Awards:
The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters awarded Simo Knuuttila
 Academy Professor Simo Knuuttila received the Gad Rausing Award of The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters for his research in humanities. Professor Knuuttila was awarded for his study on the roles of the possible, the impossible, and the imperative in western thinking. The Gad Rausing award is worth EUR 85,000.
Simo Knuuttila has been Professor of Theological Ethics and the Philosophy of Religion at the University of Helsinki since 1982. He is the head of the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Philosophical Psychology, Morality, and Politics in the Department of Systematic Theology, which has been granted funding by the Academy of Finland for 2008-2013.
Finnish Cultural Foundation award to Kari Uusikylä
 Professor Kari Uusikylä of the Faculty of Behavioural Sciences received the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s EUR 30,000 award for his research in creativity and talent.
The jury based their selection on Uusikylä’s persistent work for the Finnish basic education, academic teachers’ training, and for promoting the individual talents of the pupils. According to the jury, Finland has Uusikylä to thank for the excellent success of comprehensive school pupils in Pisa evaluations.
An international award in dentistry to Irma Thesleff
 Professor Irma Thesleff was awarded the most prestigious award in dentistry, the Isaac Schour Memorial Award. Thesleff heads the Developmental Biology Programme in the Institute of Biotechnology at the University of Helsinki. She is particularly renowned for her studies on the development of teeth and craniofacial bones. The award also mentions her early research work on the creation of cleft lip and oral clefts.
During the year under review, Irma Thesleff also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Debrecen in Hungary. The grounds for the doctorate praised her for her research on the intercellular communication.
Jussi Taipale awarded the Anders Jahre award for young scientists
 Professor Jussi Taipale was awarded the Anders Jahre award for young scientists. He shared the award worth NOK 400,000 with Mahmood Amiry-Moghammad, a researcher working at the University of Oslo.
Taipale is the Professor of Medical Systems Biology in the University of Helsinki and a Research Professor at the National Public Health Institute. His research group was the first in the world to identify the genes affecting the growth and division of animal cells. The precise regulation of growth is essential to both the development of the embryo and the renewal of tissues, while damages in regulation mechanisms contribute to cancer development. A closer understanding of cell growth mechanisms opens new opportunities for the prevention and treatment of diseases.
Nils Klim award for Anne Birgitta Pessi
 Academy Research Fellow Anne Birgitta Pessi (former Yeung), from the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, received the Nils Klim Award, which is the young researcher prize of the esteemed Holberg Award. The award is worth NOK 250,000 (approximately EUR 31,000). It is awarded annually to a young Nordic researcher who has contributed significantly and in an original way to the study of humanities, social sciences, law, or theology.
Pessi’s research areas include altruism, happiness, justice in the welfare state, volunteerism, and urban religion. She heads an Academy of Finland funded research project on the role of religion in today’s transforming solidarity.
Funding received:
ERC funding for Hemming and Ovaska
Researchers Akseli Hemminki and Otso Ovaskainen received significant research funding from the European Research Council, ERC. Hemminki studies oncolytic virus therapy, and Ovaskainen studies the dynamics of natural population. The funding is worth EUR 100,000-400,000 annually for a maximum period of five years.
ERC gave EUR 290 million to promising researchers starting their careers. There were over 9,000 applications, of which approximately 300 researchers received funding. In proportion to its population, Finland was the fourth most successful country.
Advanced Grant funding worth millions to Kulmala and Kupiainen
Academy Professors Markku Kulmala and Antti Kupiainen reeceived the European Research Council ERC’s Advanced Grants. They are targeted at researchers who have already established themselves as distinguished researchers. Kupiainen’s research areas include mathematical physics, partial differential equations, and statistical mechanics. Research subjects of the international research group led by Kulmala include the effects of atmospheric aerosols in the climate and people’s health, microphysics of clouds, and links between the biosphere, aerosols, clouds, and climate.
Funding awarded for each project is approximately EUR 2.5 million, with a maximum of EUR 3.5 in special cases. Funding is awarded for a maximum period of five years.
EU funding worth millions to environmental research network
The University of Helsinki received EUR 900,000 out of a total EU funding of EUR 3 million, to study long-term changes in the earth’s ecosystem. Climate change is affecting the functioning of ecosystems. Legislation pertaining to environment and hunting cannot keep up with the changes. The funding was received by the LTER network (Long-Term-Ecological-Research). The environmental change in coastal areas is studied at the Tvärminne research station of the University of Helsinki.
Funding worth millions to University of Helsinki researchers from the European Research Council
Professors Päivi Peltomäki and Ilkka Hanski received the European Research Council ERC’s advanced grants for leading research in the fields of biosciences and medicine. Peltomäki and her group study the genetics of hereditary cancer. The aim of the study is to learn to understand the birth mechanisms of hereditary forms of cancer and other cancers and to find effective means to prevent the development of cancer. Hanski leads the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Metapopulation Research, which studies the biodiversity of northern forests, particularly those species living in fragmented living environments. The funding awarded for a five-year period is worth EUR 2.5-3.5 million.
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