Björn Alling

Björn Alling is a Professor and Head of Unit at Linköping University, where he leads the Theory of Disordered Materials research group within the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM). He also serves as Director of the National Supercomputer Centre (NSC), a national facility providing high-performance computing resources for Swedish and European research.

His research focuses on the theoretical modeling of materials under extreme conditions, particularly iron and steels, incorporating magnetic disorder, atomic vibrations, and defects. He employs advanced computational methods such as first-principles calculations, density functional theory, and machine learning to predict material properties and behavior.

His recent publications span topics including high-entropy alloys for CO2 conversion, battery materials, catalytic systems for hydrogen and oxygen evolution, and the fundamental magnetic and mechanical properties of metals. These works reflect a strong trend toward sustainable energy materials and computational acceleration of materials discovery.

He has supervised several Master’s and PhD students, including Davide Gambino, Marian Arale Brännvall, and Amanda Ehn, whose thesis work has contributed directly to published research. His group collaborates internationally, including with researchers at Université Paris-Saclay.

He leads a research unit focused on dynamically disordered solids and is actively involved in national and European supercomputing initiatives, such as the deployment of the Arrhenius supercomputer. His leadership at NSC aims to expand access to computational resources and strengthen Sweden’s role in high-performance computing.