The 2026 Nils Klim Prize is awarded to Danish psychologist Majse Lind for her interdisciplinary research into mental health.
The Nils Klim Committee Citation
The Nils Klim Committee recommends that Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology Majse Lind at Aalborg University be awarded the 2026 Nils Klim Prize.
Lind’s original and innovative academic contributions meet all the criteria of the Prize to a remarkable degree.
Lind contributes to urgent issues of mental health in the Nordic countries and beyond: How to understand, discover and address personality disorders, especially among adolescents but also among the elderly. Identity distress is on the rise, and its causes and treatments merit much more public attention.
Her research shows how narrative life stories can overcome dysfunctional self-understanding and psychological suffering. Interventions can help individuals create meaning, continuity and purpose – phenomenological traits of identity formation, and of what it means to be human. Applications range from detecting personality pathologies among young people to maintaining a sense of self among older adults with memory loss.
The Committee underscores how Lind draws from and contributes to interdisciplinary insights across social sciences and humanities, including the fields of narration and the life stories people construct and reconstruct about their past, present, and presumed future. Her research shows the importance of social networks in autobiographical memories of life traumas and treatments. Lind also pioneers the use of AI to detect early signs of narrative identity disturbances to enable crucial early-stage interventions. Lind’s contributions inform changes to diagnostic tools and clinical treatments for mental illnesses in both young and old.
Her impressive list of more than 50 publications includes many in top ranking journals of her field and often with her as first author. She has also co-authored the book Storying Mental Illness and Personal Recovery (Cambridge University Press, 2023).
Born in 1989, Lind received her PhD degree in Psychology from Aarhus University in 2018. She has since held two postdoctoral positions in USA—one at the University of Florida and one at Northeastern University. She was appointed Assistant Professor in 2022 and received her clinical authorization in 2025. Lind has also shown great research leadership, exemplified by several research projects. In particular, she has co-founded and co-directs the interdisciplinary AI:Mind Lab, helping young people better express themselves regarding identity-related distress.
The Committee finds Assistant Professor Majse Lind a most worthy recipient of the Nils Klim Prize for her outstanding, original, innovative and interdisciplinary contributions to psychological research on topics of the utmost importance in the Nordic countries and beyond.
On behalf of the Nils Klim Committee,
Andreas Føllesdal, Chair
The 2026 Nils Klim Prize
Aalborg University
Denmark
Biography
Majse Lind (b. 1989) earned her PhD from Aarhus University, Denmark. She subsequently held postdoctoral positions at Northeastern University in Boston, USA, and at the University of Florida, USA, before joining Aalborg University, where she has been Associate Professor of Psychology since August 2025.
Her research centers on what William James famously described as psychology’s most puzzling puzzle: identity. She investigates identity at the intersection of personality development and personality pathology, with a particular focus on narrative identity. Dr. Lind is Director of the IN:DEPTH Lab (IdeNtity, DEvelopment, and Personality paTHology), where she leads several ambitious research projects funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark and the Carlsberg Foundation.
She is also Co-Director of the AI:MIND Lab together with Niels Van Berkel from Computer Science, where they integrate artificial intelligence methods to detect and intervene on early markers of personality pathology.
Dr. Lind serves as President-Elect of the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders (ISSPD) and chairs its Internationalization Committee. In these roles, she works to strengthen global collaboration in personality pathology research, with particular attention to supporting scholars in underrepresented regions.
She has published international books and peer-reviewed articles in leading journals in her field and has received national and international awards for her research on personality disorders and narrative identity. In addition, she is actively engaged in editorial and professional service, including roles as Associate Editor of the Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy (2027–), Consulting Editor of the European Journal of Personality (2026–), and Editorial Board Member of Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment (2022–present).
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