Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Support 17 Mathematicians in Groundbreaking Research

Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Support 17 Mathematicians in Groundbreaking Research

(IN BRIEF) The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation’s mathematics program will award SEK 28m to 17 mathematicians working on mathematical studies of the pandemic, models of random events, and theories for extreme values. The foundation’s support of Institut Mittag-Leffler has helped make it one of the world’s leading research institutes for mathematics, according to Peter Wallenberg Jr, chair of the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. The program, established in 2014, has recruited younger and more experienced mathematicians to Sweden and helped young Swedish mathematicians gain international experience. This year’s grants bring the total number of researchers funded since 2014 to 134.

(PRESS RELEASE) STOCKHOLM, 23-Mar-2023 — /EuropaWire/ — This year, seventeen mathematicians will share funding worth SEK 28 million from Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation’s mathematics program. Their work includes mathematical studies of the pandemic, models of random events and theories for extreme values.

“It is extremely heartening to see that the Foundation’s investments in mathematics, through programs such as the Scholars and Fellows programs and the mathematics part of the WASP program, are having an effect. Sweden has world-leading research environments and is attracting mathematicians from abroad,” says Peter Wallenberg Jr, chair of the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

He states that the Foundation’s support for Institut Mittag-Leffler has allowed the institute to strengthen its position as one of the world’s leading research institutes for mathematics.

The mathematics program is a long-term investment by Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. It was established in 2014 and has played a major role in the positive trend now occurring in Swedish mathematics research. Younger, as well as more experienced senior mathematicians have been recruited to Sweden. Meanwhile, young Swedish mathematicians have gained international experience, with many returning from postdoctoral fellowships abroad to build a career in Sweden.

This year’s grants bring the total number of researchers to have been funded since 2014 to 134. The program is a cooperation between the Foundation and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which evaluates the candidates nominated by universities around Sweden.

“Our members have invested a great deal of work in this over the years and have thus contributed enormously to the success of the program. We can see that modern society has a vast need for mathematical expertise, so it feels valuable for us to be part of these important efforts,” says Hans Ellegren, Secretary General of the Academy of Sciences.

Six researchers receive international postdoctoral positions and funding for two years after they return to Sweden:

Doctoral student Robert Moscrop, Uppsala University (Harvard University, Cambridge, USA)
Doctoral student Klara Courteaut, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm (New York University, USA)
Doctoral student Erik Lindell, Stockholm University (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
Doctoral student Thomas Blom, Stockholm University (University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Dr. Scott Mason, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm (University of Cambridge, UK)
Dr. Mats Bylund, Lund University (Université Paris-Saclay, France)

Five researchers receive grants to recruit a foreign researcher for a postdoctoral position in Sweden:

Associate Professor Anna Sakovich, Uppsala University
Professor Kaj Nyström, Uppsala University
Associate Professor Wushi Goldring, Stockholm University
Associate Professor Cecilia Holmgren, Uppsala University
Professor Axel Målqvist, Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg.

Six established researchers from outside Sweden will be visiting professors at Swedish universities (in brackets)

Professor Gianpaolo Scalia Tomba, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Italy (Stockholm University)
Professor Stefan Schwede, University of Bonn, Germany (Stockholm University)
Professor Benjamin Klopsch, Heinrich Heine Universität, Düsseldorf, Germany (Lund University)
Professor Igor Shparlinski, Department of Pure Mathematics, University of New South Wales, Australia (KTH, Stockholm)
Professor Yingda Cheng, Michigan State University, USA (Uppsala University)
Professor Michael Stillman, Cornell University, USA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm)

Facts about the program

Over the years 2014–2029, the program provides SEK 650 million to allow Swedish researchers to receive international postdoctoral positions, as well as the international recruitment of visiting professors and of foreign researchers to postdoctoral positions at Swedish universities. The program also includes funding worth SEK 73 million for the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences’ Institut Mittag-Leffler, one of the world’s ten leading mathematics institutions.

Media Contacts:

Peter Wallenberg Jr
Chair, Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation
+46 (0)8 545 017 80
kaw@kaw.se

Hans Ellegren
Secretary General, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
+46 (0)8 673 95 02
hans.ellegren@kva.se

Göran Sandberg
Executive Director, Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation
+46 (0)8 545 017 80
kaw@kaw.se

Press:
Eva Nevelius
Press Secretary, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
+46 (0)70-878 67 63
eva.nevelius@kva.se

SOURCE: Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation