Aalborg University sees great success with interdisciplinary and data-driven research
Aalborg University has just received three of a total of eight grants from the new VILLUM Synergy Programme – including for a project headed by CISS director, Professor Kim Guldstrand Larsen. The high rate of success serves to manifest the university’s position as one of the strongest computer science research environments in Denmark.
Interdisciplinary collaboration may lead to ground-breaking results. This was the underlying thought when the VILLUM FONDEN established the VILLUM Synergy programme in 2019. The aim of the programme is to strengthen interdisciplinary research and combine computer science and applied mathematics with research within fields such as social science.
The inaugural grant recipients have just been announced, and Aalborg University has positioned itself as a key player: Of a total of 82 applications, eight projects have been selected – and of these, researchers from Aalborg University participate in three, receiving a total of close to DKK 9 mill..
– Universities and researchers have expressed great interest in the programme, and their research interests vary widely. The eight projects selected to receive grants display a high level of ambition and require impressive data sets to look at everything from climate ecosystems to behavioural economics, Thomas Bjørnholm, executive chief science director of VILLUM FONDEN, says in a press release.
Contribute to achieving the global goals
At Aalborg University, the Department of Computer Science is particularly well represented, but the Department of the Built Environment, the Department of Energy Technology and the Department of Chemistry and Bioscience also contribute with strong research competences.
Head of Department at the Department of Computer Science at Aalborg University, Jesper Kjeldskov, is very satisfied with the result of the inaugural round of grants:
– We take pride in being one of the strongest computer science research environments in Denmark, and a success rate like this leaves no doubt that we do this with good reason. These projects bring together some of the very best computer scientists. At the same time, the projects also represent the department’s new strategy, in which we focus on bringing a wide range of computer science disciplines into play with regards to achieving the UN Global Goals.
Dean of the Technical Faculty of IT and Design at Aalborg University, Henrik Pedersen, is also pleased that the researchers have established new partnerships:
– It is very inspiring to see how the researchers across departments and faculties have gotten together in new research constellations, and that they manage to combine strong competences from what is on the surface significantly different research environments. This is without a doubt an example for imitation.
These three projects have received grants
PROJECT CLAIRE: CONTROLING WATER IN AN URBAN ENVIRONMENT
Project lead: Professor Kim G. Larsen, Department of Computer Science, Aalborg Universiy and Professor MSO Michael Rasmussen, Department of the Built Environment, Aalborg University.
Co-lead: Professor MSO Thomas Dyhre Nielsen, Department of Computer Science, Professor Jiri Srba, Department of Computer Science and Associate Professor Jesper E. Nielsen, Department of the Built Environment, all Aalborg University.
Grant: DKK 2,9 mill.
PROJECT: DATA SCIENCE MEETS MICROBIAL DARK MATTER
Project lead: Professor Katja Hose, Department of Computer Science, Aalborg University and Professor MSO Mads Albertsen, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University.
Co-lead: Professor MSO Thomas Dyhre Nielsen, Department of Computer Science, Aalborg University
Grant: DKK 3 mill.
PROJECT: LIGHT-AI FOR COGNITIVE POWER ELECTRONICS
Project lead: Professor Huai Wang, Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, and Professor Bin Yang, Department of Computer Science, Aalborg University.
Grant: DKK 3 mill.
