Twenty-nine young researchers become Wallenberg Academy Fellows 2019 

Press release
3 December 2019

The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation has announced 29 new Wallenberg Academy Fellows. The five-year grant provides the young researchers with opportunities to make important scientific breakthroughs by providing long-term research funding in Sweden.

Their research covers a wide range of subjects, as the funding is for research in the natural sciences, technology, medicine, humanities and social sciences. This year’s Wallenberg Academy Fellows will study everything from how Linnaeus inspired citizen science, the atmosphere of the oldest stars in the Milky Way, and energy conversion in cells, to how infant immune systems are affected by the environment.

Thanks to the funding, many of the researchers will be able to continue working in Sweden, while others are recruited to Sweden to build up their research here. 

“With this year’s decision, the Foundation has now appointed a total of 203 Wallenberg Academy Fellows. Of these promising young researchers, 44 percent are women. We are delighted about this at the Foundation, because we strive to achieve the greatest possible equality. However, it is important to emphasize that applications are competitive, and the evaluation process only considers scholarly merits,” says Peter Wallenberg Jr, Chairman of the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

The underlying intention of this investment is to strengthen Sweden as a research nation by retaining the greatest talent in the country, while also recruiting young international researchers to Sweden.

“To make scientific breakthroughs, it is important to concentrate on your research for a long period and have good resources. Wallenberg Academy Fellows provides these conditions, and they are available during what could be the most creative phase of their research careers. They also have the opportunity to participate in a mentoring program, which helps boost their scientific leadership,” says Göran K. Hansson, Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 

The program has been established in partnership with the royal academies and 16 Swedish universities. Grants vary from 5 to 15 million Swedish kronor per researcher over five years, depending on the field. At the end of the first period, researchers can apply for an additional five years of funding.

2019’s Wallenberg Academy Fellows:

(Where the nominating university is not the researcher’s current university, the nominating university’s name is in parentheses.)

Humanities

Associate Professor Per Anders Rudling, National University of Singapore (Lund University)
Dr Linda Andersson Burnett, Linnaeus University

Social Sciences

Professor Terje Falck-Ytter, Uppsala University
Dr Johannes Haushofer, Princeton University (Stockholm University)
Associate Professor Vladislava Stoyanova, Lund University

Medicine

Associate Professor Petter Brodin, Karolinska Institutet
Dr Pia Dosenovic, Rockefeller University (Karolinska Institutet)
Dr Marcin Szczot, National Institutes of Health (Linköping University)
Dr Ellen Bushell, Umeå University
Dr Qiaolin Deng, Karolinska Institutet
Dr Hiroki Shibuya, University of Gothenburg
Dr Itziar Martinez-Gonzalez, University of Amsterdam (Karolinska Institutet)
Dr Simon Elsässer, Karolinska Institutet

Natural Sciences

Associate Professor Carina Schlebusch, Uppsala University
Professor Ville Kaila, Technical University of Munich (Stockholm University)
Dr Witlef Wieczorek, Chalmers University of Technology
Associate Professor Wushi Goldring, Stockholm University
Dr Anne Bjorkman, Senckenberg Institute (University of Gothenburg)
Dr Karin Lind, Max Planck Institute (Stockholm University)
Associate Professor Klas Modin, Chalmers University of Technology
Associate Professor Sara Zahedi, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Associate Professor Jan Marcus Dahlström, Lund University

Engineering and Technology

Dr Katja Petzold, Karolinska Institutet
Associate Professor Emil Björnson, Linköping University
Associate Professor Haining Tian, Uppsala University
Associate Professor Magnus Jonsson, Linköping University
Associate Professor Thorsten Berger, University of Gothenburg
Associate Professor Elin Esbjörner, Chalmers University of Technology
Associate Professor Marina Petrova, KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Presentations about each researcher 

Press photographs

Background

The program, funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, has been established in close cooperation with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, the Swedish Academy and Swedish universities. The universities nominate researchers to the program, the academies evaluate the candidates and present the most promising researchers for the Foundation, which then makes the final selection. Since the program started in 2012, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation has invested a total of SEK 1.9 billion. 

Contacts:

Peter Wallenberg Jr, Chairman, Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation
+46 (0)8 545 017 80
Göran Sandberg, Executive Director, Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation
+46 (0)8 545 017 80
Göran K. Hansson, Secretary General, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
+46 (0)8 673 95 00
Eva Nevelius, Press Secretary, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
+46 (0)70 878 67 63
[email protected]