Sebastian Hofferberth receives prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant
Associate Professor Sebastian Hofferberth, from the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy at SDU, is one of only 10 researchers from Danish universities who this year will receive a prestigious Consolidator grant from the European Research Council. The grant supports research at SDU with an amount of approximately DKK 14.8 million (EUR 1.99 million) over five years and shall be used for the research project Quantum nonlinear optics through Rydberg interaction.
The ERC found the project proposed by Sebastian extremely interesting because it opens up brand new, fascinating perspectives. It also judged that Sebastian has been highly productive in all phases of his scientific career in three different research groups and has an outstanding history in the research area in question. In particular, the research group established by Sebastian over the last years, which is now based at SDU, has shown impressive results in the eyes of the ERC reviewers.
"I am very pleased to receive such a significant grant. An ERC grant is one of the largest funding schemes you can receive as an individual in the EU. I have been working in the research field for the last five years and I consider it a great acknowledgment of my team's work. The grant means that we can continue our research at the highest level, and I am looking forward to employing three postdocs and three PhDs during the project period," says Sebastian Hofferberth.
Experimental physics
Sebastian Hofferberth's research is about understanding quantum physics. At SDU, he and his research team perform experiments that show that atoms and photons to act as both particles and waves at the same time. Much of quantum physics has been very theoretical for many decades. Hofferberth's research demonstrates fundamental aspects of quantum physics experimentally. This contributes to developing a better understanding of how physics works on the most fundamental level – an understanding that will have great impact in the future on a wide range of other disciplines from pharmacy to chemistry to computer science.
About the ERC Grant
The European Research Council (ERC) grants funding for international, ground-breaking research projects of scientific excellence in all research areas and subjects. Scientific quality is the only criterion for the support. In 2017, the ERC Consolidator Grant received 2,538 applications, from which 329 top researchers received funding.
About Sebastian Hofferberth
Sebastian Hofferberth became an Associate Professor at SDU in April 2017. Before coming to Denmark, he was leader of an Emmy-Noether research group in Stuttgart, where he started his current research activities. Previous career steps include a PostDoc stay at Harvard University and a PhD degree from the University of Heidelberg, Germany.
For more information, contact:
Associate Professor Sebastian Hofferberth
Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy, SDU
E-mail: hofferberth@sdu.dk
Tel: +45 65508712