Danish Institute for Advanced Study - DIAS

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Danish Institute for Advanced Study - DIAS

Danish Institute for Advanced Study (DIAS) er et interdisciplinært eliteforskningscenter og et knudepunkt for nogle af verdens skarpeste hjerner.

Vi samler fremragende forskere på Syddansk Universitet for at inspirere banebrydende ideer.

01/05/2026

We went deep at DIAS yesterday. Literally. 🌊🪸

At our latest Wild Wednesday, the ocean floor set the scene for a conversation about deep‑sea mining – from geology and biodiversity to global responsibility.

🔬 Metals for the green transition are found kilometers below the surface, but our knowledge of these systems is still limited.

🦑 Thousands of species may live there, many still unidentified, and ecosystems can change instantly when disturbed.

⚖️ At the same time, deep‑sea mining offers a rare chance to regulate an industry before it fully unfolds.

No clear answers – just a shared tension as we move closer to exploiting places we are only beginning to understand. 🔱

10/04/2026

Vi taler ofte om “det normale”, som om det er noget, der bare er der.

Men hvad nu, hvis det i virkeligheden er noget, vi hele tiden er med til at skabe - gennem vores måde at tale, tænke og reagere på?

Det er udgangspunktet for vores event '(U)Normal' den 15. april på SDU, hvor forskere og kulturstemmer mødes for at undersøge, hvordan normer opstår, og hvad de betyder i praksis.

I denne video reflekterer vores egen Anne-Marie Mai over, hvordan forestillinger om normalitet både kan samle os og skubbe mennesker ud.

En samtale, der føles ret aktuel lige nu.

Så kom og oplev Caspar Eric, Mette Moestrup, Sarah Smed, Mette Fransiska M. Seidelin og Maja Thiele, når de sammen tager det 'normale' op til diskussion med deres unikke synspunkter.

Det er gratis, og alt det kræver, er tilmelding i linket forneden.

📍 DIAS Auditoriet, Syddansk Universitet
🗓 15. april kl. 11:15 -14:15

Arrangeret af Anne-Marie og Klaus Petersen.

01/04/2026

Happy Easter from DIAS!
As we step into the holiday break, we wish all our colleagues, partners, and friends a wonderful and relaxing Easter.
May the days ahead bring renewed energy, inspiration, and moments of joy.
From all of us at DIAS — enjoy the holidays! 🌼🐣

31/03/2026

Walking down the halls of DIAS, you never quite know what you’ll run into...

Such as a robotics professor.
Working on a workshop about evolutionary theory.

Because here, disciplines don't stay in their lanes. And they're not supposed to.

We met with DIAS Chair Norbert Kruger, as he reflects on how evolutionary thinking is no longer confined to biology. With AI, new forms of “evolution” may emerge - beyond genes, beyond nature, and into technology.

That’s the starting point for our upcoming workshop on April 8:
“Evolutionary Theory as an Existential Challenge for Humankind”

A conversation that moves from Darwin to today - from faith and science to the future of what it means to be human. 🔍

23/03/2026

What can the production of an old book tell us - if you look at it with both a historians eye and a biochemist’s toolkit? 📖

This Wednesday, we bring those worlds together.

In this week’s Wild Wednesday, Lars Boje Mortensen and Matthew Collins take us into CODICUM - an ERC Synergy project where literary history meets molecular science.

Think medieval manuscripts, animal skins, and the hidden stories they still carry.

You’ll hear how pre-modern books shaped intellectual life long before print. And how DNA and protein analysis can now reveal where those books came from, how they were made, and how knowledge once moved across Europe.

We’ll even have real parchment books and fragments on hand, courtesy of the SDU Library.

📅 March 25
🕒 11:15 12:15
📍 DIAS Auditorium

11/03/2026

We're trying something new at DIAS… a two-for-one intellectual happy hour! 🙌

In this short video, DIAS Director Sten Rynning and DIAS Chair Susanne Mandrup explain why we’re excited to welcome Jesper Svejstrup to DIAS next week - and why you should join us.

