Five talented researchers win the AUFF PhD Award

How can we date sediment layers more precisely? What does it mean to be well functioning? And how can we study the creation of food components in real time? These are some of the questions that this year’s five PhD award recipients have explored in their research projects. The Aarhus University Research Foundation will confer the PhD awards at a ceremony in the Main Hall on Wednesday 27 May.

Five recent PhD graduates receive AUFF PhD awards in recognition of their achievements. From left to right: Solvej Videbæk Bueno (Health), Aske Lohse Sørensen (NAT), Dionysios D. Neofyfos (TECH), Margrethe Birkler (Arts) og Lennart Kiel (BSS). Photo: Anne Kring

The Aarhus University Research Foundation’s PhD awards go to five new PhD graduates who have delivered groundbreaking research within their respective fields.

The 2026 award recipients are:

  • Margrethe Birkler (Arts): Theology can function as a living language in dialogue with the world
     
  • Lennart Kiel (BSS): Personality functioning is key to improving our functional capacity
     
  • Solvej Videbæk Bueno (Health): Support for new mothers can help improve public health
     
  • Aske Lohse Sørensen (NAT): A new method enables the precise dating of sedimentary layers
     
  • Dionysios D. Neofyfos (TECH): A new way to visualise the hidden structure formations in our food

Read more about the prize winners’ research and watch videos about them


The Aarhus University Research Foundation PhD Award

The Aarhus University Research Foundation first awarded its annual PhD prize in 2003 in connection with the university’s 75th anniversary.

The award includes a cash prize of DKK 40,000

The PhD awards will be conferred on Wednesday 27 May in the Main Hall, where the Holst-Knudsen Research Talent awards will also be given to Professor Dorthe Ravnsbæk and Professor Lars Wiuff AndersenRegister for the awards ceremony