"I believe that I generate a calmness that allows my staff to immerse themselves in their work"

Søren Riis Paludan did not exactly look forward to writing Danish essays when he was at primary school. The assignment was rarely described specifically enough. However, when he reached high school, he found a solution. One of the options was often to analyse a literary text, and he developed a template that enabled him to combine the text, analytical tools, and logic. Basically, he wrote a physics report to answer a Danish assignment.

"I like the idea of using text as a tool to get a logical sequence of arguments," says the professor, who received the Rigmor and Carl Holst-Knudsen Award for Scientific Research at a ceremony at Aarhus University on 25 May.

The award is just one of many awards and grants awarded to Søren Riis Paludan over the past decade. In 2021, he received a Lundbeck professorship of more than DKK 28 million, and he also received the prestigious Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) and the Elite Research Award, which is awarded every year to a handful of Danish researchers of international excellence.

He turned 50 at the beginning of the month, and the national newspapers Jyllands-Posten and Politiken both devoted almost a full page to cover his half century.

A very structured writing process

The sharp spotlight on Søren Riis Paludan during the corona pandemic is still shining brightly.

"I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a little vanity in me, and I’m flattered by positive coverage. But personally, I don’t really like being at the centre of things," says the virologist at his office on the day before the award ceremony. However, he is pleased to see all the attention his research is getting. That is why he always answers when the press calls, and he pleased to tell his audience about the interplay between a virus and the immune system.

Søren Riis Paludan spends most of his time writing articles and funding applications, which so far have brought many millions of DKK to his research. The writing process is a drain for many researchers, but it stimulates the professor's brain.

"I actually get a lot of my ideas when I write applications. It’s a space where I find many of the gaps in existing knowledge. Then I go into the laboratory and see whether we have preliminary data that supports my idea sufficiently for it to hold water in a hypothesis for an application," he says.

There are basically two approaches to the application process, and they are both more or less equally prominent. One is "We need money – where can we apply?" And the other is "Wow, this is exciting - we have to take this further!".

Regardless of why he starts, the writing process usually takes Søren Riis Paludan out to where his wild ideas blossom to give him a competitive edge.

"You can really think out of the box in the project design," says the professor, who simultaneously works in a structured and yet fragmented manner. He doesn’t just go into the office and metaphorically speaking locks himself in until the application is finished – on the contrary.

"I can easily write just three lines on one day and then continue from there the next day. When my children were younger and had to be picked up from daycare, I had no problem to leave in the middle of an unfinished sentence," he says.

He can do this because he always gets started with plenty of time at hand, and he has a plan for the process.

"I feel the stress as the deadline approaches, and I find that this impairs my creativity. The key for me is to have a structure that I can go back and forth to," he says.

During the corona lockdown, he learned that he worked most effectively in his undisturbed office at home, but as the manager of a laboratory with 15-20 staff, and as a deputy department head, he usually has to write his applications and articles in his office in the Skou Building.

Don't cheer too loudly

Some of the best moments in Søren Riis Paludan's professional life are when a major project is published in a leading journal after a process in which many talented people have been able to perform at their best.

"When the final product is greater than the sum of our individual competencies, because we have created something that none of us could do alone," as he says.

But despite his clear orientation towards the community in the group, you won't see him running down the corridor and high-fiving everyone when the big moments occur.

"People might think that I'm not especially excited when we reach a goal, because I rarely shout out in celebration. But I do have a very strong, and often very long-lasting, inner joy and satisfaction. Actually, I may be perceived as pretty boring, but perhaps that also means that I generate calmness and stability around me," he says.

Furthermore, you will rarely see him walking around encouraging social initiatives such as a department dinner, an after-work beer or a laboratory excursion.

"I find it easier to ask people whether we need to make a new funding application. I like to immerse myself, and you could say that I sometimes need to be able to see what all the fuss is about before I engage in social activities. I know that it’s extremely important that a group works socially, but it’s not really for me. That's why I try to hire people who have these competences, so that my laboratory is both academically focused and socially active," he says.

Søren Riis Paludan is described by his colleagues as empathetic, talented, ambitious and orderly.

Twelve years as a professor has not made him blind to what it is like to be a young and insecure researcher in a competitive world.

"It's a strange kind of business, because in a way being a researcher is like running a small shop, and if things start to go wrong, there’s not much help around. It’s an anarchistic setup in a system that’s driven to a high degree by intrinsic motivation. If your motivation fails, getting help often requires that you’re willing to expose yourself a little," he explains.

"I can sense that as I become more successful, I become more comfortable with revealing my own weaknesses. But it would be better if the culture encouraged us all to show our weaknesses, regardless of career level and the degree of recent success," says Søren Riis Paludan, who focuses on the fundamental importance of cohesion.

"The sense of community is important for us to thrive and to be able to cope in periods of adversity. Because you need a community to pick you up again. Even though I have fairly low social needs, I need a sense of unity and community to give me a free space and energy that I can project into motivation. You usually find that a lot of people are facing the same challenges as yourself." 

Big picture guy

There is a saying that success is 10 per cent talent and 90 per cent hard work. Søren Riis Paludan knows all about this.

"I don’t know if that’s exactly the right split, but I do know that talent alone only gives you potential," he says.

On the other hand, hard work is more than just working hard,” he points out. It’s all about applying your talent correctly.

How does he do that himself in practice; this professor who wrote a PhD focusing on immunology and has since worked on the interactions between a virus and the immune system?

"I try to ask myself about where I have my strengths and a competitive advantage. I find that I am best when biology becomes very complex. And I'm good at seeing patterns. There are a lot of technical details where I am not particularly strong, but I often see the bigger patterns because I tend to see things from the helicopter perspective. I don’t get stuck in the detail, unless the details are the key to the bigger pattern," he says.

For the past five to seven years, he has enjoyed a ‘very strong tailwind’, as he puts it, but Søren Riis Paludan has no difficulty recalling the feeling of defeat that all researchers have from time to time.

"I've received lots and lots of rejections: and I still do. And I still get hugely disappointed. But motivation can arise out of this disappointment," he says.

"If you keep on getting rejected, of course you have to take a long hard look at yourself. Is the problem what I'm trying to sell? Or the way I’m trying to sell it? Am I aiming too high, or am I forgetting to compete where I am competitive?"

Time to watch television with the children

Many want to invite Søren Riis Paludan to events, debates and collaborations. He says “no thanks” to many of these, unless it is in the middle of a pandemic.

"I'm probably one of those people with very clearly defined goals. Some might say that I’m a bit boring, because I'm hard to divert away from them. But if I do take a detour, it’s clearly a detour. It's not because I can be persuaded to take a detour permanently, unless I can see a purpose in it as part of my bigger picture," he says.

"The goal is to understand how our immune system can be used to combat viral infections, and how the same immune system sometimes overreacts and makes us ill.

And there must always be time to switch off and sit down with my daughters to watch a bit of television.”

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Five questions about Søren the person

What do you do in your leisure time?
I read a lot, especially history and philosophy. I have a rowing machine, which I love to exercise in, and I like travelling. Most of all, I like spending time with my family.

What makes you happy?
My children's well-being.

What makes you angry?
Hypocrisy and hidden agendas.

What is your guilty pleasure?
I like cheap wine gums, and I can’t resist half-stale marzipan pies – the kind you find on offer for five crowns and that are almost entirely made of crystallised sugar.

What is your favourite place in the world?
I always go back to two places: Tuscany and Lisbon. The common denominator is beautiful decay. I also love Oxford – the place where my intellectual light was ignited as a student.