The Carlsberg Foundation Research Prizes 2024

Published:

04.09.2024

The Carlsberg Foundation’s Research Prizes 2024 have been awarded to archeologist Rubina Raja and molecular biologist Jesper Qualmann Svejstrup.

Rubina Raja has been awarded the prize for her extensive archaeological studies spanning from urban communities and networks in the ancient world to iconography in the oasis city of Palmyra. Her research has not only led to new insights into key events in world history, but also paved the way for a new high-definition approach to excavations which has taken international archaeology onto important new paths.

Jesper Qualmann Svejstrup has been awarded the prize for his groundbreaking research into the molecular “machine” that transcribes our genes. Among many other things, he has discovered that this transcription is a risky process which can lead to serious pathological conditions if it does not function correctly, for example due to various stress factors. In so doing, he has made a fundamental contribution to our understanding of the interaction between molecular processes and the stability of the genome.

About the Carlsberg Foundation Research Prize

The objective of the Carlsberg Foundation Research Prizes is to acknowledge two active researchers in Denmark or abroad who have made crucial contributions to Danish basic research at a high international level. The prizes are intended to encourage further research and may be used for stays abroad, fieldwork, purchases of equipment or wages for scientific work.

The Carlsberg Foundation Research Prizes were instituted in 2011 to mark the bicentenary of the birth of the Foundation’s founder, J.C. Jacobsen.