Birgitte and the other new members do not only enter the high-ceilinged halls of the Academy: they enter into a years-long tradition, and in the footsteps of famous former members such as Nobel Prize winners H.C. Ørsted, Niels Bohr, Marie Curie and Albert Einstein.

“I am not the first leader of Carlsberg Research Laboratory who has been selected to the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, but it is a great honor for me personally, and a notable recognition of the Laboratory’s recent work and contribution to science,” says Birgitte Skadhauge.

Birgitte has a Ph.D. from the Royal and Veterinary Agricultural University, Copenhagen, and joined Carlsberg Research Laboratory raw material group in 1987. Following a scientific career in different areas and holding different leadership positions.  In 2014 she became head of Carlsberg Research Laboratory. Among other’s Birgitte’s research results include the so-called Null-LOX and climate tolerant barley, which contributes to beer quality, freshness as well as providing a good sustainability impact. In addition, she established a broad international network of scientific collaborators and co-authored many publications, patent and books within the fields of raw materials, brewing, fermentation and biotech methods for trait identification.

She believes there is more need for The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters than almost ever before.

“The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters foster interdisciplinary research, partnerships and affiliations. A membership is an amazing opportunity to meet other scientists, passionate about the scientific ideal, who wants to spread the Light of Knowledge in wider circles, as Carlsberg’s founder once put it. We need to go back generations to find a time in history when there was this great need for interdisciplinary research, knowledge-based facts, and science as there is today,” says Birgitte Skadhauge.

The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters celebrates its 278^th anniversary later this year. The Academy was founded on November 13 with the approval of HM King Christian VI as a "learned Society". Like the following rulers, HM the Queen of Denmark is the patron of the Academy.

Carlsberg Group has a long history with the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. Carlsberg’s founder, brewer J.C. Jacobsen founded the Carlsberg Foundation on 25 September 1876 and initially donated a gift of DKK 1 million as share capital to the foundation. According to the charter for the Carlsberg Foundation, its board must consist of five scientists elected by and among the Danish members of Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.