The laureates of the Ann Mihkelson’s scholarship have been announced!

Sigrid and Marta-Lisette

This year, the laureates of the Ann Mihkelson’s scholarship are Sigrid Selberg and Marta-Lisette Pikma.

The scholarship was founded in 2011 by Anu Ebbe Mihkelson and its purpose is to support female scientist and doctoral students, especially chemists, with their research or supervision of master’s and doctoral students. We are happy to announce that this year the scholarship was awarded to two young females who are both members of the Chair of Analytical Chemistry – researcher Sigrid Selberg and junior researcher/doctoral student Marta-Lisette Pikma.

Congratulations from all of us to you, Sigrid and Marta!

 

 

 

 

The laureate of the Katritzky scholarship is Silvia Hiie Aabloo

Every year the Katritzky scholarship is rewarded to a first-year chemistry MSc student at the Institute of Chemistry, University of Tartu. The scholarship was established in memory of Professor Alan Roy Katritzky, the Honorary Doctor of the University of Tartu. We are glad to announce that this year the scholarship was awarded to a member of our Analytical Chemistry Chair – Silvia Hiie Aabloo!

Silvia Hiie Aabloo

Silvia is doing her MSc project in the Cultural Heritage workgroup, supervised by Dr. Anu Teearu-Ojakäär and Dr. Signe Vahur. Her research revolves around the study of matrix materials used in the matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) analysis. MALDI is a suitable ionization technique for the analysis of large and poorly soluble molecules, which has been used somewhat for the analysis of cultural heritage objects. However, research is still needed to find suitable matrix materials for different cultural heritage materials. An interview with Silvia after receiving the scholarship can be found here (in Estonian). 

Congratulations from all of us, Silvia!

 

 

The continuous rise of UT in the World University Rankings

A recent ranking of the world universities has been published by The Times Higher Education (THE). THE is a British journal known for the most reliable rankings of the world’s universities. For the first time, the University of Tartu has reached the top 250!

The 2023 list includes 1799 universities from 104 countries and regions. For the seventh year in a row, the winner in this ranking is the University of Oxford, followed by Harvard University, and the third place is shared by the University of Cambridge and Standford University.

The performance indicators that are taken into account when calculating the ranking were grouped into five areas: teaching (the learning environment, 30% of the overall score); research (volume, income, and reputation, 30%); citations (research influence, 30%); international outlook (staff, students, and research, 7.5%); and industry income (knowledge transfer, 2.5%). The biggest strength of the University of Tartu is its citations per paper – in this area the UT lands at position 115.

The UT has been represented in this worldwide ranking list since 2011. In recent years, the position has consistently improved. Toomas Asser, the Rector of the University of Tartu says that this high ranking affirms the very good level of our academic community and the relevance of the objectives. The Rector also added that the fact that the research and higher education of Estonian’s national university is on the same level as the world’s top universities is an important achievement for the whole Estonia.

More information can be found here. 

Koit Herodes – best teacher from the Institute of Chemistry

Koit Herodes

Every year students vote for their favorite teachers in all of the institutes at the University of Tartu.

We are pleased to announce that this year Dr. Koit Herodes was selected as the best teacher from the Institute of Chemistry!

Koit is an Associate Professor in our Chair of Analytical Chemistry. He is an expert in several analytical techniques, including chromatography and mass spectrometry. His current courses include Analytical Chemistry, Practical Chemical Analysis, Liquid Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry, Master Seminar in Measurement Science, and LC-MS Methods Validation. He teaches students of the Estonian chemistry and high school teacher curricula but also the students of the international EACH and AMS programs. Since 2001 he has supervised numerous BSc, MSc, and PhD students. 

Congratulations to you, Koit!

Ester Oras awarded L’Oreal-UNESCO “For Women in Science” Young Talents award

Ester Oras, the PI of our Archemy research group, was awarded  L’Oreal-UNESCO “For Women in Science” Young Talents Program Baltics (Estonia) with the support of the Estonian Academy of Sciences and the Estonian National Commission for UNESCO scholarship.
 
Ester and her team work in biomolecular archaeology and employ modern omics methods – lipidomics, proteomics, and genomics – to reveal ancient dietary practices and diseases. By analysing centuries and millennia old ceramic vessels and human remains with topnotch laboratory techniques, Ester aims to show how past foodways affected the health of ancient populations, and reveal how historically developed dietary practices influence our overall wellbeing in the past as well as today. Ester says herself: “I want to give colour and taste to the past and bring the history closer to us today.”
 
L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Young Talents Programme aims to support and encourage young women researchers who represent the future of science in STEM fields. The Baltic regional programme opened first in Latvia in 2004 and widened to Lithuania and Estonia in 2017, with altogether 10 Young Talents recognised from Estonia so far.
 
Congratulations from all of us to you, Ester!
 
 
 
 

Order of Merit of the White Star – Prof. Hilkka Hiiop

Prof. Hilkka Hiiop

Today it was announced that the president of Estonia, Alar Karis, has honored 148 Estonians or our friends from abroad with national awards, also known as decorations.

It is a great pleasure to announce that the Order of Merit of the White Star was awarded to Prof. Hilkka Hiiop, a valued member of our workgroup! She has been acknowledged for bringing the conservation of cultural heritage into the focus of Estonian society.

The press release can be found here (in Estonian). But to translate some of the words of our president: “On the eve of Independence Day, the Republic of Estonia thanks people with its decorations whose perseverance, selflessness, dedication, ingenuity, or creation are an example to many others and have made Estonia better, more caring, more noticed, and more entrepreneurial.”

Congratulations from all of us to you, Hilkka!