University of Tartu confers honorary doctorates on four internationally recognised researchers

On 27 May, the University of Tartu confers three honorary doctorates: Professor of the University of Turku Marja-Liisa Helasvuo, Research Director of the University of Helsinki Mart Saarma, and Joint Director of EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute John Frederick William Birney. The fourth honorary doctor appointed in 2021, Professor of the University of Konstanz Astrid Stadler, will be conferred on 1 December together with the new honorary doctorates soon to be appointed. 

  

Marja-Liisa Helasvuo

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Marja-Liisa Helasvuo

 

Marja-Liisa Helasvuo, Professor of Finnish at the University of Turku, was granted an honorary doctorate in linguistics for her outstanding contribution to the development of linguistic thought and long-term cooperation. Helasvuo has been the pre-reviewer and opponent of several doctoral dissertations at the Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics. Linguists from the University of Tartu have also participated in her research projects. As a result of this cooperation, joint seminars and lecture courses on grammar and oral communication have been held in Tartu, Turku and outside Estonia and Finland. The key issues of Estonian and Finnish linguistics (and, more broadly, the grammar of the Baltic Finnic languages) have been thoroughly discussed through this active collaboration. Both the topics investigated and the methodology in use have expanded, and mutual understanding between Estonian and Finnish linguists has been strengthened. Thanks to this cooperation, the study of Estonian and other Baltic Finnic languages has become internationally more visible.

 

Astrid Stadler 

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Astrid Stadler

Professor of the University of Konstanz Astrid Stadle was granted an honorary doctorate in law in recognition of her outstanding achievements in law and long-term successful cooperation with the Faculty of Law of the University of Tartu in shaping the new generation of lawyers. Since 1994, Stadler has been holding the Chair of Private Law, Civil Procedure, Private International Law and Comparative Law at the University of Konstanz. From 2011–2015 she also held a part-time chair at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. Professor Stadler has been the dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Konstanz and the vice rector for teaching at the University of Konstanz.  

Professor Stadler has authored a number of scientific publications, mainly on collective redress and international civil proceedings, contract and property law. She is the author of several monographs, research articles, textbooks and commentaries on the law. In recent years, Astrid Stadler has focused her scientific interest mainly on collective redress, being one of Europe's leading legal scholars in the field. Since the beginning of the 2000s, she has advocated in favour of a European specific class action type of collective redress.

 

Mart Saarma

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Mart Saarma

Research Director of the University of Helsinki, Academician, Professor Mart Saarma was granted an honorary doctorate in neuroscience. Saarma is or has been a member or chair of scientific councils in several national and international institutions: vice president of the European Research Council, member of Estonian Research and Development Council, chair of the Heidelberg Neuroscience Center and a member of the EU Human Brain Project. He is also a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, an external member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, a member of the Finnish Academy of Technology, a member of Academia Europaea and a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 

Cooperation with the University of Tartu has had a special place in Professor Saarma's activities. He has repeatedly given lectures at the University of Tartu Faculty of Medicine and chairs the international scientific advisory board of the Centre of Excellence for Genomics and Translational Medicine of the University of Tartu. It is safe to say that without Mart Saarma's contribution as a partner, educator, consultant and spokesperson for our researchers, the University of Tartu would not be such a well-known and highly recognised centre of genomics and personalised medicine in Europe today.

 

John Frederick William Birney 

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Ewan Birney

Ewan Birney, Deputy Director General of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and a joint director of the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), was granted an honorary doctorate in bioinformatics. 

The research of Ewan Birney combines the fields of bioinformatics and genomics. He has contributed to the global projects on sequencing and the first complete analysis of the human DNA and the DNA of other model organisms like mouse, chicken, and others. 

Ewan Birney has largely contributed to the development of bioinformatics and genomics globally, promoted the international renown of researchers of the University of Tartu and Estonia and formed the new generation of Estonian bioinformatics researchers. He has collaborated with several Estonian researchers at the EMBL-EBI, in joint EU research projects and the bioinformatics infrastructure ELIXIR. This has brought many new contacts and development opportunities to Estonian researchers. He has also helped Estonian research find recognition in bioinformatics tools, genomics, and personalised medicine. The international reputation, renown and visibility of Estonia and the University of Tartu in bioinformatics and genomics have significantly increased thanks to good cooperation with Ewan Birney.

The university senate appointed four honorary doctorates at its session of 29 May 2021. Traditionally, the doctoral conferment takes place on 1 December, the anniversary of Estonia's national university, but last year's ceremony was cancelled due to the pandemic. The new honorary doctors will receive their diplomas at the ceremony at the university's assembly hall on 27 May. 

The ceremony can be watched online on UTTV

 

Public lectures of Ewan Birney and Mart Saarma

Honorary Doctors Ewan Birney and Mart Saarma will hold public lectures* at the University of Tartu Delta Centre on 26 May 2022 at 16:00: 

  • Prof. Ewan Birney, Deputy Director General EMBL & Director EMBL-EBI: "Big data in biology; EMBL's role and what the pandemic has taught us"
  • Prof. Mart Saarma, Research Director, Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki: "Life and death in the nervous system "

*The lectures will not be live broadcast but the recordings will be shared afterwards.

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