The objective of the Otto Moensted Foundation is to contribute to the development of Danish trade and industry.
According to the original deed of the foundation from 1934, the distributions from the Foundation are intended for:
- supporting the education of talented young businessmen and engineering students or graduates with no or limited private means.
- educating teachers at business schools, the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and possibly the technical colleges in Denmark.
- promoting and developing plans and undertakings within trade and industry which the Board of the foundation deems to have the potential for promoting Denmark´s commercial and corporate sectors or otherwise being honourable for Denmark.
The Otto Moensted Foundation distributes around 20 to 25 DKK million regularly every year. In some years, it has made extraordinary large donations aimed, for instance, at establishing housing for visiting professors at DTU and at Copenhagen Business School.
The present Board continues to maintain a clear international focus, the priorities being to provide talented students with the opportunity to study abroad, to make it possible for skilled university researchers to attend conferences abroad or reside as visiting scholars at esteemed universities outside Denmark, and to appoint foreign visiting professors to enhance the academic level in Denmark. The Foundation supports different initiatives aiming at bringing research from academia into the business world.
See the video about Otto Mønsted’s Fond
Meet one of our visiting professors
Natalie Stingelin from Atlanta is one of the many visiting professors, who with support from the Otto Mønsted Foundation are invited to Denmark every year.
A three month stay in Denmark is nearly at the end of the road for the international recognized professor of Material Science and Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology when we meet her on Zoom. In a few days she will check into NTNU Nano in Trondheim, before she flies to Switzerland. In 2021 she will be back in Atlanta. She is a woman on the go but has recently stayed 6 months in Atlanta due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
”By month 6, I was in need of a change” she says with a smile.
Luckily a trip to Copenhagen was already planned, thanks to an invitation by DTU Energy from her host professor Jens Wenzel Andreasen based on a donation from The Otto Mønsted Foundation. The stay gives the two professors and teams a chance to exchange results and debate their future research.
She focuses her research on energy technology in the field of functional soft matter, including organic electronics and photonics, advanced optical systems based on plastics, and bioelectronics.
She is involved in research which, among other things, are centered around production of solar cells which are ultra-thin and almost transparent. They can be placed on windows so that specific parts of the sun light be used, for example, in a greenhouse for plant growth while the rest is used for energy creation.
At DTU Natalie has given open lectures, participated in weekly meetings together with her host and been active in the online education at the institute. She has also toured Denmark visiting Aalborg University, SDU and The University of Aarhus.
An easy stay
It is not the first time Natalie is visiting Denmark, but previously she has stayed here only for one or two days for a conference or a meeting.
“The conferences have a huge importance for our international network. The DTU students whom I have met previously at conferences have been a great help and made my stay here very agreeable. They have been extremely helpful giving practical advice. It is useful to have some connections beforehand, as well as everything was organized,” says Natalie.
She has stayed in Nyhavn. The fact that the flat was in the center of Copenhagen has been important as a base from which to stroll along the streets in the inner Copenhagen or sit in the sun with her laptop.
“The weather has been fantastic. I am told this is extraordinary for this time of the year,” says Natalie.
Facts: Natalie Stingelin
- Educated 1997 Materials Science from ETH Zurich. ETH Zurich Medal for her PhD thesis, 2001.
- Research Associate Philips Research Lab, 2003
- Research Associate University of Cambridge and Queen Mary University of London.
- Established Center for Plastic Electronics at Imperial College London supported by EPSRC.
- Co-lead Engineering and Physical Science research Council Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large Area Electronics
- Coordinator of the European Commission Marie Curie INFORM Network
- Full Professor Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016
- Chaire Internationale Associee University Bordeaux, 2017