Maths award adds up to nearly £2.8 mill for exchange research

The 35 million Swedish kroner award is the latest instalment of an exchange programme initiated in 2014, jointly financed by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

It is expected that, by 2030, it will have provided SEK 650 million (almost £52 million) to enable Swedish postdocs to travel abroad, the international recruitment of foreign postdocs and fund visiting professors to Swedish universities.

This year’s domestic recipients include seven Swedish mathematicians taking up postdoctoral roles in Germany, the US, Switzerland, UK, Spain and Denmark.

The award will also fund three professors and six researchers to variously attend Stockholm, Lund, Uppsala and Gothenburg universities, as well as KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Ellen Moons, secretary general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences whose members assessed nominees for the awards, commented:

“This programme is hugely important, both for mathematical research in Sweden and for other fields of research in which mathematical expertise is an essential tool. I am grateful for the members’ commitment and their work on assessing the applications.”

Chair of the Knut and Alice Wallenberg (KAW) Foundation Peter Wallenberg Jr explained that the scheme represented an important investment in industrial and research capabilities.

“The programme is and has been important for the development of Swedish mathematics and research. Demand for mathematics expertise is increasing, not least in association with the development of AI. Access to talented mathematicians is a key competitive advantage in research, which is becoming increasingly data-driven, as well as in business innovation,” stated Wallenberg.

For information about the award winners and their research, click here to visit the KAW Foundation website.