Mattias Jakobsson – a Wallenberg Scholar 2024


The prestigious Wallenberg Scholar grant is awarded to leading senior researchers in Sweden every five years. It can be freely used for research with no restrictions. 
The Wallenberg Foundation awarded 118 scientists, from 13 Swedish Universities in 2024. Mattias Jakobsson, one of the Center for the Human Past’s Principal Investigators, is one of the twenty awardees from the Uppsala University. His work in the field of human evolution and population genetics challenges established theories about the cradle of humankind.

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“I not only want to map the genes; I also want to understand the genetic process in detail. It’s a question of identifying the genetic changes that made humans clever, driven, and good engineers several hundred thousand years ago.”

Mattias Jakobsson, 2022.

Moving the cradle of humankind

Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation grants SEK 2.1 billion to 118 of Sweden’s top researchers


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