Millions in funding for mathematicians

Fifteen prominent mathematicians will receive funding to bring Swedish mathematics research back to the international top. Since 2014, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences have supported mathematics research in Sweden through the Program for Mathematics. The aim of the program is that Sweden will retake a top international position in the field. 

Sweden has a long tradition of internationally renowned mathematicians and many students want to study doctorates in the field. There is also a great demand for mathematicians with doctoral degrees.

“This is a long-term investment to strengthen mathematics research in Sweden. The field is of great importance for the development of both research and of industry, because advanced mathematics is often the basis of new breakthroughs and product development,” says Peter Wallenberg Jr, chairman of the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

The funding does not target a particular area of mathematics, but will instead support basic research. History has shown that solutions to mathematical problems often arrive long before we understand how they can be applied.

Examples of mathematical areas in the 2016 round are: algebraic geometry with applications in biochemistry, studies of dynamic systems – phenomena that can be applied to fields as diverse as the movement of planets, financial markets, animal populations or the spread of disease – unsolved mathematical problems such as Noether’s problem and one of the Millennium Prize Problems – Navier-Stokes equations.

“We are very pleased to be contributing to the Program for Mathematics along with the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation,” says Göran K. Hansson, Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The importance of mathematics cannot be overstated, both as a science of its own and as a foundation for the development of physics, chemistry, social science and other subjects. The Program for Mathematics provides long-term and effective funding for the development of Swedish research in mathematics.

Grants 2016

Five established researchers from outside Sweden will be visiting professors at Swedish universities (in brackets):

• Professor Nageswari Shanmugalingam, University of Cincinnati (Linköping University)
• Professor Alfonso Montes Rodríguez, Universidad de Sevilla (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)
• Professor Jean-Christophe Yoccoz, Collège de France (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)
• Professor Alicia Dickenstein, Universidad de Buenos Aires (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)
• Professor Arno Kuijlaars, KU Leuven, (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

Five established researchers receive funding for a postdoctoral position in Sweden for foreign researchers:

• Associate Professor Tilman Bauer, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
• Associate Professor Maurice Duits, KTH Royal Institute of Technology 
• Associate Professor Denis Gaidashev, Uppsala University
• Associate Professor Cecilia Holmgren, Uppsala University
• Associate Professor Elizabeth Wulcan, Chalmers University of Technology

Five researchers receive postdoctoral positions at foreign universities (in brackets) and funding for two years after they return to Sweden:

• Seidon Alsaody, Uppsala University (Institut Camille Jordan, Lyon, France)
• Afshin Goodarzi, KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany)
• Cecilia Karlsson, Uppsala University (Stanford University, USA)
• Ivan Martino, Stockholm University, (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada)
• Andreas Minne, KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy)

About the program

For the period 2014–2022, the program covers SEK 160 million for 24 outgoing Swedish postdocs and the international recruitment of 35 foreign postdocs, as well as 25 visiting professors at Swedish institutions. There is also an additional SEK 40 million for the Academy’s Institut Mittag-Leffler, one of the world’s top ten mathematics institutions. The program is run in cooperation with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which evaluates all the nominated candidates.