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Doctoral Dissertation Awards honour outstanding dissertations written at Tampere University

Published on 7.9.2021
Tampere University
Tohtorinhatut promootiossa
On the day of the opening ceremony of the academic year, awards were given out to recognise outstanding dissertations and high-impact research output at Tampere University.

The University’s Societal Impact Award and the student union TREY’s Good Teacher Awards were also given out at the awards ceremony, which was hosted by the University of Tampere Foundation and the Industrial Research Fund at Tampere University of Technology. 

The City of Tampere granted three Doctoral Dissertation Awards 

The City of Tampere Science Fund gave out three Doctoral Dissertation Awards to the authors of the best doctoral dissertations written at Tampere University that have received the grade Approved with distinction. The awards are worth €5,000 each. 

The Doctoral Dissertation Award in the field of technology was presented to Doctor of Technology Timo Aho for his dissertation in physics titled Advanced III-V-Solar Cells with Back Reflectors.


The Doctoral Dissertation Award in the field of health sciences was presented to Doctor of Medicine Jori Pesonen for his dissertation in urology titled Course and Consequences of Nocturia.


The Doctoral Dissertation Award in the field of social sciences was presented to Doctor of Social Sciences Johanna Ranta for her dissertation in social work titled Relational agency in low-threshold services for people using drugs: A study of institutional interaction.


The two university foundations awarded Doctoral Dissertation Awards to all other doctoral graduates who received the grade Approved with Distinction for their dissertation in 2020. The €1,500 awards were presented to 22 doctoral graduates. 

The Publisher of the Year Award promotes open access 

Candidates for the 2021 Publisher of the Year Award were screened based on researcher profiles stored in the TUNICRIS research information system. 

Doctoral researchers and recent doctoral graduates were eligible candidates for the award. The recipients’ researcher profiles had to be up to date.


The purpose of the award is to recognise researchers who embrace open access publishing, and possibly open access to data, and who have taken steps to increase the visibility and impact of their research. 

Publisher of the Year Awards granted to three researchers 

One of the Publisher of the Year Awards was presented to doctoral researcher Vadim Romashov who specialises in social sciences. Romashov is a prolific publisher who actively shares information about his research findings through multiple avenues and channels. He increases the visibility of his research by keeping his ORCID and TUNICRIS profiles up to date. Between 2018 and 2020, 100% of his publications were made openly accessible. Romashov publishes findings in multiple languages. 

The winner of the other Publisher of the Year Award is Project Researcher Marjaana Jones who specialises in health sciences. Jones is an active researcher who communicates her research to a broad audience. She has delivered presentations in countless conferences and served as a peer-reviewer for scientific journals. Between 2018 and 2020, 100% of her publications were made openly accessible. In her dissertation, Jones explored patient and public involvement in healthcare. The focus was on the use of lay expertise and experiential knowledge in the context of healthcare. Jones maintains a versatile researcher profile and publishes findings in multiple languages. 

The Publisher of the Year Award in the field of technology was granted to doctoral researcher Jesse Saari whose area of expertise is physics. Although a young researcher, Jesse Saari has already contributed to several research papers that have received citations, demonstrating that he undertakes impactful research on topical themes. Saari has reported research findings in scientific journals, conference proceedings, posters and abstracts. In the past three years, all his publications have been made openly accessible.

Jesse Saari’s research output has an international dimension. He has published findings on international forums and has also been involved in initiating research collaboration with Dublin City University, which is Tampere University’s partner in a European consortium of universities. This work has already resulted in the first co-authored publications in scientific journals.   

The two university foundations give out grants and scholarships to promote research and teaching at Tampere University and otherwise provide funding to support the University’s activities. 

Photo: Sami Reivinen