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


  • New VR grants for Mattias Jakobsson and Carina Schlebusch

    New VR grants for Mattias Jakobsson and Carina Schlebusch

    Searching for sapiens-specific evolution Mattias Jakobsson receives new funding from the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet, VR) to “develop a statistical, machine-learning–based framework that jointly analyses genomes from archaic humans, ancient southern Africans, and present-day populations.” In the next four years, the project expects to identify genomic regions and biological pathways that evolved rapidly during the…

  • RJ funds a new program, “From Milk to Mead – Indo-European Food Culture in Prehistory”, co-led by Jenny Larsson

    RJ funds a new program, “From Milk to Mead – Indo-European Food Culture in Prehistory”, co-led by Jenny Larsson

    Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ) is an independent foundation that supports research in the humanities and social sciences essential to understanding and addressing society’s current challenges, both nationally and globally. Through its funding, the foundation aims to promote basic research of the highest scientific quality. It also responds to the need for long-term, stable research funding. This…

  • Complex maternal genetic landscape in the Koṅkaṇī population of India

    Complex maternal genetic landscape in the Koṅkaṇī population of India

    Sequeira, J. J., Kumar, L., van Driem, G., Thangaraj, K., & Mustak, M. S. (2026). Complex maternal genetic landscape in the Koṅkaṇī population of India. Heredity, 1-11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41437-026-00896-9 A new genetic study sheds light on the maternal ancestry and historical demographic dynamics of the Konkani population along the southwest coast of India. The research…