Congratulations to Associate Professors Andreas Pavlogiannis and Ken Pfeuffer who have been selected as Sapere Aude Research Leaders by Independent Research Fund Denmark (Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond). The Sapere Aude grant is awarded to young, talented researchers who demonstrate the potential to become leading international figures in their fields. This prestigious recognition is a testament to your outstanding research and leadership potential.
“The researchers receiving a Sapere Aude grant are among the most talented young researchers in Denmark. They have demonstrated both academic courage and original ideas in fierce competition, and they have the potential to establish strong research environments that will leave a lasting mark. With their curiosity and academic impact, they help move world-class Danish research forward – even in an ever-changing world.”
Søren Serritzlew, Chair of the Board, Independent Research Fund Denmark
With their new projects, Andreas and Ken will tackle pressing technological challenges: ensuring the reliability of modern databases and reimagining how we interact with AI through multimodal interfaces. We look forward to following your projects and the impact they will have in both academia and society.
Andreas Pavlogiannis’ project, UNORDER: Towards Reliable Weakly-Consistent Databases, addresses a growing challenge in our digital society: how to ensure the correctness of the complex, large-scale databases that power everything from e-commerce to healthcare and AI. As databases increasingly sacrifice strict consistency for speed and availability, they become more prone to subtle bugs and inconsistencies.
“Database faults can have far-reaching consequences,” Andreas explains. “They can lead to privacy breaches, data loss, or cascading failures in software systems. Through UNORDER, we aim to develop powerful algorithms and tools that can test and verify whether a database behaves as promised – even under demanding conditions.”
UNORDER will combine deep theoretical insights with practical tools for industry, helping ensure that the backbone of our digital infrastructure is as robust and secure as society needs it to be.
Ken Pfeuffer’s project, Multimodal Spatial Interfaces for Human-AI Collaboration, takes a human-centred approach to the future of artificial intelligence. The project explores how we can interact with AI systems in more natural and spatial ways—moving beyond typed prompts and toward gaze, voice, and gesture-based interaction in AR/VR environments.
“Right now, AI interaction is mostly limited to typing or clicking – it’s linear and unintuitive,” Ken says. “My goal is to break down these barriers using multimodal interfaces that feel as natural as talking to a person or pointing at an object.”
His research could transform how people use AI in everyday life and in specialised domains like manufacturing, education, and data analysis. By building interfaces that are easier to use, the project supports the broader goal of making AI more inclusive, transparent, and responsive to human needs.
The Sapere Aude: DFF-Research Leader grant is awarded by Independent Research Fund Denmark to younger researchers who have demonstrated excellence and originality. The aim is to strengthen the research profile of the recipients and help them establish themselves as independent research leaders at an international level. Grants are awarded across all scientific fields following a competitive review and interview process. In 2025, the foundation grants DKK 219 million to 36 new research leaders. For more info see the foundations annoncement [in Danish] here.
