Eske Willerslev#
| Membership Number: | 7340 |
| Membership type: | ORDINARY |
| Section: | ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION |
| Elected: | 2025 |
| Main Country of Residence: | DENMARK |
| Homepage(s): | http://geogenetics.ku.dk/ |
| ORCID: | 0000-0002-7081-6748 |
Present and Previous Positions
- 2024 - Present Professor, Departmentof Genetics, University of Cambridge, UK
- 2024 - Present Director, Centre for Ancient Environmental Genomics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
- 2016 - 2024 Prince Philip Chair in Ecology and Evolution, University of Cambridge, UK
- 2015 - 2024 Director, Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
- 2007 - 2015 Professor and Director, Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
- 2005 - 2007 Professor of Ancient DNA, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
- 2003 - 2005 Assistant Professor, Biological Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
- 2001 - 2003 Research Fellow, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, UK
- 1997 - 2001 Ph.D. Candidate, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
- 1993 - 1996 Expedition Leader and Explorer, Siberian Wilderness, Russia (non-academic)
- 1990 - 1993 B.Sc. Student, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Fields of Scholarship
- Evolutionary biology
- Environmental genomics
- Population genetics
- Ancient DNA
- Paleogenomics
- Genomic technology innovation
- Human evolution
- Archaeogenetics
- Climate and ecosystem reconstruction
- Indigenous history and ethics
Honours and Awards
- 2025 Villum Kann Rasmussen Annual Award
- 2024 Albert Einstein World Award of Science
- 2023 Balzan Prize for Evolution of Humankind: Ancient DNA and Human Evolution
- 2021 Carlsberg Foundation Research Prize
- 2021 Olav Thon Foundation’s International Research Award
- 2020 Novozymes Prize, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Denmark
- 2020 Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
- 2017 Order of the Dannebrog (knighthood), by her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
- 2017 Honorary Doctorate, University of Tartu, Estonia
- 2015 Shanghai Archaeology Forum (SAF) Award
- 2014 Foreign associate member, National Academy of Sciences USA
- 2014 Honorary Doctorate, University of Oslo, Norway
- 2012 Rosenkjær Award, Danish Broadcasting Corporation, Denmark
- 2008 Member, Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
