The PhD students at Health have named Associate Professor, PhD Jacob Giehm Mikkelsen from the Department of Biomedicine as the year's best supervisor.

2015.01.26 | Malene Løvig Nielsen

The JCD prize has since 2012 been awarded annually by the PhD Association in close collaboration with the Graduate School of Health. Tis yaer Jacob Giehm Mikkelsen receives the price.

Jacob’s knowledge and passion for science has a marked positive influence on his students and inspires them to dig deeper into the complexity of research. Through his individual student supervision he takes each student and identifies and works with each one’s limitations and potential. He is exceptionally good at motivating his students to find success in their work and at guiding them in the right direction, not only to improve their work, but also to develop their talents.

This is the motivation for Associate Professor and PhD Jacob Giehm Mikkelsen receiving the JCD award as the supervisor of the year at Health. The presentation of the award takes place in connection with the annual PhD Day at Health. The award is named after the charismatic researcher and former director of the Department of Clinical Medicine, Professor, DMSc Jens Christian Djurhuus and was established to recognise outstanding PhD supervisors at the faculty.

"It means a lot to me that my students appreciate the process, the atmosphere and our common project, which is, of course, research. Being able to contribute to the development of the individual from young student to researcher with the international class is fantastic. And I am proud to see my name come out of the hat among all the many accomplished supervisors at Health," says Jacob Giehm Mikkelsen.

He has been principal supervisor for PhD students since 2006 and has thus far sent nine PhD students out into the world.

Research and supervision melt into one

Jacob Giehm Mikkelsen believes that being a PhD student is extremely challenging. Demands are high and technical skills, specialised knowledge and teaching must all come together and result in scientific articles that can pave the way for a future career. All this requires help, support and sympathetic supervision.

"There are many ways to be a good supervisor. What I do is draw up some clear goals together with the student and supplement these with continuous feedback and discussion. I give them responsibility and space and I am happy to have the fun talk about new results or to have that difficult discussion about the things that are causing problems. And I also want to get to know the students well so that the supervision can be more easily adapted to their individual skills and mindset," says the researcher, adding that working with talented and energetic research talents is for him one of the greatest pleasures of his job as associate professor and researcher.

"For me, research and supervision melt into one. Without good supervision and sparring there is no good research. The PhD students are to a large extent the cornerstone of Danish research, and research of high international standard requires that the PhD students get a good education. I am pleased to be able to make a contribution to that," says Jacob Giehm Mikkelsen.

The JCD prize has been awarded annually since 2012. The prize is awarded by the PhD Association in close collaboration with the Graduate School of Health. The prize winner also receives DKK 25,000.

Further information

Associate Professor, PhD Jacob Giehm Mikkelsen
Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University
Direct tel.: +45 8716 7767
Mobile: +45 2361 7253
giehm@biomed.au.dk