Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters Silver Medal 2022

– “The COVID-19 pandemic has had drastic consequences for health and mortality globally. While Denmark is an exception, large parts of the world continue to suffer from the impacts of crises”, explains Aburto.

Aburto is assistant professor at the Interdisciplinary Centre on Population Dynamics (CPop) of the University of Southern Denmark, where he conducts demographic research, also investigating health and mortality disparities in the global population – a highly topical field in recent years.

In his research, Aburto has explored the impact of structural shocks, such as increased violence – and most recently the COVID-19 pandemic – on the health and mortality of the global population, providing us with valuable and crucial insights into the long-term global consequences of these types of scenarios. In recognition of his work, he has been awarded the Silver Medal of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.

– “I am deeply honoured to receive the Silver Medal from the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters”, says a delighted Aburto about his prize, which will be awarded at a members’ meeting at the Royal Academy on 27 October 2022.

– “A significant part of my professional development and my research has happened here in this wonderful country, and I’m extremely grateful to my supervisors, colleagues and family, who have supported me in all my projects. So this recognition very much also goes to them”.

Dissemination and involvement

The Silver Medal of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters carries a monetary award of DKK 100,000, which Aburto is considering putting towards the continued development of demographic models that help us to understand the long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in low- and medium-income countries. He also plans to spend some of the money on building up a collaborative network between younger researchers from Africa and Latin America.

The adjudication committee that selected Aburto for the Silver Medal emphasised, for example the wide reach of his work, pointing out in their recommendation that his research has reached important audiences beyond the research world, including political decision-makers and the general public.

Cross-disciplinary approach to a global challenge

One feature of Aburto’s research is its obvious cross-disciplinary nature, which the adjudication committee sees, for example in its use of methods from e.g. computer science and statistics. Aburto describes this cross-disciplinary approach and treatment of the data as absolutely essential to his work:

– “We work together with epidemiologists, biologists, sociologists and others from the social sciences. I have been able to approach issues from very different angles throughout my career, thanks to the cross-disciplinary nature of my field […] Given the many conflicts globally, it goes without saying that this subject deserves even greater attention from a cross-disciplinary perspective”, he concludes.

The Silver Medal of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters

The Silver Medal of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters is awarded once a year to a Danish researcher below 40 years of age for a particularly significant thesis or overall scientific project published in the last five years. The prize is awarded alternately to a researcher within the humanities or within the natural sciences and the winner of the Silver Medal receives a grant of DKK 100,000 to be spent on their research. Read more about the Silver Medal and previous recipients.

The members of the adjudication committee awarding the 2022 Silver Medal of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters were Morten Bennedsen, Morten Rievers Heiberg, Knud Haakonssen, Karen Fog Olwig and Karen Skovgaard-Petersen.

For press material on the 2022 Silver Medal of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, please contact communications consultant Rikke Reinholdt Petersen at rp@royalacademy.dk or tel.: +45 33 43 53 10