Bodil Holst is a full professor at the University of Bergen, Norway. She has more than 20 years’ experience as a surface scientist, investigating materials with neutral helium atom scattering, a technique particularly suited to investigate dynamic properties of materials in the low-energy range, including electron-phonon coupling, bending rigidity and phonon dispersion. Bodil Holst has led several EU collaborative research projects. She is currently chair of the Kavli Prize committee for Nanoscience.