Professor Preben Bo Mortensen will receive the Rigmor and Carl Holst-Knudsen Award for Scientific Research, and professor Isabel Torrance will receive the newly created Victor Albeck Award. This will take place on 26 May at Aarhus University’s hosts annual awards ceremony. On the same occasion, the Aarhus University Research Foundation will confer five PhD prizes.

2021.05.25 | Ida Hammerich Nielson

[Translate to English:] Professor i klassisk filologi Isabelle Torrance modtager Victor Albeck-prisen 2021 for sit store arbejde med at skabe ny, interdisciplinær forskning inden for klassisk og moderne litteratur. Professor i psykiatrisk epidemiologi Preben Bo Mortensen modtager Rigmor og Carl Holst-Knudsens Videnskabspris 2021 for sin afgørende forskning i årsagerne til psykisk sygdom.

Senior hospital physician Victor Albeck and barrister Carl Holst-Knudsen played pivotal roles in the creation of Aarhus University. The latter had a research award named after him back in 1956; the former has one now as well. The Aarhus University Research Foundation will confer the Victor Albeck Award for the first time on 26 May at Aarhus University’s awards ceremony, at which the Rigmor and Carl Holst-Knudsen Award for Scientific Research will also be conferred. Both awards carry a cash prize of DKK 100,000.

Victor Albeck Award to Arts professor

Professor of classical philology Isabelle Torrance will receive the Victor Albeck Award 2021 for her important contribution to groundbreaking interdisciplinary research within classical and modern literature.

Isabelle Torrance researches the role that the classical culture of antiquity plays in modern European history. She has founded the research centre Classical Influences and Irish Culture, where she researches how classical literature is appropriated in Ireland in connection with current conflicts. Part of the project involves building a database that enables new, interdisciplinary research within classical and modern literature. In doing so, Isabelle Torrance is contributing to the development of a new research area: classical reception studies.

Read more about Professor Isabelle Torrance

Holst-Knudsen Award to Aarhus BSS professor

Professor of psychiatric epidemiology Preben Bo Mortensen will receive the Rigmor and Carl Holst-Knudsen Award for Scientific Research 2021 for his crucial research into the causes of psychological disorders.

Preben Bo Mortensen is uncovering what genetic and environmental factors contribute to psychological disorders, including how genes and environment interact. His goal is to determine the causes of, improve treatment of and prevent mental illness in order to create a better life for the individual. Aided by data from biobanks and Danish registers, he conducts research into the five most severe types of mental illness, and he has generated important new insights into schizophrenia, depression, autism, bipolar disorder and ADHD. 

Read more about Professor Preben Bo Mortensen

Read more about AU’s origin – and gain insight into what AU’s founders Victor Albeck and Carl Holst-Knudsen have meant for Aarhus University

Prizes awarded to five talented PhD graduates

On 26 May, the Aarhus University Research Foundation will also confer its PhD talent prizes, each with a cash award of DKK 50,000, to five different PhD graduates from Aarhus University who have achieved extraordinary results in their research and research communication.

The prize-winners are:

Sophus Helle (comparative literature)
Eva Rye Johansen (economics)
Mathias J. Holmberg (medicine)
Astrid Strunk (geoscience)
Mette Vodder Carstensen (bioscience)

Read about the five talented PhD graduates and watch videos

Additional information:

Henrik Dalgaard, Aarhus University Research Foundation: hd@auff.dk, +45 23823230