Fabian Haiden receives DKK 18.2 million from the Villum Foundation
With a new programme, the Villum Foundation supports researchers at particularly competitive stages of their careers. One of the nine recipients identified as having the potential to push the boundaries of science is mathematician Fabian Haiden.
In 2026, the Villum Foundation is awarding a total of DKK 162 million to nine researchers through the new Villum Ascending Investigator programme. The programme is designed for researchers who have already made their mark, but for whom an additional boost may be crucial in reaching the highest level. The grants give researchers the opportunity to pursue ideas with the potential to advance the frontiers of science.
At the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Associate Professor Fabian Haiden has received DKK 18.2 million for the project “The Quantum Geometry of Dynamical Systems”.
While the direct goal of the project is to solve long-standing problems in mathematics and theoretical physics, it also connects to more concrete questions: how electrons move through materials, which is relevant to developing more energy-efficient technologies, and how we understand the deep structure of space, including phenomena like black hole entropy.
“The mathematical tools we are developing also have potential future applications in quantum computing and data analysis — fields that will be central to society in the coming decades”, says Fabian Haiden.
About the project
Fabian Haiden describes his project in more detail:
“This project investigates a deep and unexpected connection between the geometry of surfaces and the algebra of three‑dimensional spaces defined by polynomial equations: quadratic differentials and algebraic three‑manifolds. These structures are central to modern mathematics and theoretical physics, including quantum field theory.
The project will develop new techniques for constructing global geometric structures, prove new cases of homological mirror symmetry, and count special trajectories on surfaces using advanced tools such as stability conditions and ‘wall‑crossing’ phenomena.
The project will also establish a mathematical foundation for spectral networks (geometric patterns that encode optimal paths on surfaces) and explore their role in enumerative geometry, category theory, and microstate counting in quantum field theory. The goal is to unite previously separate research areas and open new directions at the interface between geometry, algebra, and dynamics.”
Fabian Haiden’s research is also supported by a Sapere Aude Research Leader grant from the Independent Research Fund Denmark of DKK 6.2 million. Read more about this here.
Meet the researcher
Fabian Haiden is an Associate Professor at “Quantum Mathematics”, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. He earned his PhD from the University of Vienna, and before coming to SDU, he was affiliated with Harvard University, IHES France, and University of Oxford.