Stockholm university

Berit Olofsson receives Ulla and Stig Holmquist Prize

Berit Olofsson, professor at Stockholm University, has been awarded this year’s Ulla and Stig Holmquist Science Prize in Organic Chemistry. She receives the award for her research in the field of hypervalent iodine chemistry. The prize is worth SEK 1.9 million.

Berit Olofsson
Berit Olofsson
Photo: Rickard Kilström

The award citation reads: “The 2025 Ulla and Stig Holmquist Science Prize in Organic Chemistry is awarded to Professor Berit Olofsson of Stockholm University for her ground-breaking research in organic chemistry. Olofsson has pioneered the growing field of research in which hypervalent iodine reagents are produced and used for more environmentally friendly organic chemical synthesis. Her elegant and gentle approach allows different organic molecules to be selectively linked together without the need for toxic metals as catalysts. Olofsson’s research is of the highest international standard.”

When Berit Olofsson started her independent research career in 2006, she was the first in Sweden to focus on hypervalent iodine chemistry.

In connection with her receiving the award, a symposium will be held in the Humanities Theatre in Uppsala.


Several award winners from Stockholm University 

Among previous winners of the award are professors Belén Martín-Matute, Göran Widmalm, Kálmán J. Szabó, Pher G. Andersson, Björn Åkermark, and Jan-Erling Bäckvall at Stockholm University.

Ulla and Stig Holmquist Science Prize in Organic Chemistry

The prize is considered one of the major science prizes in Sweden and is awarded annually “to a researcher in the field of organic chemistry whose main work has been done in Sweden and who has done pioneering work in that discipline.”

The prize was first awarded in 2005. The Vice-Chancellor of Uppsala University selects the prizewinner, acting on the proposal of a committee consisting of the deans of the Chemistry Section, the Faculty of Pharmacy and the Faculty of Medicine.

Read more about the prize

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Last updated: July 1, 2025

Source: Communications Office

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