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Research infrastructure pool designates two recipients from the faculty

Two research projects at the Faculty of Technical Sciences, have received a total of DKK 28.9 million for research equipment and facilities to support Danish work on green development.

The Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science has just published 16 proposals selected on the basis of proposals from Danish universities and research institutions to become part of the roadmap for the Danish research infrastructure. At Aarhus University, four projects have received funding, and two are at the Faculty of Technical Sciences.

In connection with the designation, the ministry describes how research infrastructure includes a wide range of advanced equipment, databases, laboratory facilities, etc., that are vital for the research process and that form the basis for scientific development and breakthroughs in research.

The Danish Roadmap for Research Infrastructures 2020 is Denmark's national strategy for the research infrastructure area. It contains a number of strategic priorities and specific milestones to show the direction for development of the area in the years to come. The projects designated from the Faculty of Technical Sciences are:

ACTRIS-DK: Research Infrastructure for Observation of Aerosol, Clouds and Trace gasses.

Climate, air quality and derived health effects, as well as the effects on the environment are important themes, and it is vital that we monitor their development. This requires an infrastructure of measuring stations and laboratory facilities equipped with complex measuring instruments and models. ACTRIS-DK will upgrade and link four existing platforms for research into air quality and climate: two observation platforms, one in the high Arctic part of Greenland, and one in central Zealand, as well as two investigative platforms, one in Aarhus and one in Copenhagen.

The project is headed by Professor Henrik Skov from the Department of Environmental Science, and it has received DKK 16.7 million from pool for research infrastructure (Pulje til Forskningsinfrastruktur).

ReWet: Wetland observatories for rewetting drained peatlands.

Ten per cent of Danish GHG emissions come from drained peat soils, and unless these soils are rewetted, the national reduction target of 70 per cent cannot be achieved. ReWet will therefore establish four observatories on farmland and in woods on drained peat soils, which will serve as platforms for ecosystem monitoring, experimental research, technological development and demonstration. The purpose of ReWet is to facilitate climate-conscious management and changes in land use for agriculture and forestry on carbon-rich soils.

Mogens Greve, head of section at the Department of Agroecology, is heading the project, which has received DKK 12.2 million from the pool for research infrastructure (Pulje til Forskningsinfrastruktur).

Read more about the projects and research infrastructure on the and Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science website