Doctoral candidate Alexander Henn from Aalto University was awarded as the winner in the Young Researchers Challenge 2022 for his research on lignin. The jury as well as the other participating researchers considered his 3MT presentation to be the best of all 30 candidates.
The annual Marcus Wallenberg Prize is very well known in the field of forest based industries. It aims to promote and support scientific research and sustainable use of the forest resources. To encourage young researchers on this path the foundation also organizes yearly the Young Researchers’ Challenge to stimulate collaboration, inspire research and create networking opportunities. The challenge brings together brilliant scientists in their early career and enables them to reflect on the impact of their research on the industry but also on the socie
Alexander has been studying lignin use in Professor Monika Österberg group at the Department of bioproducts and biosystems. He has a clear vision of the potential of lignin and has been in a central role in developing the LignoSphere technology and lignin based bioproducts. His participation in the challenge was sponsored by the Finnish Forest Products Engineers association.
The International Marcus Wallenberg Prize 2022 was also awarded to research conducted in Finland. This year, the award ceremony was held for the 38th time, and the prize was awarded to Professors Herbert Sixta from the Aalto University and Ilkka Kilpeläinen from the University of Helsinki for their extensive research into the development and use of ionic liquids in the production of sustainable cellulose-based textile fibres.
Alexander Henns 3MT presentation for The Young Researchers' Challenge 2022: