Flemming Besenbacher is a professor of nanoscience at Aarhus University, and he was the founding director of the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO) from 2002-2012. Prof. Besenbacher is chairman of the Carlsberg Group, the Carlsberg Foundation, and Aarhus Water A/S. Prof. Besenbacher is also board member of Unisense A/S and chairman of the Danish Think Tank on Food Loss and Food Waste, ONE\THIRD. In addition, Prof. Besenbacher is chairman of the non-profit organization UNLEASH and sits on several advisory boards related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

In 2016, Prof. Besenbacher was appointed both chairman of the Danish government’s Advisory Board for Circular Economy, member of the Danish government’s Digital Growth Panel, and member of the Danish Ministry of Taxation’s advisory panel for succession planning in commercial foundations. He has also served as deputy chairman of Innovation Fund Denmark from 2014 to June 2020.

Prof. Besenbacher is an international leading scientist within the field of nanoscience, and he has published more than 730 scientific articles in international journals such as Science and Nature. He is one of the most cited Danish scientists with around 47,000 citations and an H-factor of 107. Furthermore, Prof. Besenbacher is honorary doctor at 17 Chinese universities, and he has received several distinctions in Denmark and abroad for his research, for instance “The Chinese Government Highest International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Award” of the People’s Republic of China.
He is foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Academician) and holds the title of Commander of the Order of Dannebrog.