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“Brilliant” Claus Hviid Christensen, Nexus CEO, receives honorary doctorate from SDU

One of Denmark’s leading academic institutions has presented an honorary doctorate degree to Claus Hviid Christensen, CEO of Nexus, for his contribution to science.

The prestigious award was announced by the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) on 26 October 2018 with Henrik Bindslev, Dean of its Technical Faculty, describing Claus as “a brilliant researcher with a sky-high h-index.” The h-index measures the impact of a scientist based on the number of citations their papers have received in other publications.

Mr Bindslev also singled out Claus Hviid Christensen’s ability to take fundamental research and apply it successfully in a commercial environment. “[He] is working on the basic-level science, creating new insights, and on the practical level, making new inventions – putting them into use and following through with them,” he said.

Nexus is an independent company that provides research & development services to Palsgaard’s emulsifiers and stabilizers business. Claus Hviid Christensen, who was appointed Nexus CEO in March 2017, said the honorary doctorate had “come out of the blue”, adding: “My immediate reaction was deep astonishment. But once the news had sunk in I felt very proud and very honoured.”

He continued: “Many times I’ve seen how hard it is to do truly excellent research, and many times I’ve seen how hard it is to do business and develop products. Both are incredibly difficult. But for me the ultimate intellectual challenge is to do both at the same time: do highly ambitious research which can be directly applied to products and new services.”

A short video explaining the decision to award Claus Hviid Christensen the doctorate and his reaction can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbcki7UuZm4

ENDS

For more information, please contact:
​Richard Clarke, Ingredient Communications
​Tel: +44 1293 886291 / +44 7766 256176
​Email: richard@ingredientcommunications.com
​Twitter: @ingredientcomms

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About Palsgaard

At Palsgaard, our world – and our niche area of expertise – is plant-based emulsifiers, and has been for over 100 years. Ever since we invented the plant-based emulsifier in 1917, we’ve been pushing the frontiers of food science, developing emulsifiers and stabilisers that set new standards in our industry.

We are proud to play a small but crucial role in delivering delicious foods for a growing population, and also offer our solutions to non-food markets such as polymers and personal care. Through close collaboration with our customers, we help reduce the use of scarce resources, minimise food waste, and lower environmental impact – all while maintaining product quality and production efficiency.

Our heart-working culture is all about making business personal. We work side by side with our customers to understand their challenges and co-create customised, added-value solutions – from innovating new products to reformulating recipes and improving ESG performance.

Our ESG strategy is embedded in everything we do, from recipe optimisation and energy savings to transparent reporting aligned with current standards. As niche experts, we combine deep technical knowledge with hands-on support through our application centres and pilot plants. Our collaborative approach builds long-term trust and peace of mind – ensuring supply security, food safety, and compliance across global markets.

We are owned by the Schou Foundation and have more than 800 colleagues in 20 countries, as well as six factories and nine application centres on four continents. In 2024, we reported a turnover of 314 million EUR (2.3 billion DKK).

For more information, visit www.palsgaard.com

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Juelsminde, Denmark

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