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Committee on the Novonesis Biotechnology Prize

The Committee on the Novonesis Biotechnology Prize (formerly Novozymes Prize) implements the Board of the Foundation’s decision to award the Novonesis Biotechnology Prize. Candidates for the Prize, are determined based on suggestions from the committee, former Prize recipients, as well as nominations from the research community (see call for nominations), for the Board’s final granting decision.

At the Committee’s meetings the research contributions of the suggested candidates are considered, and after comprehensive analyses, the Committee selects a shortlist of candidates, who are then thoroughly assessed by several international experts. The Board of the Foundation decides the winner of the Prize no later than 3 months before the award ceremony.

The Committee consists of 5–8 members. The Board of the Foundation selects the Chair as well as the other committee members in accordance with the general rules covering the Foundation’s committees.

The current members of the Prize Committee are listed below.

Detlef Weigel

Committee Chair, Professor

Executive Director, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology

Has been a member since 2021.
Committee Chair since 2023.

Bernard Henrissat

Professor

Professor at DTU, Emeritus CNRS Director of Research, France
Has been a member since 2018.

Dame Carol Robinson

Professor

Director of the Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery
Dr Lee's Professor of Physical Chemistry

Has been a member since 2021

Johanna Buchert

Member

Professor, Luke Natural Resources Institute Finland

Has been a member since 2019

Maija Tenkanen

Member

Professor, Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Helsinki, Finland

Has been a member since 2022

Peer Bork

Member

Professor, Director of EMBL Heidelberg, Germany

Has been a member since 2022

Jens Nielsen

Member

Professor, CEO BII

Has been a member since 2017.

Claus Felby

Senior Vice President, Biotech

Has been a member since 2020.