FPS Master’s Thesis Prize 2023 is now open! The deadline is 26.01.2024 at 23:59.
The Finnish Physical Society awards an annual prize for an excellent Master’s thesis in the field of physical sciences. The purpose of this prize is to support early career researchers and acknowledge them for the exceptional work.
Criteria: Master’s thesis has to be of an exceptional quality that includes a notable individual contribution. The theory and background parts in the thesis have to be also exemplary and fluent in presentation. The grade is required to be the highest possible (5 in the grade 1-5 or Eximia at least if the grading is made using the Approbatur – Laudatur system). The thesis can be written in Finnish, Swedish or English. The nominator needs to be a member of the Finnish Physical Society. The candidate does not have to be a member.
Decision process: The winner and up to two recipients of honorary mention will be selected by the board of the Finnish Physics Society based on the thesis and recommendations.
The winner and those receiving honorary mentions are expected to write a 1-2 pages public blog-style article of their thesis research that should be understandable for a physicists without expertise in the field. Alternatively, the winner/recipient of honorary mention can make a five-minute video describing the research presented in the thesis.
Articles/videos will be published on the FPS webpages and possibly in Arkhimedes.
Decision: The decision will be made by the board of the Finnish Physical Society based on their own evaluation and received recommendations.
Prize: The prize is 1000 EUR and one year of free membership of the Finnish Physical Society. The prize can be also divided, if the board considers it justified. The prize will be awarded at Physics Days. The winners will be announced personally.
Submissions at https://forms.gle/uiky8Q6T9LAaAtB7A.
Earlier Prize Winners
2022: Otto Veltheim (Univeristy of Helsinki: Quantum State Tomography with Observable Commutation Graphs)
2021: Kaapo Seppänen (University of Helsinki: HTL self-energies in Hot and Dense QCD) – Press release by the home institute can be found here!
2020: Sonja Kujanpää (University of Jyväskylä: Determination of the magnetic octupole moment of 173-Yb and a design towards laser-double resonance methods in an MR-ToF device) Link
2019: Markus Hiekkamäki (Tampere University: Unitary transformations of spatial modes for quantum experiments) and Mathias Fontell (Aalto University: Numerical Ray Tracing of Medium and High Frequency Radio Waves in the Terrestrial Ionosphere)
2018: Lauri Niemi (University of Helsinki; Dimensional reduction in the study of the electroweak phase transition) and Olli Ahlstedt (University of Tampere; Elektronirakenteen tiheysfunktionaaliteoriaan perustuvat simulaatiot vedyn adsorptiolle Pt-Ni nanoklustereiden pinnoilla). Link
2017: Risto Ojajärvi (University of Jyväskylä; Electron-phonon interaction in flat-band superconductivity). Link
2016: Erkka Lumme (University of Helsinki; Determination of the solar photospheric electric field for modelling of the coronal magnetic field and CMEs) and Saga Säppi (University of Helsinki; Aspects of Quantum Chromodynamics at Finite Density). Link
2015: Ari-Pekka Honkanen (University of Helsinki; Pallotaivutettujen kideanalysaattorien röntgendiffraktio-ominaisuudet). Link
