The Royal House of Denmark's Knight's Cross was awarded to the five researchers at DTU’s dinner for Professors on 5 September 2024. DTU President Anders Bjarklev received his Knight's Cross of the 1st Degree on an earlier occasion.
Recipients of the Royal House of Denmark's Order of Dannebrog 2024
Anders O. Bjarklev – Knight of the 1st Degree
The background for receiving the order:
President, Professor, Dr. Techn. Anders Overgaard Bjarklev has been DTU's President since 2011. Under his leadership, the university has developed an internationally leading, cohesive and fully-fledged innovation ecosystem. At the same time, DTU has achieved a status that regularly places the university in an international top class in international rankings.
Anders Bjarklev has also served on the boards of the Danish Technological Institute and the University of the Faroe Islands. He has also been chairman of Universities Denmark's Committee of University Directors for eight years.
Most recently, he has been appointed by the European Commission to a committee that will evaluate the Commission's research programme and make recommendations for the upcoming 7-year programme.
Anke Hagen, DTU Energy
The background for receiving the order:
Professor, Dr. Techn. Anke Hagen has been employed at DTU since 2000 after an international research career in Germany and the United States. She was appointed professor in 2013 and obtained her technical doctorate with the thesis "Performance and Durability of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells" in 2018. Throughout her career, Anke Hagen has made essential contributions to the energy conversion technologies necessary for our energy systems' green transition.
Bjarne Kjær Ersbøll, DTU Compute
The background for receiving the order:
Bjarne Ersbøll has been a central figure in developing and applying modern statistical analyses and methods, especially in the context of an engineering application. His research and teaching are centred around solutions to concrete problems from industry and public institutions. He has been a driving force for the spread of statistical methods, from classical to modern algorithmic methods, to solve concrete problems. He drove the Big Data agenda at DTU and has served as Denmark's representative in the EU's Public-Private-Partnership program Big Data Value Association since 2016.
Niels Henrik Mortensen, DTU Contruct
The background for receiving the order:
Throughout his career, Niels Henrik Mortensen has worked with product development. He has developed methods and principles for how product families can be built based on common characteristics (platforms). His career started with relatively simple mechanical and electromechanical products. In recent years, he has expanded the concept to include services, just as the application of principles and methods is now also extended to complicated systems (e.g. naval vessels, wind turbines, etc.).
For the past 5-10 years, he has focused increasingly on digital solutions in product development and has had a leading role as WP/WS leader in the MADE programs. Here, there has been a particular focus on reducing time-to-market for Danish companies to strengthen competitiveness. His contribution to the Danish business community, both in relation to large companies and SMEs, is significant. His proposal for a modular maintenance strategy for the infrastructure in the North Sea has won TotalEnergie's Innovation Award in 2022.
Nini Pryds, DTU Energy
The background for receiving the order:
Nini Pryds is an internationally recognised researcher, which can be seen in the many international and national collaborations he has with the most renowned universities in the world. Nini Pryds masters a broad field of research, focusing on functional materials for energy purposes, and he attracts and educates highly talented researchers and students. Nini Pryds is a particularly inspiring person who is very innovative and collaborative. Nini Pryds obtains many grants herself from national public and private foundations, as well as from the EU.
Rene Forsberg, DTU Space
The background for receiving the order:
René Forsberg was a state geodetic at the Danish Map and Land Registry Agency for 20 years, and for the past 10 years, he has been a professor of geodynamics at DTU Space. Geodynamics is about changes in the shape of the Earth. René Forsberg is a world leader in measuring the Earth's gravitational field, which is crucial for studying the Earth's geodesy and geodynamics. This applies to ground-based measurements and, to a large extent, measurements from aircraft and satellites. Such measurements form the basis for measurements of the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet and the Antarctic Ice Sheet. These measurements form the basis for input to the IPCC reports on climate change and are important for the assessment of climate adaptation in Denmark.
René Forsberg has been in charge of many airborne campaigns around the world to measure the gravitational field. He is involved in a lot of international cooperation and now holds a very prestigious position as Chair of an international advisory group to ESA's Director of Earth Observation. René Forsberg is involved in the latest technology in gravitational field measurements with the application of quantum technology.
