Good reputation attracts researchers to Aalto Science Institute

At the beginning of this year, the three-year-old Aalto Science Institute, or AScI, was provided with a new governance model.

This summer was already the fourth time that the Aalto Science Institute, or AScI, has helped the departments of the School of Science find international interns for the summer.

 'The programme has been very successful, and the number of applicants has grown year by year as the good reputation has been spreading,' says Director of AScI, Professor Pekka Orponen, pleased.

The aim of the summer internship programme has been to create a new channel for the recruitment of good post-graduate students. In practice, AScI helps departments in recruiting interns for the summer, but the research groups are allowed to choose their interns from the applicants themselves. AScI introduces the interns from different departments jointly to the operating practices at Aalto University as well as to the Finnish culture.

Talented postdocs strengthen research activity

In addition to the summer internship programme, AScI also runs the Aalto Science Fellow programme, which gives young and talented postdoc researchers a chance to work at the School research projects for three years.

'Our aim has been to create an internationally interesting programme that will bring excellent researchers to Aalto University who at the end of their research period proceed to other posts internationally or within the Aalto community,' explains Professor Ahti Salo, the chairman of the AScI Steering Group.

Researchers moving on from Aalto contribute to strengthening the operation of AScI as successful visits will spread the word and attract new applicants to both the Fellow programme as the summer internship programme.

'A successful example is Daniel Rayneau-Kirhope, one of the first postdocs of the institute. He was awarded funding for a post as Postdoctoral Researcher by the Academy of Finland in the spring,' Orponen says, delighted. 

AScI also hosts two three-year-old thematic research programmes on the subject matters 'Large Structures and Big Data' as well as 'Machine Learning Material Science'. They were founded partly on the basis of a proposal made by AScI's own Scientific Advisory board (SAB).

AScI has also been financing a programme of short-term research visits. The visits last from one to two weeks, and the institute pays the flights and accommodation for the visitors.

'Many important things from joint publications to joint projects have taken off thanks to these short-term visits,' says Orponen and continues.

'AScI was established to improve international visibility in research and to promote research exchange and mobility, and we have been extremely successful in doing that.'

Aalto Science Institute (AScI) is a high-profile international and multidisciplinary forum for research collaboration. AScI aims to substantially improve the international visibility of Aalto university in research and research exchange and mobility, as well as to cooperate with the departments by promoting researcher education in the School of Sciences as well as the networking of researchers at all levels of the education.

The governance model for the three-year-old AScI was renewed at the beginning of 2015 and, unlike before, it now has a distinct Steering Group instead of the former Executive Committee. AScI also has a high-level monitoring group consisting of five people, the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), which has convened once.  http://asci.aalto.fi/fi/