The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation in collaboration with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences have decided to strengthen Swedish research in Mathematics. The aim is for Sweden to regain a position at the international cutting edge. Approximately SEK 200 million will be made available over a six-year period.
Sweden has a longstanding tradition of fostering internationally prominent mathematicians, with many students wanting to undertake doctoral studies in the field. There is also a great demand for mathematicians with research training. Nevertheless, Swedish mathematical research has been losing ground internationally during past decades.
By establishing a research programme offering international experience to the best young researchers in Sweden, and enabling recruitment of young as well as more experienced mathematicians to Sweden, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation aims to strengthen research in Mathematics.
– Excellence in mathematical research and a supply of leading mathematicians is of great importance for many innovations. Furthermore, the supply of prominent mathematicians is often crucial for other fields of research, particularly in the life sciences. It is therefore incredibly important, to Swedish research and business development alike, that Sweden can maintain and build upon its proud tradition in this field, says Peter Wallenberg Jr, Chairman of the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.
The programme provides SEK 160 million in funding, enabling 24 Swedish post-docs to go abroad, and 35 post-docs and 25 visiting professors to be recruited internationally to Swedish institutions. Additionally, SEK 40 million will be given to support the Royal Academy’s Institut Mittag-Leffler, one of the top-ten Mathematics research institutes in the world.
The programme is a collaboration with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences which reviews and ranks all nominated candidates.
In 2014 the first 15 grantees were selected; today another 17 are announced.
Five established researchers from abroad will become visiting professors at Swedish universities (in parenthesis):
Professor Michael Jakobson, University of Maryland, USA (Uppsala University)
Professor Mattias Jonsson, University of Michigan, USA (Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg)
Professor Michael Lacey, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA (Lund University)
Professor Eero Saksman, University of Helsinki, Finland (Lund University)
Professor Michael Siegel, New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)
Six established researchers will receive funding for a post-doctoral position in Sweden open to researchers from abroad:
Professor Bo Berndtsson, Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg
Professor Mattias Dahl, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Dr. Martin Herschend, Uppsala University
Dr. Klas Modin, Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg
Professor Hjalmar Rosengren, Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg
Professor Henrik Shahgholian, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Six researchers holding Swedish doctorates will be recruited to post-doctoral positions at universities abroad (in parenthesis) and will receive support for two years upon returning to Sweden.
Dr. Magnus Goffeng, University of Gothenburg (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
Dr. Lukáš Malý, Linköping University (University of Cincinnati, USA)
Dr. Oscar Marmon, Chalmers University of Technology (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
Dr. Anna Sakovich, KTH Royal Institute of Technology (University of Vienna, Austria)
Dr. Martin Strömqvist, KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway)
Dr. Björn Winckler, KTH Royal Institute of Technology (State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA)