Professor Daniel Otzen to join the Carlsberg Foundation’s board

Daniel Otzen will succeed professor Søren-Peter Olesen, who has been a member of the Carlsberg Foundation’s board since 2012 and will not be seeking re-election when his term expires at the end of the year.

Although Daniel Otzen will not formally take up his position on the board until the end of the year, he will begin sitting in on meetings in the near future.

Professor Majken Schultz, chair of the Carlsberg Foundation’s board, says:

“I’m delighted to be able to welcome Daniel Otzen to the Carlsberg Foundation’s board. With Daniel’s election, the board is getting huge expertise in the natural sciences field, and his experience from various research councils will be a particular asset in the board’s work with Danish research. I’m really looking forward to the collaboration. At the same time, I would like to say a big thank you to Søren-Peter Olesen for his outstanding work on the board over more than 12 years.”

About Daniel Otzen

Since 2007, Daniel Otzen has been a professor of nanobiotechnology at Aarhus University’s Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO). He holds an MSc in chemistry and molecular biology from Aarhus University and a PhD from the University of Cambridge.

“I’m delighted and honoured to have been elected to the Carlsberg Foundation’s board,” says Daniel Otzen, who has been a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters since 2010. “The Carlsberg Foundation is Denmark’s oldest enterprise foundation and has a unique role in Danish research and culture. By virtue of its history and structure, the foundation is unmistakeably Danish, but at the same time it has huge international impact and acts in many ways as a global exemplar. I regard being a member of the foundation’s board as both a privilege and a duty that demands a high level of dedication and engagement. I’m really looking forward to contributing to the board’s work.”

Throughout his research career, Daniel Otzen has worked with proteins with the involvement of many different disciplines outside his own specialist field. His working methods extend from biology and chemistry to physics and medicine, which has given him a passion for cross-disciplinary debate and synergy between different ways of thinking.

In the years 2013 to 2018, Daniel Otzen was a member of the Independent Research Fund Denmark | Nature and Universe. Today, he is an international member of the review panel for natural and engineering sciences at the Swedish Research Council for Natural Sciences. In these capacities, he has participated in many different international assessments.

Since 2021, Daniel Otzen has also been chair of the equality committee of Aarhus University’s Faculty of Natural Sciences.

Daniel Otzen has been elected for a five-year term up to and including 2029, after which he will have the opportunity to seek re-election.

About the Carlsberg Foundation’s board

The Carlsberg Foundation’s board comprises five members. Each year, one member of the board stands down, with the possibility of re-election.

The Carlsberg Foundation was established by brewer J.C. Jacobsen by means of the charter and deed of gift of 1876. Since then, the Carlsberg Foundation’s board members have been elected, in accordance with the charter, by and from among the Danish members of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. The election term is five years.