Mathematics, chemistry and psychology at Aarhus University have now been strengthened with a new basic research centre each. The Board of the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF) has just assigned grants amounting to DKK 400 million (approximately EUR 54 million) to nine new basic research centres, three of which are at Aarhus University.

“It’s positive that we can strengthen important basic research in Denmark in this way, and I’m convinced that the three new centres at Aarhus University will give Danish research an enormous boost in the right direction,” says Rector Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen, who is also pleased that the Department of Psychology at Aarhus University managed to get a foot in. The remaining eight basic research centres in Denmark all went to science.

The three new basic research centres at Aarhus University are:

• Centre on Autobiographical Memory Research, with Professor Dorthe Berntsen, Department of Psychology.
• Centre for Quantum Geometry of Moduli Spaces, with Professor Jørgen Ellegaard Andersen, Department of Mathematical Sciences.
• Centre for Materials Crystallography, with Professor Bo Brummerstedt Iversen, Department of Chemistry.

Centre on Autobiographical Memory Research
Professor Dorthe Berntsen, Department of Psychology, will be the Director of the Centre on Autobiographical Memory Research. Autobiographical memory refers to our ability to remember our personal past, and to imagine events in our personal future. The centre will study this ability from a biological to a cultural level: the way in which it is developed from infancy to young adulthood, and how it breaks down or becomes dysfunctional in different mental disorders.

“We look forward to giving basic research in this area a significant boost, both within Denmark and internationally, and we’ve got some of the best people in the world to help us with it. Personally, I’m looking forward particularly to the new opportunities the centre can help give to our very strong growth area in psychology,” says Professor Berntsen.

Centre for Quantum Geometry of Moduli Spaces
The Centre for Quantum Geometry of Moduli Spaces will enable Danish research in theoretical physics to get more benefit out of the new results from CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland. This is an enormous project, which will gather new knowledge about the origin of the universe. The centre will be the Scandinavian counterpart of the Princeton Institute of Advanced Studies, USA.

The overall research principles will be mathematical quantum field theory in correlation with Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Professor Jørgen Ellegaard Andersen, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Aarhus University, is pleased about the forthcoming centre.

“This is a mega chance, as we’re already among the elite – not only in Europe, but also on a global level. The IHES Centre (Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques) in Paris, for example, said no to many potential international working partners, but said yes to us,” says Professor Andersen, who – in addition to his work at Aarhus University – has carried out research at the universities in both Oxford, UK, and Berkeley, California.

Centre for Materials Crystallography
Chemical materials research at the Department of Chemistry is also getting a centre, which will gain access to the world’s largest and most expensive radiation research facilities in the USA and Japan – direct partners in the centre. The basic research funds provide an opportunity for more than 20 extra researchers and make it possible to attract top international researchers and periods with visiting professors. Professor Bo Brummerstedt Iversen will be the Director of the Centre for Material Crystallography, and he says:

“We can quite simply not present a stronger team, as the centre’s participants are all international capacities within studies of materials structure and properties. This provides incredible opportunities. We’ve already got a brilliant mass of students, but we’ve had more students than money for a long time. The grant is therefore a fantastic opportunity for materials crystallography research, and we’re incredibly happy.”

Read more about Centre for Quantum Geometry of Moduli Spaces

Out of 142 interested bodies, 29 institutions were invited to send applications. Only nine of these ended up getting a share of the basic research funds, and Aarhus University accounts for three of them.

More information

Professor Jørgen Ellegaard Andersen, tel. +458942 3432 / 2338 2064, e-mail andersen@imf.au.dk

Professor Dorthe Berntsen, tel. +45 8942 4975 / 8744 0764, e-mail dorthe@psy.au.dk

Professor Bo Brummerstedt Iversen, tel. +45 8942 3969 / 2778 2887, e-mail bo@chem.au.dk

Journalist/Media Officer Henrik Skov, tel. +45 8942 1224 / 2074 3459

12 February 2009

Rasmus Stensgaard
Communication Office
rst@adm.au.dk