New Appointments at FNUG i 2025

The year has included new appointments, new roles among experienced staff members, as well as visits from a wide range of international guest researchers. Read here about FNUG's guests in 2025. Overall, 2025 has strengthened the centre’s research environment and international profile within STEM education, learning environments, and educational development.

New Associate Professors and Key Roles

• Emanuela Marchetti joined FNUG on 1 January 2025 as Associate Professor of Computer Science Education Research. She leads the research strand at the SDU satellite within the national university pedagogy programme University Science Education (USE). Emanuela has an interdisciplinary background and conducts research on creative, design-based, and arts-based approaches to computer science education and science education, including practice-oriented uses of AI in academic writing.
• Dorte Moeskær Larsen was appointed Associate Professor on 1 February 2025. She is a mathematics education researcher with a particular focus on STEM education across educational levels and has, among other roles, served as project leader for LabSTEM+. Dorte is head of the expert group for compulsory education within NCUM and a member of the editorial board of MONA, a Danish journal for educators, communicators, and researchers in mathematics and science education. In 2025, she became part of FNUG’s centre management team with specific responsibility for education.
• Michael Petersen became more closely affiliated with FNUG in March 2025 through a grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation for the project My Digital Competence Portfolio. Michael is employed as Associate Professor of Chemistry at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy but increasingly works with education- and didactics-related research. At FNUG, he leads the accompanying research project within My Digital Competence Portfolio, focusing on quantitative studies of education and competence development. In 2025, he was nominated for SDU’s Teaching Award for the third time by his students.  
• Maja Reedtz was appointed Centre Coordinator on 1 June 2025. She joined FNUG from an administrative position at the Centre for Quantum Mathematics (IMADA) and serves as FNUG’s key administrative anchor. Maja supports the leadership, research projects, and the centre’s daily operations.

Postdoctoral Researchers Affiliated with FNUG in 2025

• Serhii Petrovych began his postdoctoral position at FNUG on 1 July 2025. He holds a PhD in Educational Sciences from Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University in Ukraine and came to SDU through a scholarship programme for at-risk academics from Ukrainian universities. At FNUG, Serhii researches creative and technology-supported approaches to STEM learning and contributes actively to the development of the AI Learning Lab led by Associate Professor Chunfang Zhou. 
• Madalina Jäger joined FNUG as a postdoctoral researcher in August 2025. She holds a PhD in Applied Health Psychology and has more than 13 years of experience in digital health, behaviour change, and psychosocial interventions. At FNUG, she collaborates with Associate Professor Michael Petersen on research within My Digital Competence Portfolio, investigating how the tool can support students’ reflection, self-efficacy, and well-being. She also contributes to the evaluation of PhysicsLab events in collaboration with Associate Professor Chunfang Zhou.

PhD Students Affiliated with FNUG in 2025

• Therese Malene Nielsen began her PhD studies within NAFA. Her research focuses on slow sciencein compulsory education. She is employed at UC Nord and enrolled as a PhD student at the Faculty of Science, SDU, under FNUG’s PhD programme Science, Mathematics, Education and Communication Research (SMEC).
• Gabrielė Characiejienė, MSc in Educational Philosophy, began her PhD fellowship in June 2025 after previously working as a research assistant at FNUG. Her research is anchored in the Interreg-projektet STEPS and focuses on STEM education based on authentic industry contexts.  
• Johan Kørvel Sørensen began his PhD fellowship within the USE-programme on 1 August 2025. His research focuses on computer science education at university level, with particular attention to “the beauty of abstractions” and how complex concepts can be visualised and communicated in teaching.

Research Assistants Affiliated with FNUG in 2025

• Katrine von Bornemann Hjelmborg began as a research assistant at FNUG on 1 September 2025. She is part of FNUG’s research environment in mathematics education and the Mathematics Learning Lab.
• Rasmus Ploug was appointed research assistant on 1 October 2025 in a joint position between FNUG and SDU University Pedagogy (SDU UP). Rasmus works across several projects, including the use of artificial intelligence in academic writing, development of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for educators, and the integration of entrepreneurship in university-level physics education.