The Göran Gustafsson Prize is awarded in five categories, spanning natural science and medicine, and given to researchers no older than 45 years of age who are active in Sweden. Of the sum each prize winner receives, 6 million goes to continued research and 300,000 is a personal award.
Giovanni Volpe, professor in physics, receives the prize for "for boundary breaking research focusing on microscopic particles with active functions".
Through Soft Matter Lab, Giovanni and his research group study active matter, while they simultaneously develop using AI and machine learning as tools in research and science.
Hi Giovanni! What might you use the research money for? Any fun ideas?
"The aim of this research is to endow microscopic particles with intelligence — making them more akin to biological entities, like bacteria, that are capable of autonomously making decisions and navigating their environment. This funding and recognition is a strong source of motivation to achieve this vision!"
This is quite a prestigious prize in Sweden – how does it feel to be chosen for it?
"I don't think I fully realize it, but of course I'm very happy and humbled about it."
Finally, how will you celebrate?
"I could take a couple of months off to celebrate! Just kidding, actually I'm more motivated than ever to work. I think the best celebration is to actually put this motivation to good use and finish a few of the large projects, several years in the making, my group is working on, including the upcoming book Deep Learning Crash Course and the second version of our software for brain connnectivity, BRAPH 2.0."
Read more about the Göran Gustafsson Prize and this year's recipient here (article in Swedish)
