Three new members from Aalto University selected to Finnish Academy of Science and Letters

The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters is devoted to scientific and scholarly research and serves as a bond uniting researchers engaged in these activities at the highest level. It functions as a traditional learned society in the sense that its membership is limited and it selects its new members on their academic and scientific merits.

The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters is divided into two sections: science and the humanities Ordinary membership is granted to meritorious Finnish scholars, by invitation only. New members of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters for 2016 were selected in an annual meeting held on 15 April 2016. Professor of Physics Mika Sillanpää was selected as a member of the science section, while Professor of International Business Rebecca Piekkari and Professor of Business Law Petri Kuoppamäki were selected in the humanities section. These are life-long memberships.

'The membership is a significant honour', Sillanpää proudly explains. His field of research is experimental quantum physics. Sillanpää seeks phenomena predicted by quantum physics in micromechanical resonators at low temperatures.

Rebecca Piekkari explains this to be an expression of significant collegial recognition as the humanities section is notably extensive and multidisciplinary, covering, among others, theology, history, psychology, linguistics, law and social sciences. None of the eight academic fields are specifically devoted to business, and this plays a part in making the support granted by the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters feel particularly valuable. Piekkari's research has been concerned with management, organisational structures and communications in multinational companies, both in Finland and other countries.

'I highly value my membership, as this is an invitation based on scientific merits', Kuoppamäki says. He is specialised in competition law, which he has studied for 25 years.

Finnish Academy of Science and Letters pursues its aims by arranging lectures and discussion meetings, publishing scientific papers, awarding grants and making recommendations and statements of opinion to the authorities in matters concerned with scientific and academic research and those who practice it. The academy is represented on many scientific committees and in various organisations and foundations.

All new members (acadsci.fi) (In Finnish)