SDU professor plays a key role in a historically large research programme

The recently announced grant of 125 million DKK from the Novo Nordisk Foundation to establish the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for University Science Education—also known as the USE Center—is an unprecedented single investment. It provides Danish researchers with the opportunity to position Denmark at the forefront of research in didactics within science education.

The founding director of the Center for Research in Science Education and Communication (FNUG), Professor Connie Svabo, plays a central role in the initiative, as FNUG will host a USE satellite. This will lead to additional hires at the research center, which—since Connie Svabo established it three years ago—has grown significantly and quickly gained a reputation for inspiring engaging and educational experiences in STEM subjects.

A Groundbreaking Transformation of Science Education

The USE Center aims to transform science education at Danish universities by creating a close connection between advanced research and practical teaching. The center will be based at the University of Copenhagen, with satellite locations at Aarhus University and the University of Southern Denmark, where FNUG will play a key role. SDU’s Rector, Jens Ringsmose, and the Dean of the Faculty of Science, Marianne Holmer, express their enthusiasm for the collaboration:

– Connie Svabo has become a unifying figure, weaving together the various didactic initiatives within the separate scientific communities in the STEM Center for Research in Science Education and Communication. We are excited about the prospect of integrating a satellite department in the USE Center with the already flourishing research environment in science education at SDU, say Jens Ringsmose and Marianne Holmer.

FNUG: A Powerhouse for STEM Education and Interdisciplinarity

Since Connie Svabo founded FNUG three years ago, the center has distinguished itself as a dynamic research environment that integrates science and mathematics with sensory and aesthetic learning. 

– We work with practice-oriented research, art-based methods, maker spaces, fab labs, and design thinking. Innovative didactic methods contribute to creating inspiring pedagogical situations where lecturers, professors, and students come together in academic communities that are learning new things, Connie Svabo explains.

The center is characterized by strong interdisciplinarity, where researchers from various scientific disciplines collaborate to create inspiring teaching methods.

– FNUG is a place where education and media researchers collaborate with mathematicians, physicists, chemists, biologists, and other scientists to create inspiring education—through the remodeling and remediation of science, says Connie Svabo.

A Collective Effort and International Interest

Connie Svabo emphasizes that this success is the result of solid collaboration across the organization:

– This funding is the result of a collective effort, based on a solid foundation created by our entire organization in collaboration with KU and AU. At SDU, significant contributions were made by Maiken Westen Holm Svendsen, Katrine Bergkvist Borch, Dorte Moeskær Larsem, Gitte Miller Balslev, Chunfang Zhou, Philip Hallenborg, Rie Troelsen, and Poul Nielsen, as well as the continued didactic work at the Faculty of Science prioritized by Marianne Holmer, Martin Svensson, and Claus Michelsen—skillfully carried forward by our current team, she explains.

FNUG has also experienced growing international interest.

– We are seeing a boom in interest in visiting us and learning about our way of working, says FNUG Associate Professor Gitte Miller Balslev, who is part of the center’s daily management.

In the past year, FNUG has hosted visits from researchers from the USA, Canada, Spain, Iceland, Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Future Perspectives and Expansions

With the new grant, Connie Svabo and her FNUG colleagues will build on their successes and expand the center’s activities. Over the past three years, FNUG has grown to include four associate professors, an assistant professor, five PhD students, and a number of other research staff and specialists in communication and design. More hires are on the way, which will further strengthen the already robust research environment.
"The network of researchers from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, computer science, and data science who are part of our center are invaluable colleagues, and we look forward to working even more closely with them in the new USE program," says Connie Svabo, who looks forward to strengthening FNUG’s position as a powerhouse for STEM education and research.