With HM  Queen Margrethe II travel grants of DKK 25,000 each, four strong talents can now travel abroad to gain valuable new insight into their subjects.

According to Pro-rector Berit Eika, in addition to being extremely talented, the students who are receiving the travel grant are also hard-working, committed and have all done something extra, for example volunteer work.

“They are role models for all students, and the travel grant gives them the opportunity to develop an international network and get new perspectives on their subjects by studying abroad," Eika said.

Normally, the grants are conferred in connection with the university's annual celebration at the traditional ceremony in the Main Hall. However, due to COVID-19, the annual celebration has been cancelled this year, and the grants were awarded without a ceremony.

The four recipients of the 2020 Queen Margrethe II travel grant are:

Charlotte Marie Brühe Jensen, Master's degree student in archaeology, School of Culture and Society

Charlotte Marie Brühe Jensen received top marks for her bachelor's project entitled ’Fyrstelige kulinariske netværk i europæisk senmiddelalder: et arkæologisk studie i Henrik Harpestrengs kogebog og dens relation mellem Danmark og det øvrige Europa’ (princely culinary networks in late medieval Europe: an archaeological study on Henrik Harpestreng’s cookbook and its relationship between Denmark and the rest of Europe). She plans to pursue this topic further with an internship at the well-preserved historical kitchen at Seligenstadt Monastery in Germany as part of her preparation for her Master's thesis about historical kitchens and European food culture.

Maria Søgaard-Nielsen, Master’s degree student in political science, Department of Political Science

Maria Søgaard-Nielsen is particularly interested in social science methods within international politics and public leadership, and she has received unusually high grades in these fields. The topic of her Bachelor's project was public leadership.

In spring 2021, she will study international politics and social science methods at one of Australia's top universities: Deakin University. She is particularly interested in studying human rights in world politics and will supplement this with methodological courses.

Sophia Thrane, Master's degree student in medicine, Department of Biomedicine

As a Master's degree student, Sophia Thrane has been working on a project on the development and treatment of antimicrobial multi-resistance in bacteria that infect the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis. She is helping to develop a medical therapy for a condition for which effective treatments do not exist. In future, Sophia Thrane wants to continue working in this field of research.

Dina Sofia Mortensen, Master's degree student in astronomy, Department of Physics and Astronomy

In Dina Sofia Mortensen’s Master's thesis, she identified exoplanets that revolve around a particular class of stars. She applied a new approach that could potentially lead to extremely interesting planet discoveries. The travel grant will give her the opportunity to participate in conferences on exoplanets where she can present the results of her Master's thesis project.

Read more about all four grant recipients 

About HM Queen Margrethe II Travel Grants

The travel grant was established in 2010 as a present to HM Queen Margrethe on the occasion of her 70th birthday and was extended in 2012 to mark the 40th anniversary of the Queen's accession to the throne. A total of four grants are awarded. At Aarhus BSS and Arts, the grants go to students of political science and archaeology – the two subjects that Her Majesty studied during her time as a student at Aarhus University in 1961-62. No restrictions with regard to subject apply to candidates from Health, Natural Sciences and Technical Sciences. The 25,000 kroner travel grants are intended to make it possible for their recipients to study abroad in connection with their studies at Aarhus University.