About DAWN

The Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) is a new international basic research center supported by the Danish National Research Foundation. 

DAWN is located in Copenhagen at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, and at the Space division of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU-Space). The center is dedicated to uncovering how and when the first galaxies, stars and black holes formed, through observations with the prime telescopes of the next decade (ALMA, JWST, Euclid, E-ELT, HST) as well as through theory and simulations.

The center will run the DAWN fellowship program, with annual calls in the autumn. Fellows are expected to carry out independent research programs in areas related to the activities at the center, in collaboration with DAWN scientists both in Copenhagen and at international associate institutes.

The center will run an international PhD program, with annual calls every autumn. DAWN students will typically be co-supervised by DAWN scientists in Copenhagen and at international associate institutes, with the possibility of spending considerable time abroad.

Funding Partners

The Danish National Research Foundation provides primary funding for the Cosmic DAWN Center of Excellence (CoE), which started in 2018. Funding is up to 10 years and  divided on two granting periods that run for 6 and 4 years respectively.  All publications with DAWN employees and affiliates as authors, must be acknowledged like this DNRF140.

In addition to this, DAWN will support its members to obtain personal grants from Danish and international funding agencies. Scientists at DAWN currently hold the following grants

• Danmarks Grundforksningsfond: "Cosmic Dawn" (Sune Toft)
• Villum Young Investigator Program Plus, "The Hidden Cosmos", (Georgios Magdis, 2021-2024)
• Villum Young Investigator Program, "Understanding the First Billion Years", (Charlotte Mason, 2021-2026)
• Villum Experiment: "The Binocular Large Area Survey Telescope" (Kasper Heintz, 2022-2024)
• The DFF project: “The First generations of Galaxies” (Darach Watson)
• Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond: "Galactic Gas Recycling" (Lise Christensen, 2022-2026)
• Funding by the Carlsberg Foundation:
  • Research Infrastructure Grant: “NOT Transient Explorer” (Johan Fynbo)
  • Research Infrastructure Grant: “GISMO and the Greenland Telescope: A New Window to the Universe” (Thomas Greve)
  • Young Researcher Fellowship: "Protoclusters and Supermassive Black Holes" (Thomas Greve) 
  • Reintegration Fellowships: "FRB Origins Through Host Galaxy Studies" (Kasper Heintz, 2022-2024)
  • Reintegration Fellowships: “Physical Properties of the Interstellar Medium in Luminous Infrared Galaxies at High Redshift” (Bitten Gullberg)

Previous grants include 

• The ERC Consolidator Project: "Connecting the Extreme" (Sune Toft)
• The Villum Young Investigator Project: “Gas to dust, dust to stars” (Georgios Magdis, 2016-2021)
• Carlsbergfondet postdoc stipend: "Galaxies: Rise and Death (GRAD)" (Francesco Valentino)