For the sixth consecutive year, the Olav Thon Foundation announce awards for research and teaching internationally and nationally, as well as financial support for Nordic research in medicine and national student active research 2020.
The Olav Thon Foundation’s International Research Award 2020 goes to:
Department Chair, Senior Investigator Dr. Vilhelm A. Bohr, Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, National Institutes on Aging (NIA), Maryland, USA. Adjunct Professor at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Vilhelm Bohr, (born 1950 in Copenhagen, Denmark) received his M.D. in 1978, Ph.D. in 1987, and D.Sc. in 1987 from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. After training in neurology and infectious diseases at the University Hospital in Copenhagen, Dr. Bohr at Stanford University as a research scholar from 1982-1986. In 1986, he was appointed to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as an investigator, becoming a tenured Senior Investigator in 1988. Dr. Bohr developed a research section in DNA repair at the NCI. In 1992, he moved to the NIA to become Chief of the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics.
The Research Award 2020: NOK 5 million.
Nordic research projects in medicine
The Olav Thon Foundation grants financial support for the following two Nordic research projects in medicine in 2020:
1. Let`s make bone – 3D printing as a tool for bone regeneration.
Project Manager: Professor Kamal Mustafa, University of Bergen, Norway.
Project team member: Associate Professor Susanna Miettinen, Tampere University, Finland, and Cecilie Gudveig Gjerde, University of Bergen, Norway.
The amount is NOK 9,8 million over four years.
2. How can we regenerate the white matter of the adult human brain?
Project Manager: Professor Steve Goldman, University of Copenhagen, Danmark.
Project team member: Associate Professor Goncalo Castelo-Branco, Fabio Badivia Pohl, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, and Rossana Foti, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
The amount is NOK 10 million over four years.
National Prizes for Excellence in Teaching
Olav Thon Foundation’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in Mathematics/Natural Sciences and Medicine 2020, is awarded to:
1. Associate Professor Cathrine W. Tellefsen, Department of Physics, University of Oslo
Cathrine Tellefsen is a distinguished teacher who is also committed to making provisions so that others are able to develop as teachers. She works systematically on «system change» to raise the quality of teaching, especially at the MN faculty, but also at the university in general, at the national and international levels.
2. Professor Tom Lindstrøm, Department of Mathematics, University of Oslo
Tom Lindstrøm is a brilliant textbook author and teacher who has left his mark on and reformed the teaching of mathematics at the University of Oslo and at other universities in Norway and the Nordic countries. For decades, his efforts have been of great significance to large groups of students in mathematics and natural sciences.
3. Professor Siri Fjellheim, Department of Plant Science, Faculty of Biosciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences/NMBU
For several years, Siri Fjellheim has been an active driving force in the development of ways of teaching specially adapted to the curriculum to be taught. In particular, she has been active in developing various types of flipped classroom teaching with the use of small video lectures coupled with student-active teaching in the structured classroom time.
The National Prize is NOK 500 000 for each winner.
Student-active research
The Olav Thon Foundation grants financial support for the following student-active research projects in Mathematics/Natural Sciences and Medicine 2020:
1. Project: CardioLearn: Cardiology of the future developed through student-active research.
Responsible: Associate Professor Jan Magnus Aronsen, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, PhD student Jonas Skogestad, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo
The amount is NOK 1.8 million.
2. Project: How to preserve specialized species in a changing world?
Responsible: Professor Tone Birkemoe, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Professor Siri Fjellheim, Faculty of Biociences, and Professor Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, NMBU
The amount is NOK 820 000 million.
3. Project: Marine Competence for the 21st century. A new vision for education and training in marine geology and paleoceanography.
Responsible: Associate Professor Helga Flesche Kleiven and Professor Ulysses Ninnemann, Department of Earth Science and the Bjerknes Centre, University of Bergen
The amount is NOK 1.45 million.