DTU celebrates excellent researchers and strong collaborations

Last week, DTU highlighted researchers’ successes as the university celebrated a large group of grant recipients in the Glass Hall at DTU Lyngby Campus. Across 92 projects, the researchers had attracted more than DKK 940 million in external funding—close to one billion Danish kroner.

The celebration brought together researchers from across DTU and reflected a broad range of research areas – from personalised immunotherapies and cyber security to advanced energy systems, the green transition and sustainable nutrition. The event featured speeches, academic presentations and opportunities to meet and network across disciplines and departments.

Excellence through collaboration

DTU Provost Christine Nellemann welcomed the guests and congratulated the grant recipients. She emphasised that the grants are important both for the researchers’ work and careers – and for DTU as a university.

This year, DTU expanded the celebration so that, in addition to honouring individual top grants where a single researcher is the main recipient and builds their own group or idea, it also recognised research projects carried out through collaboration between several researchers and partners. 

“Excellent research does not stand alone. It is often created together—in teams, across disciplines, institutions, sectors and countries. With this expansion, we celebrate both individual excellence and the power of collaboration,” said Christine Nellemann.

According to Christine Nellemann, research projects such as the European research and training network Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network (MSCA-DN) support DTU’s strategy. They do so by strengthening interdisciplinary and international collaboration, which is essential to addressing major societal challenges, and by advancing DTU’s ambition to be among Europe’s five leading elite technical universities:

“It requires interaction between different disciplines and fields of expertise—and the ability to work productively with partners both nationally and internationally across academia, industry and society,” the Provost stated.

Research in focus—from gene technology to energy systems

Following the welcome, two of the day’s grant recipients took the stage with short presentations about their research.

Assistant Professor Lisa Riedmayr from DTU Bioengineering spoke about her research into tools that can make gene and cell therapy safer, more precise and more affordable. She explained that the recognition and new opportunities come at a time when she is in the process of building her research group:

“It is a big moment. I did not expect to receive the grants so quickly. My partner and I came to Denmark and to DTU a little over a year ago—and today I am here together with him and our seven-month-old daughter,” she said.

Lisa Riedmayr has received both a Lundbeck Fellow grant and a Novo Nordisk Foundation Start Package grant.

“The grants are crucial. They give me the opportunity to build a strong foundation as a researcher. What is special about biomedicine is the very concrete chance to change something and help people,” she explained.

The expanded focus on collaboration was seen as an important signal by the second keynote speaker, Professor Ahmad Arabkoohsar from DTU Construct:

"Recognition matters, especially for our younger, hardworking colleagues working more around such types of projects. It is a bit like a pat on the back, which may not otherwise happen very often,” the professor said.

His research focuses on developing new solutions within thermal energy systems to advance sustainability across different sectors. He has over the past year secured funding for two postdoctoral positions as well as an international PhD network, which he coordinates, through the EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA).

“The grants provide a unique opportunity to build partnerships with excellent researchers within a very comprehensive, multidisciplinary framework that I probably would not otherwise have access to. Securing such a project is certainly challenging, but I see it as an important source of motivation,” said Ahmad Arabkoohsar, before joining his fellow researchers.

The afternoon continued with informal conversations and networking.