The Rigmor and Carl Holst-Knudsen Award for Scientific Research is one of Denmark’s oldest scientific awards. Aarhus University awards the prize to a researcher who has excelled at the very highest level. This year, the prize of DKK 100,000 will be awarded to Professor and Dentist Ann Wenzel. The presentation will take place at a ceremony on 29 May 2019. On the same occasion, the Aarhus University Research Foundation will present five PhD prizes.

2019.05.02 | Rasmus Rørbæk

Professor Ann Wenzel (Foto: AU)

Bo Langhoff Hønge (Foto: Claus Sjödin / CSPress.dk)

Alexander Holm Kiilerich (Foto: Claus Sjödin / CSPress.dk)

Suthan Krishnarajan (Foto: Claus Sjödin / CSPress.dk)

Pierre du Plessis (Foto: Claus Sjödin / CSPress.dk)

Kristina Korning Wedege (Foto: Claus Sjödin / CSPress.dk)

Professor and dentist Ann Wenzel is a true pioneer in her field of research, oral radiology, with a special focus on digital x-ray systems. With her doctoral dissertation in 1991, she became the first researcher in the Danish healthcare sector to apply computer-based information technologies to diagnostics. 

Ann Wenzel is employed at the Department of Dentistry and Oral Health, and her latest research involves CT scans with particular focus on children and adolescents. This is a field of research in which Wenzel has a leading position internationally. In terms of quantity and quality, Ann Wenzel’s publications are considered to have the highest impact across all international centres and departments of oral radiology.

Ann Wenzel celebrated her 40th anniversary at Aarhus University last year. 

Read more about Ann Wenzel here

Five talents honoured

On 29 May, the Aarhus University Research Foundation will award its PhD talent prize with a cash award of DKK 50,000. The talent prizes are given to five PhD graduates from Aarhus University who have achieved extraordinary results in their research and research communication. The prize winners are:

Bo Langhoff Hønge (HIV research): Bo Langhoff Hønge has carried out research into the two types of HIV virus. During his research he has identified an improved method for thawing frozen blood samples.

Alexander Holm Kiilerich (quantum metrology): Alexander Holm Kiilerich has significantly improved the precision of measurements made using quantum sensors. This has countless applications, one of which is in the field of cancer research.

Suthan Krishnarajan (political instability): Sometimes a financial crisis has an impact on the stability of a political regime, while at other times it does not. Suthan Krishnarajan has examined the factors that are decisive here.

Pierre du Plessis (cross-disciplinary anthropology): Pierre du Plessis has studied the landscape in Kalahari seen through the eyes of the indigenous San people. This provides a new perspective on how man co-exists with nature.

Kristina Korning Wedege (green energy storage): Kristina Korning Wedege has carried out research into replacing metals in large flow batteries with organic material and on how flow batteries can be combined with solar cell materials.

Read more about the five winners and their work on this websitehttps://medarbejdere.au.dk/en/strategy/recurring-events/award-ceremony/2019-award-ceremony/the-winners-of-the-2019-aarhus-university-research-foundation-phd-award/.

The award ceremony will take place on 29 May 2019 at 11:00 – 13:30 in the Main Hall in Aarhus University’s main building, building 1412.

It is possible to register for the ceremony by clicking here. 

Read the invitation to the ceremony here (opens as a PDF in Danish).