On March 18, the world-renowned biochemist will lead two sessions in one afternoon:

🧬 11:15 - 12:15
Reading and repairing genes - a fascinating introduction to how DNA is read, regulated, and repaired.

🎓 13:00 - 14:30
Building an ERC Culture - a strategic conversation on how universities can foster the environments that lead to frontier research and ERC success.

(And since we did promise something resembling an academic happy hour:
a glass of wine and snacks will indeed be served afterwards in the DIAS foyer. 🍷)

06/03/2026

It’s Friday. Again. ⚽

At DIAS, and many other places in Denmark, that means one thing today: Football Shirt Friday.

Across the office you’ll find a curious mix of colors - club loyalties, national teams, and the occasional questionable design choice - all in support of a good cause.

(For our international colleagues: Football Shirt Friday is a Danish tradition where people wear football jerseys to support children with cancer through the Danish Childhood Cancer Foundation.)

We invited our affiliates to drop by for refreshments, light snacks, and a small break from research to celebrate the day together.

Because while DIAS is a place for big ideas and serious thinking, it’s also a community, and sometimes community simply looks like football shirts, coffee, and good conversation (about teams) in the hallway.

Happy Football Shirt Friday from us here at DIAS. 🙌

25/02/2026

We currently have 8 open positions at DIAS - spanning both tenure-track Assistant Professorships (Fellows) and full Professorships (Chairs) across departments. ⚫🔴

The deadline is fast approaching, with the shortest being just three days from now.

So if you need a final nudge, don’t just take it from us...

Instead, hear from those who make DIAS what it is.

We asked Senior Fellow Bryan Yazell and Visiting Fellows Alessio Bricca and Emily Cousins a simple question: Why join DIAS?

Here’s what they said. ▶️

(📹 B-roll: Søren Rosenberg Jensen & Robert Wengler)

24/02/2026

Karen Brahe-forelæsningen 2026 giver et nyt blik på dansk universitetshistorie. 👩‍🏫

D. 5 marts har vi fornøjelsen af at byde velkommen til Ning de Coninck-Smith, Danmarks førende uddannelseshistoriker og professor ved AU/DPU, som tager afsæt i venskabet og livspartnerskabet mellem professor Grethe Hjort fra Aarhus Universitet og den tjekkisk-jødiske geograf Julie Moscheles.

Forelæsningen skriver kvinders akademiske liv og relationer tydeligere frem i universiteternes historie.

Ved at forbinde det biografiske med det videnskabshistoriske sætter forelæsningen samtidig fokus på de metodiske og etiske overvejelser, der følger med, når hverdagens læringshistorier gøres til historie.

Forelæsningen indledes med velkomst ved Simon Møberg Torp, dekan for Det Humanistiske Fakultet, Syddansk Universitet, og Hanne Søndergaard Birkmose, dekan for SDU Det Samfundsvidenskabelige Fakultet.

📅 Torsdag d. 5. marts 2026
🕒 14.00 - 16.00
🥂 Reception med bobler og lette snacks efterfølgende.

Arrangementet er en del af vores Capitalism Thursdays.

Vi glæder os til at byde jer velkommen i DIAS!

17/02/2026

Before he became an internationally recognized landscape ecologist, Samuel Cushman was “a passionate explorer, an outdoors kid.” 🌲🏕️

Climbing trees. Sleeping in the woods. Learning to fish on a five-generation family farm in Washington State. A passion he would turn into a profession.

Today, he studies biodiversity, climate change, and human well-being at a planetary scale, searching for what he calls a “win-win-win” between ecology, economics, and society... and he's one of our latest Chairs.

“The world’s facing several simultaneous crises,” he says. And yet, there's hope, as he adds: "I think there's great reasons to be hopeful."

That is why DIAS (and Denmark) felt like the right place at the right time.

We recently met Samuel Cushman for a full interview which you can read below, and step into what he calls "the landscape of discovery." 🍃🌍

https://www.sdu.dk/en/forskning/dias/news/news/the-landscape-of-discovery

Adresse

Fioniavej 34
Odense
5230

Internet side

https://www.sdu.dk/da/forskning/dias

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