Doctoral education

Aalto doctoral thesis awards

Aalto University rewards the most meritorious doctoral thesis by the annual Aalto University Doctoral Thesis Awards. The core criteria for the awards are academic quality, impact and originality.

The Schools grant Aalto University Doctoral Thesis Awards according to
the following principles:

  • Each school rewards doctoral theses which are among the most meritorious top ten percent of the doctoral theses of the school.
  • The awards are granted annually every calendar year.
  • The awards granted are 3000 euro each. (In the School of Engineering, 1000 euro.)
  • The core criteria for the awards are academic quality, impact and originality.
  • The recipients of the awards are selected among the doctoral students / graduated doctors whose doctoral thesis has been approved within the previous calendar year of the award in question.
  • Award decisions take into account the statements given by the preliminary examiners and opponents.
  • The decisions are made by the Dean of the School on the proposal of the School's Doctoral programme committee.
  • Joint Aalto University Certificate of Honour is given to the recipients of the awards.
  • The Schools present the awards in a ceremonial event.

The scheme of Aalto University Thesis Awards and the related rewarding criteria are valid from 1st January 2022 to 31st December 2025 and concern the recognition of the doctoral theses approved during the years 2021–2024. During the period the scheme is evaluated and revised for continuation if it is deemed appropriate.

The aim is to encourage doctoral students to good performance and to reward the doctoral students at different Aalto University Schools according to uniform principles. In addition to these awards, the Schools may also
reward their doctoral students otherwise in accordance with the School's objectives and strategy.

Recipients of the thesis awards

Thesis Awards 2025

(for doctoral theses published in 2024)

School of Arts, Design and Architecture

Pasi Toiviainen, Department of Architecture: Genius or Charlatanry? A psychobiographical reinterpretation of the life and works of Buckminster Fuller, supervising professor Panu Savolainen 

Solip Park, Department of Art and Media: Understanding Game Work Migration: Game Expats in Finland, supervising professor Perttu Hämäläinen and thesis advisor Annakaisa Kultima

School of Business 

Laura Kangas-Müller, Department of Management Studies: Struggles for refugee and migrant inclusion - An ethnographic study into the practices and politics of ‘doing’ inclusion in civil society organizations, supervising professor Johanna Moisander and thesis advisor Kirsi Eräranta

Mary Dillon, Department of Information and Service Management: Model-based approaches to decision making in healthcare delivery, supervising professor Eeva Vilkkumaan and thesis advisor Louisa Flander

School of Chemical Engineering

Zahra Ahaliabadeh, Department of Chemistry and Materials Science: Stabilized Nickel Rich Layered Oxide Electrodes for High Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries, supervising professor Tanja Kallio and thesis advisors Asst. Prof. Ville Miikkulainen, Aalto University and Dr. Miia Mäntymäki, University of Helsinki

Christopher Jonkergouw, Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems: Exploring structural diversity in quorum sensing signalling systems and strategies to control prokaryotic community-wide behaviour, supervising professor Markus B. Linder

Daniel Langerreiter, Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems: Synthesis of cellulose based self-sterilizing materials via solid-state reactions, supervising professor Mauri Kostiainen and thesis advisors Dr. Eduardo Anaya-Plaza, Aalto University and Prof. Sandra Kaabel, Aalto University

Junjie Shi, Department of Chemistry and Materials Science: Engineering Sn- and Bi-based Electrocatalysts and Electrodes for Efficient Carbon Dioxide to Formate Production, supervising professor Tanja Kallio and thesis advisors Tanja Kallio and Dr. Milla Suominen, Aalto University

Jihong Yim, Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering: Conformality of atomic layer deposition analysed via experiments and modelling: case study of zinc oxide for catalytic applications, supervising professor Riikka Puurunen and thesis advisors Riikka Puurunen and D.Sc. (Tech.) Reetta Karinen, Aalto University

School of Electrical Engineering

Adrien Corenflos, Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation: Computationally efficient statistical inference in Markovian models, supervsising professor and thesis advisor Simo Särkkä

Ismet Gurbuz, Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation: Material characterization, modeling, and incorporation of the models in the machine simulation of large-diameter synchronous machines, supervising professor Anouar Belahcen and thesis advisors Floran Martin, Aalto University and Ugur Aydin, ABB Oy

