Research Support
SUND Research Support strengthens its focus on innovation and impact
SUND Research Support has strengthened its work with innovation and research impact through a new advisory function that will support researchers across the faculty’s departments.
The new function is part of SUND’s research strategy towards 2030, in which strategic focus area 5 centres on creating a stronger culture of innovation and translating research into solutions to specific societal challenges.
The aim is to improve researchers’ opportunities to create value beyond the University – from new treatment methods and technologies to collaborations with companies and public-sector actors.
As part of this initiative, Lene Aarenstrup Nielsen has been appointed research adviser with special responsibility for innovation and impact. Among other things, she will help develop a shared culture of innovation and impact at SUND and identify initiatives and practical tools that can support researchers in their work to create value for society.
Over the summer, she will visit the individual departments together with the faculty’s front-runners to initiate a dialogue about research, innovation and the opportunities for impact that already exist in the research environments.
The initiative comes at a timely moment. In January 2026, the government presented a legislative proposal intended to strengthen universities as drivers of innovation and entrepreneurship. If the proposal is adopted, it will lead to amendments to the Danish University Act and increase the focus on universities’ contribution to the development of society.
Lene Aarenstrup Nielsen joins from a position as business developer at SDU RIO Commercialisation, where for 14 years she has worked on the maturation and commercialisation of research-based inventions from SUND. She holds an MSc and a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Southern Denmark.