Jane Hvolbæk Nielsen takes office as ESS Director General
Jane Hvolbæk Nielsen formally assumed the role of Director General at the European Spallation Source on November 1, succeeding Helmut Schober.
The European Spallation Source (ESS), a major neutron research facility based in Sweden, has appointed Jane Hvolbæk Nielsen as its new Director General. Her term officially began on November 1, following a two-month transition period alongside outgoing Director General Helmut Schober to ensure operational continuity.
Nielsen joins the organization from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), where she served as Head of the Department of Physics for 15 years. Her familiarity with the facility is reinforced by her previous tenure as Denmark’s scientific delegate to the ESS Council, a role that involved overseeing aspects of the Data Management and Scientific Computing Centre's transfer to the DTU campus.
As the facility moves toward its operational phase, Nielsen is tasked with overseeing the completion of instruments and the initiation of user research programs. The project remains a central component of the European scientific infrastructure. Helmut Schober, who has led ESS since 2021, is departing to take a position as Special Advisor to the Director at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in France.