Investing in young researchers – 29 new Wallenberg Academy Fellows

Wallenberg Academy Fellows is a program to support some of Sweden’s – and the world’s – most promising young researchers within humanities, medicine, natural sciences, social science and engineering sciences.

The five year grant give the most promising young researchers a work situation that enables them to focus on their projects and address difficult research questions over an extended period of time, as well as make it possible to strengthen their academic leadership.

“This year, it’s especially exciting that almost 40 percent of this year’s Fellows are women and there is also a notable focus on humanities”, says Peter Wallenberg Jr, chairman of the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

As part of the initiative the Foundation has, in cooperation with five Swedish learned academies, created a mentor program to provide support for the researchers’ academic development and for innovation. This offers a framework for developing the skills and contact networks they need to head successful research environments. Thus, the program meet several of the demands of a higher competitiveness of the Swedish research.

“Wallenberg Academy Fellows is one of the biggest investments ever for young researchers in this country. The program creates opportunities for researchers to deal with difficult and long-term research problems. The collaboration in Wallenberg Academy Fellows is fully in line with our long-term objective for basic research – unattached, long-term funding and a clear path of career for scientists”, says Göran K. Hansson, Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, responsible for evaluation of the future Fellows.

So far, 121 young researchers has been appointed Wallenberg Academy Fellows during the first four years of the program.

Wallenberg Academy Fellows 2015

(In cases where the nominating university differs from the researcher’s current university, the nominating university is named in parentheses).

Humanities  
Associate Professor Fataneh Farahani, Stockholm University
Dr. Graham Emil Leigh, Vienna University of Technology (University of Gothenburg)
Dr. Mia Liinason, University of Gothenburg
Dr. Ana María Mora-Márquez, University of Gothenburg

Medicine
Dr. Pontus Gourdon, Lund University
Dr. Göran Karlsson, Lund University
Associate Professor Erik Larsson Lekholm, University of Gothenburg
Dr. Andrea Puhar, Umeå University
Dr. Nasim Sabouri, Umeå University
Dr. Petter S. Woll, University of Oxford, (Karolinska Institutet
Dr. Anita Öst, Linköping University

Natural Sciences 
Dr. Emil Johansson Bergholtz, Freie Universität Berlin (Stockholm University)
Associate Professor Andreas Dahlin, Chalmers University of Technology
Dr. Aleksandra Foltynowicz-Matyba, Umeå University
Dr. Monica Guica, Uppsala University
Dr. Frank Johannes, Technische Universität München (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences)
Dr. Peter Kasson, University of Virginia (Uppsala University)
Associate Professor Josefin Larsson, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Associate Professor Ilona Riipinen, Stockholm University
Dr. David Seekell, University of Virginia (Umeå University)
Associate Professor Jonas Strandberg, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Dr. Sebastiaan Swart, University of Cape Town (University of Gothenburg)

Social Science    
Associate Professor Erik Domellöf, Umeå University

Engineering Sciences
Dr. Chris Biemann, Technische Universität Darmstadt (University of Gothenburg)
Associate Professor David Black-Schaffer, Uppsala University
Associate Professor Dimos Dimarogonas, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Associate Professor Per Eklund, Linköping University
Dr. Anna Herland, Linköping University
Associate Professor Zhen Zhang, Uppsala University

Five years’ financing may become ten years

The grant amounts to a total of SEK 5–9 million per researcher over five years, depending on their field. At the end of the first period the researchers will have the opportunity to apply for a further five years of financing.

Background

The program was established by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation in close cooperation with five learned academies and 16 Swedish universities. The universities nominate researchers for the program, the academies evaluate the candidates and present the most promising researchers to the Foundation, which then makes the final selection. After this, the universities take long-term responsibility for the selected researchers’ activities.