Xiaoqi Cui, Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering: Integrated Optoelectronics with van der Waals Materials, supervising professor and thesis advisor Zhipei Sun

Nils Meyer-Kahlen, Department of Information and Communications Engineering: Transfer-Plausible Acoustics for Augmented Reality, supervising professor Tapio Lokki and thesis advisor Sebastian J. Schlecht, Friedrich Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany

Dariush Salami, Department of Information and Communications Engineering: Spectrum-aware Human-Centric Sensing (HCS) using mmWave radars, supervising professor and thesis advisor Stephan Sigg

Joel Lamberg, Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering: Curved boundary integral method and its application to Mie theory: Electromagnetic beam synthesis and scattering analysis, supervising professor Zachary Taylor and thesis advisors Aleksi Tamminen, Aalto University and Juha Ala-Laurinaho, Aalto University

Lauri Vähä-Savo, Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering: Towards Smart Cities: Antenna-Embedded Walls and Antenna-User Interaction Modeling for Enhanced Urban Connectivity, supervising professor Katsuyuki Haneda and thesis advisor Clemens Icheln, Aalto University

School of Engineering

Lauri Ahopelto, Department of Built Environment: Drought in Water Abundant Finland – Data and Tools for Drought Management, supervising professor Marko Keskinen and thesis advisors Dr. Noora Veijalainen, Finnish Environment Institute and Profesor Olli Varis, Aalto University

Eric A.K. Fangnon, Department of Mechanical Engineering: Evaluation of Hydrogen Embrittlement Effect on Mechanical Strength of Modern Martensitic High Strength Steels – Experimental Analysis and Artificial Neural Network-based Prediction, supervising professor Pedro Vilaca and thesis advisors Dr. Evgenii Malitckii, Aalto University and Dr. Yuriy Yagodzinskyy, Aalto University

Christopher Görsch, Department of Civil Engineering: Learning to See Flow – A Worker-centric Exploration Towards Task Planning and Control in Construction, supervising professor Olli Seppänen and thesis advisors Dr. Rita Lavikka, VTT and Professor Olli Seppänen

Federica Mancini, Department of Mechanical Engineering: Enhancing the structural stress assessment of distorted lightweight ship dec structures, supervising professor Heikki Remes and thesis advisor Professor Jani Romanoff

Lorenzo Giorio, Department of Energy and Mechanical Engineering: Modelling, Design and Testing Techniques for New Generation Industrial Rotors, supervising professor Raine Viitala, Aalto University and supervising professor Eugenio Brusa, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

School of Science

Eric Hyyppä, Department of Applied Physics: High-fidelity elementary operations for superconducting quantum computers, supervising professor Mikko Möttönen and thesis advisors Quantum Engineer, Doctor of Sciences Johannes Heinsoo, IQM Quantum Computers & Quantum Engineer, PhD Brian Tarasinski, IQM Quantum Computers

Sakari Lepikko, Department of Applied Physics: Droplet friction on heterogeneous surfaces, supervising professor and thesis advisor Robin Ras

Kim Myyryläinen, Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis: Parabolic bounded mean oscillation and Muckenhoupt weights, supervising professor and thesis advisor Juha Kinnunen

Julia Jaatela, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering : Investigating the white matter structure of the sensorimotor system in children with cerebral palsy, supervising professor Lauri Parkkonen and thesis advisor Associate Professor Harri Piitulainen, University of Jyväskylä

Jane Seppälä, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management: On the Strategic Importance of Building and Using Complex, Algorithmic Systems, supervising professor and thesis advisor Associate Professor Timo Vuori

Shuzhe Wang, Department of Computer Science: Deep Learning Methods for Point Matching, Visual Localization and 3D Reconstruction, supervising professor and thesis advisor Associate Professor Juho Kannala

Ana Maria Triana Hoyos, Department of Computer Science: From Scans to Reality: Effects of Preprocessing and Daily Behavioral Patterns on fMRI Brain Connectivity, supervising professor Professor Jari Saramäki and thesis advisors Staff Scientist Enrico Glerean, School of Science, Senior Advisor Mikko Sams, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering

Petrus Mikkola, Department of Computer Science: Humans as Information Sources in Bayesian Optimization, supervising professor and thesis advisor Professor Samuel Kaski

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