Young researcher award for Mark Kamper Svendsen

Mark Kamper Svendsen, a postdoctoral researcher in the Theory group, has been selected for the Young Researcher Award by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) for his PhD thesis, Light-Matter Interactions from First Principles. The award honors young researchers “who have made an extraordinary effort and who have great potential for further development”.

Mark joined the MPSD in March 2023 after completing his PhD under the supervision of Kristian Sommer Thygesen a year earlier. He gained his Bachelor in Physics and Nanotechnology at DTU in 2017, followed by a joint MSc program in the same subjects run by DTU and the Technical University of Munich. In 2022, Mark worked as a predoctoral fellow at the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Quantum Physics within the framework of the career development program of the Max Planck New York City Center on Non-equilibrium Phenomena, where he focused on bridging macroscopic QED and QEDFT. That year, he gained his doctor title and continued to research at DTU before moving to the MPSD in spring of this year. Here, he develops ab initio methods for quantum light-matter interactions as part of the Theory group.

Mark is delighted about the DTU Young Researcher Award: “I am very happy and honored to receive this price for my thesis work! I had a great opportunity to work with world-leading scientists from all over the world under great supervision. This recognition fuels my commitment to the pursuit of scientific knowledge, nurturing my enthusiasm to explore intriguing phenomena at the crossroads of quantum optics, condensed matter physics, and nano-photonics.”