ESS, a pan-European research infrastructure that will enable researchers and companies to study materials at an unprecedented level of detail, has appointed Professor and Head of Department at DTU Physics, Jane Hvolbæk Nielsen, as its new Director General.
She will be responsible for leading the research facility through a decisive phase as ESS moves from construction towards full scientific operation. ESS is located in Lund, Sweden, with an associated data centre at DTU, and will become the world’s most advanced neutron source. In short, it is a giant neutron microscope.
Jane Hvolbæk Nielsen has been Head of Department at DTU Physics since 2011, where she has held overall responsibility for the department’s research, education programmes and advanced research infrastructure, including activities related to ESS.
She is an internationally recognised researcher in materials physics and has built up substantial leadership experience at the intersection of international top-level research, large-scale research facilities and European collaboration. Since 2019, she has served as Denmark’s scientific representative on the ESS Board.
Visionary research leader
DTU President Anders Bjarklev highlights the appointment as a strong recognition of both Jane Hvolbæk Nielsen’s leadership and the role played internationally by Danish research environments:
“Jane Hvolbæk Nielsen is a highly experienced and visionary research leader with deep insight into the construction and operation of large, complex research infrastructures. Her appointment as Director General of ESS is well deserved and underlines the central role that DTU and Danish research environments play in the development of European research that creates value for society,” says Anders Bjarklev.
The appointment also marks Denmark’s continued strong position in the European collaboration around ESS, which is one of Europe’s largest and most ambitious research infrastructure projects and is being developed jointly by 13 member countries.
“ESS is a truly unique research infrastructure with very significant potential for basic research, strategic research and applied research,” says Jane Hvolbæk Nielsen.
“I look forward to leading the next phase, in which ESS must be brought safely to completion and deliver advanced neutron research that can be translated into new knowledge and solutions contributing, among other things, to health, energy and the green transition, in close collaboration with researchers and companies from around the world.”
Jane Hvolbæk Nielsen takes up the position on 1 November and succeeds Helmut Schober, who has been Director General of ESS since 2021.
