31 young researchers from eight countries were invited to a special program during the Marcus Wallenberg Prize event in Stockholm, Sweden, 6 to 9 October 2019.
During the four days in the Swedish capital the young researchers met senior colleagues and business representatives. They participated at the ceremony and banquet, where Gerhard Schickhofer received the 2019 Marcus Wallenberg Prize, and they also had a seminar with the Laureate.
Seminars and study visits
In a poster session at a symposium in honor of the prize winner the young researchers presented short abstracts on their own research. They also took part in a three-minute presentation competition, 3MT, where they presented their projects on stage in front of an audience.
The last day of the program the young researchers visited the laboratories at the Wallenberg Wood Science Center and the company Cellutech at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, where cutting-edge lignocellulosic materials are transformed into commercially successful technologies and products.
The young researchers also went to the Stora Enso Research center in Sickla, where they were informed about current research projects.
Yearly program
In order to stimulate collaboration, inspire research and create networking opportunities the Marcus Wallenberg Foundation each year invites to the Young Researchers’ Challenge. Post docs and PhD students 35 years or younger apply by describing their own research and the impact it will have on the forest-based industry and society as a whole.
– A central objective of the Foundation is to stimulate high quality science in the forest-based sector. We do this by awarding the Marcus Wallenberg Prize and inviting young researchers from all over the world to the event. The Young Researchers’ Program is very appreciated and a key activity during the celebrations, says Kaj Rosén, Executive Secretary of the Foundation.
After evaluation 31 contributions were this year invited to the Marcus Wallenberg Young Researchers’ Program including the Prize ceremony. Most of them represented universities and research institutes in Sweden and Finland. There were also participants from Austria, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Norway and Slovenia.
The Young Researchers’ Program is sponsored by Erik Johan Ljungbergs utbildningsfond, supporting education within forestry and the forest products industry in Sweden.
A group of ten PhDs or postdocs from Finland were funded by the Forest Products Engineers, the Foundation of Jaakko Pöyry, the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the Natural Resources Institute Finland.
Participants from other countries were supported by their own universities or research institutes.
All the abstracts presented by the Young Researchers 2019 can be found here.
