1,990,368
Project description: In this project, numerical algorithms for control and optimization are developed, which allows for flexible and proactive operation of wind turbines and other units in an energy system. The project will also entail development of algorithms that exploit the increased flexibility of the individual units to coordinate operation of the overall energy system in a more robust and effective way than possible with existing technologies. Such control and optimization algorithms allow for a green energy system based on renewable sources of energy such as wind energy.
Project title: Early exposure to CO2 in salmonids: The long-term effects on Atlantic salmon growth and performance in aquaculture.
Grant recipient: Javed Rafiq Khan
Place of employment: Technical University of Denmark, DTU Aqua
Awarded amount: DKK 1,913,304
Project description: Exposure of juvenile fish to elevated CO2 levels during the freshwater stages of production is suspected to result in significantly reduced feed efficiency and growth later in life. Through collaboration with industry, the project aims to understand the physiological mechanisms caused by CO2 exposure, which inhibit the growth of the Atlantic salmon in recirculating aquaculture systems. It is a further aim to obtain knowledge for providing advice to the industry and to be able to contribute with good administrative practice (BMP) to ensure optimal production and animal welfare.
Project title: Flexoelectric MEMS: An Opportunity to Boost Performance and Remove Toxic Constituents
Grant recipient: Nirupam Banerjee
Place of employment: Technical University of Denmark
Awarded amount: DKK 2,013,120
Project description: Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices on silicon (Si) have become a mainstream part of modern microelectronic technology with several important applications. The project aims to demonstrate and understand the utility of an unconventional material property, namely ‘flexoelectricity’ for electromechanical actuation of MEMS devices on Si. Nirupam Banerjee’s recent results utilizing this novel approach have already demonstrated high figures of merit in Pb-free SrTiO3 flexo-MEMS cantilevers, that rival those of the best piezoelectric bimorphs.
Project title: Using Big Data sources for the consistent estimation of next-generation route choice models
Grant recipient: Thomas Kjær Rasmussen
Place of employment: Technical University of Denmark, DTU Transport
Awarded amount: DKK 1,243,930
Project description: Route selection constitutes a large and important component of any traffic model, but many of today’s route selection models are theoretically inconsistent. In addition, they are often calibrated manually, based on the data generated by questionnaire-based surveys with unrealistically hypothetical selection scenarios. Recently a theoretically consistent route selection model was developed, but there are still no methods for its estimation. The project aims to develop methods for consistent estimation of the new route selection model to exploit new Big Data sources (e.g. GPS data).
Project title: A Novel Approach to Generate Multifunctional Polymer Brush Films to Tailor Interfacial Properties
Grant recipient: Troels Røn
Place of employment: Technical University of Denmark, DTU Mechanical Engineering
Awarded amount: DKK 2,656,207
Project description: In various organs such as the oesophagus or the intestines of mammals or on the surface of fish and snails, are mucus layers that reduces friction by contact with other bodies. The mucus layer also constitutes a physical barrier to prevent infections from bacteria and viruses. This project concerns the study and the preparation of surfaces with properties similar to those displayed by mucus.
Project title: Collective effects in two-dimensional materials: electronic excitation and manipulation of plasmons
Grant recipient: Thomas Christensen
Place of employment: Technical University of Denmark
Awarded amount: DKK 1,747,858
Project description: The free charge carriers in metals can in conditioned environments support collective oscillations called plasmons. The plasmons oscillate at the natural frequencies of the charge-carrying plasma and have an electronic as well as a photonic nature. In this cross-field, a wealth of opportunities to blaze new trails within electronics and optics arises, for example exceeding the diffraction limit. This project will investigate the possibilities of theoretical excitation electronically, particularly in two-dimensional (2D) materials, such as the graph and topological insulators. The project aims to explore these unique possibilities in 2D platforms in order to realize this potential.