Håkan Frisinger Award for Excellence in Transportation Research

The Håkan Frisinger Award for Excellence in Transportation Research is awarded annually to a distinguished researcher active in the area of transportation, at a university or research institute of academic standing located in the Nordic countries.
  • The objective of the Award is to promote and support research and development in the area of transportation, to the benefit of academia, industry and society in general, but not benefitting any specific private company or government.
  • The award consists of an individual award of SEK 300,000 and a period as a visiting researcher at a university in Sweden, including a grant of SEK 500,000 to the university that receives the visiting researcher in a Volvo Research and Education Foundation guest researcher program.
  • The objective of the Award is to promote and support research and development in the area of transportation, to the benefit of academia, industry and society in general, but not benefitting any specific private company or government. 
  • The award consists of an individual award of SEK 300,000 and a period as a visiting researcher at a university in Sweden, including a grant of SEK 500,000 to the university that receives the visiting researcher in a Volvo Research and Education Foundation guest researcher program.

Since the start 2000 Håkan Frisinger Award has been granted to more than 20 recipients. The recipients have been selected based on a broad understanding of the field of transportation research, which includes engineering, the natural, social and behavioral sciences and the humanities, with a diversity of thematic profiles such as but not limited to: vehicle and fuel technologies; transportation systems and planning; end-user and consumer needs, perspectives and behavior; environmental impacts and climate change; and transport economics and efficiency. We encourage multidisciplinary research approaches and cooperation between scientific disciplines.


Call for nominations 2024:

The Call for nominations is open 6 February – 8 April 17.00 CET. See CALL FOR NOMINATION AND GUIDELINES (pdf).


A leader who made a difference

Håkan Frisinger worked for Volvo for almost 50 years. As CEO of AB Volvo in the 1980s and chairman of the board in the company in the 1990s he was known as a leader who made a difference, not the least through a major contribution to strengthening the connection between Swedish research and the transport industry.

When he stepped down in 1999 Volvo’s Annual Shareholders Meeting voted to honor him by founding Håkan Frisinger’s Foundation for Transport Research, which since then is one of the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations. Today the Håkan Frisinger Award has been granted to more than 20 recipients. The recipients have selected based on a broad understanding of the field of transportation research, which includes engineering, the natural, social and behavioral sciences and the humanities, with a diversity of thematic profiles such as but not limited to: vehicle and fuel technologies; transportation systems and planning; end-user and consumer needs, perspectives and behavior; environmental impacts and climate change; and transport economics and efficiency.

It is with great pride and humility that VREF continues to work in the spirit of Håkan Frisinger.

Lars Eriksson, recipient 2023

Håkan Frisinger’s Foundation for Transport Research awarded the 2023 scholarship to professor Lars Eriksson at Linköping University. Lars Eriksson receives the scholarship for his strong scientific credentials and significant contribution to the transport industry.

Lars Eriksson is professor of vehicle systems at the Department of Systems Engineering at Linköping University. He has a long tradition of making research results easily accessible and has several collaborations with industry in general models and product-oriented research projects that resulted in various solutions used by global truck manufacturers. He is now awarded the Håkan Frisinger Award for Excellence in Transportation Research for his efforts.

– Lars Eriksson’s strong scientific credentials are combined with a significant contribution to industry. He often makes research results readily available through the publication of textbooks and open source software and models. Many of the world’s most prominent companies in the transportation manufacturing industry use the model libraries he provides. Lars also has strong experience in teaching and supervision both in Sweden and abroad, writes Jan-Ingvar Jönsson, vice chancellor at Linköpings universitet in the nomination letter.

The award consists of an individual award of SEK 300,000 and a period as a visiting researcher at a university in Sweden, including a grant of SEK 500,000 to the university that receives the visiting researcher in a Volvo Research and Education Foundation guest researcher program. It is now granted to Uppsala universitet, the Ånströmlaboratoriet, which welcomes Professor Lars Eriksson’s research program in electric transport.
– His proposed program at Uppsala University will provide excellent opportunities for scientific collaboration to improve the knowledge, efficiency and overall sustainability of the electric vehicle battery, which is the core of electromobility, says Jan-Ingvar Jönsson in the nomination letter.

Recipients through the years

Since the start 2000 Håkan Frisinger Award has been granted to more than 20 recipients. The recipients have selected based on a broad understanding of the field of transportation research, which includes engineering, the natural, social and behavioral sciences and the humanities, with a diversity of thematic profiles.



Picture taken at the 2023 Frisinger Award Ceremony in Gothenburg. Scholarship recipient, professor Lars Eriksson with diploma in the middle – and Award Seminar moderator, Lars Nielsen, together with professor Torbjörn Suneson, representing the VREF Board, to the left – and Award Seminar Presenter professor Frank Willems, together with Lars Rosén, Chairman of VREF:s Scientific Council, and Award Seminar presenter, and Johan Dahl from Volvo Trucks AB to the right.