To encourage young doctoral students to engage in research related to the sustainable use of Finland’s natural resources, the Foundation annually presents a €10,000 award to a doctoral thesis that best advances the Foundation’s goals.
The award-winning doctoral thesis must be of an internationally high standard and create opportunities to develop the utilization of Finland’s natural resources in compliance with the principles of sustainable development. The thesis must have been approved by a Finnish university. The evaluation criteria include the scientific-technical novelty and commercial potential of the results, as well as the advancement of the principles of sustainable development and resource-efficiency in the use of natural resources.
The Foundation’s Board of Directors made the decision to include the doctoral thesis award in the Foundation’s programme in 2020. The award will be granted for the first time in 2021.
Rules for the doctoral thesis award
1 §
Foundation for Research of Natural Resources in Finland grants, on an annual basis, a doctoral thesis award to a meritorious thesis that supports the mission of the Foundation and has been approved by a university in Finland.
2 §
The award-winning doctoral thesis shall be of an internationally high standard and create opportunities to develop the utilization of Finland’s natural resources in compliance with the principles of sustainable development. The evaluation criteria include the scientific-technical novelty and commercial potential of the results, as well as the advancement of the principles of sustainable development and resource-efficiency in the use of natural resources.
3 §
The Foundation requests doctoral theses award nominations from universities and research institutes in Finland. The doctoral theses have to be approved during the calendar year and they need to meet the criteria set for the award.
4 §
The Board of Directors selects the winner from among the nominations received by the Foundation.
5 §
The Foundation determines the monetary value of the award.
6 §
The award is presented to the winner at an annual festive occasion, provided that a deserving thesis that meets the criteria is found.
The first doctoral thesis award
On September 1st 2021 the first doctoral thesis award was granted to Mamata Bhattarai for her innovative research on the use of hemicellulose. Read more about the the award winning research here.
The second doctoral thesis award
The second doctoral thesis award was granted to Lassi Klemettinen on his study “Behaviour of trace elements in copper smelting processes – LA-ICP-MS as a tool for sample characterisation” The doctoral thesis provided new data and improved accuracy concerning the distribution of rare earth metals and noble metals in the PRINCIPAL production process of base metals, FLASH SMELTING.
