Research culture

Head of Department Jan Madsen: Let curiosity guide you

Life as a researcher today is far more streamlined and focused on outcomes than it was when DTU Compute's Head of Department began his career. At the same time, AI and digitalisation are dramatically changing the daily lives of researchers. That is why it is important to remain curious and open to new people and ideas, says Jan Madsen, who this September celebrates 40 years of service in the Danish public sector.

Head of Department, Professor Jan Madsen. Photo: Heidi Lerkenfeldt

Friday 11 September 2026

Hanne Kokkegård

When the scientist H.C. Ørsted founded the Den Polytekniske Læreanstalt in 1829 (now DTU), his interests extended far beyond physics and chemistry. Ørsted was also engaged in philosophy and poetry, and to him, these interests were closely interconnected in his attempt to understand the world. No subject was inherently more valuable or more worthy of interest than another.

In many ways, this reflects the values that DTU Compute's Head of Department, Jan Madsen, considers important: curiosity, openness, and respect for other(‘s) perspectives.

This September, Jan Madsen celebrates 40 years of service in the Danish public sector. Over four decades, he has helped establish new research areas and build bridges between disciplines, much like Ørsted's ideal of the broad-minded polytechnic scholar who is not constrained by disciplinary boundaries. As one example, Jan Madsen became interested as early as the 1990s in collaboration between hardware and software developers, who traditionally worked separately.

"It was incredibly difficult to make it work, but I became involved in groups where we discussed whether we should integrate the domains. At the time, many people had strong arguments for why it could never be done: because we thought differently, were different, and had different educational backgrounds. But that movement ultimately led to embedded systems, where we succeeded in creating an entirely new field of research."

Since then, an interest in understanding other disciplines and perspectives has been a driving force throughout Jan Madsen's career. Most recently, he has found inspiration through visits to and discussions with MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Boston:

"When I look at MIT, I would say they are closer to Ørsted's vision of interdisciplinarity than we are. In addition to the STEM disciplines, MIT teaches art, history, philosophy, economics, and much more, ensuring that its students receive a broad education. We like to think of ourselves as broadly polytechnic, but fundamentally it is breadth within the relatively narrow field in which we operate. And it is still rather niche."

"Given the rapid developments within AI and the way it is fundamentally accelerating digital transformation, it is clear to me that we do not only need people who become deep specialists within their own fields. Increasingly, we also need people who can bridge a disciplinary field and computing (digitalisation, AI, data, algorithms, and the digital technologies shaping the society of the future), and who specialise in both areas; what we call bilingual engineers," says Jan Madsen.

Openness creates new opportunities

For Jan Madsen, curiosity is not only about seeking knowledge across disciplinary boundaries. It is equally about engaging with people who bring different experiences and perspectives.

As artificial intelligence and digitalisation transform research and working life, human relationships become even more important because they provide access to different forms of knowledge, Jan Madsen believes.

He often tells new PhD students about his network, which dates back to his own time as a PhD student and includes people from both academia and senior executives at some of Silicon Valley's major companies. They met when they were all young and exploring a world of possibilities.

"You can view networks as an opportunity to be challenged and to broaden your perspective. Today, I worry that especially young people may choose to opt out of that, because AI is quicker at responding to our narrowly defined prompts. If that happens, we risk losing ourselves, losing our curiosity about one another, losing our curiosity about knowledge that lies beyond our own ways of thinking, and ultimately failing to see other possibilities."

Jan Madsen points out that many of the most significant breakthroughs occur when people from different backgrounds come together and challenge each other's perspectives, something that AI does not necessarily provide.

"When you approach others with openness and listen respectfully to people who are experts in something you do not understand and who may hold entirely different views, it creates more value than results alone. As human beings, we develop through relationships, collaboration, and the shared process."

Increasingly, we also need people who can bridge a disciplinary field and computing (digitalisation, AI, data, algorithms, and the digital technologies shaping the society of the future), and who specialise in both areas; what we call bilingual engineers.

Jan Madsen Head of Department, Professor

Structure must not overshadow recognition

This way of thinking also shapes Jan Madsen's approach to leadership. At DTU Compute, he works to foster an environment where everyone feels seen, and where young researchers, for example, have space to develop and experience the psychological safety that gives them the confidence to pursue their curiosity.

"Everyone is here for a reason. People deserve respect and recognition for their contribution. That applies throughout the entire organisation, both within academia and among administrative and technical staff."

Years ago, Jan Madsen referred in a radio interview to the Danish philosopher K.E. Løgstrup's concept of the ethical demand, according to which, in our encounters with one another, we always hold a small part of another person's life and future in our hands.

For that reason, the Head of Department is also concerned with the structures that shape the research world and that do not always support a culture of recognition.

If we look at academia in isolation, one of the downsides is the way promotion, success, and research funding are typically achieved. Higher-ranking researchers with formal responsibility can easily receive most of the credit for the work. Others often have to wait for their turn to shine.

"People say that we stand on the shoulders of others. That means building upon other people's knowledge, learning from them, and helping to train the next generation. But it is a balance. Those who have genuinely created something should receive the credit. At DTU Compute, we tend to discuss this more indirectly because I see it as part of a broader perspective. Everyone has a place, and everyone should be supported and recognised for their contribution."

The importance of being seen and recognised is also reflected in monthly cross-departmental lunches, where Jan Madsen shares a meal with groups of employees, including researchers, administrative staff, and technical staff, a mix of experienced colleagues and newer colleagues.

"I hope that the invitation and the lunch clearly signal that, at our department, everyone's opinion matters, everyone has the right to express it, and people are listened to. I want our younger and newer colleagues to engage with that and understand that we genuinely mean it. It is part of our One Compute strategy."

Advice for the next generation

Throughout his career, Jan Madsen has progressed from a young researcher to Professor and Head of Department, while also serving today as Digital Advisor of the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences and Chair of the Board of DIREC, Digital Research Centre Denmark. Yet it is not titles or strategic career planning that he highlights. Instead, he returns to curiosity and openness.

"I never had a plan to become a head of department or a professor. I have been driven by what I found enjoyable and genuinely exciting. It was only when we introduced time registration and I had to start thinking about how I spent my time that I began to view it as a job. Before that, I never had."

Perhaps that is why his advice to the next generation is not centred on career planning.

Podcast with Jan Madsen

In November 2023, DTU Compute recorded a podcast with Jan Madsen.

Listen to the podcast

"Today there is a great deal of pressure when we discuss strategically what young researchers should do. They must avoid poor course evaluations, ensure that they publish in the right journals to improve their chances of securing funding and bringing money into the system, and so on, in order to take the next step in their careers."

"KPIs are useful as indicators for making adjustments. But if we align everything to them, we miss the opportunity to discover new things and approach challenges differently. I want DTU Compute to be a place where people enjoy experimenting and where it is acceptable to fail. The process itself is what helps you become a well-rounded and capable person, and curiosity opens new fields for you."

When Jan Madsen addressed DTU Compute's new students a few weeks ago, his message was very much the same: focus on learning rather than results alone, remain curious, and explore knowledge beyond what is found in textbooks.

"You do not become a good engineer because you get high grades. You get high grades because you are a good engineer."

For Jan Madsen, it is curiosity that opens new doors, creates new relationships, and drives the kind of development upon which both H.C. Ørsted's vision and DTU itself were founded.

Contact

Jan Madsen Head of department, Professor jama@dtu.dk