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They are the research leaders of the future

Smiling woman.
Helena Lundberg, Assistant Professor in organic chemistry. Photo: Jon Lindhe, KTH
Published Aug 25, 2022

The Foundation for Strategic Research has appointed the Research Leader of the Future. Helena Lundberg and Tiziana Fuoco at CBH are two of the 16 selected researchers. They receive a grant of 15 million SEK each over a five-year period and will participate in a solid leadership training during the program.
“It feels fantastic and honoring,” says Helena Lundberg.

She works with the project "Sustainable conversion of biomass into functional compounds" and Tiziana Fuoco works with the project "Polymer materials with environment-specific degradation". The goal of the Future Research Leaders program is to give newly established researchers with the highest scientific and pedagogical competence the opportunity to develop as research leaders.

“I am very much looking forward to interacting with the other researchers in the program and seeing what synergies it can provide, as well as getting structured tools to develop my leadership. Of course, the size of the grant means a lot for the research itself; I will be able to conduct it at a reasonable pace,” says Helena Lundberg.

Tell us briefly about your research. Which problems do you want to solve?

“We are developing new chemical and environmentally friendly synthesis methods to be able to break C-OH bonds to enable residual streams from, for example, agriculture to be used as raw materials for functional molecules and materials and thus replace today's fossil raw material streams. We do this partly with the help of catalysts, partly by using electricity as a chemical reagent - so-called electrosynthesis.”

In which phase do you think the project will be in five years?

“Several of the sub-projects have already started and show promising preliminary results for model associations. In five years, we should have good insight into both mechanisms and which of the real feedstock streams we have in mind are most suitable for applications, so we can assess commercialization potential.”

Text: Jon Lindhe

See all 16 participants who have been appointed Future Research Leaders