Uudised

This February a completely new kind of student arrived at the university – a robot called Pepper. It is owned by AS Hansab and its studies in Tartu are supported by Telia. Pepper’s study process will constitute the first financed project-based practical training at the university.

At a festive ceremony held on 6 April President Kersti Kaljulaid presented Leopold Parts, Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of Computer Science, and Mark Fišel, Chair of Natural Language Processing, with this year’s Young Scientist Award and Young IT Scientist Award respectively.

Until March 28, the University of Tartu is inviting its members’ to ask questions from the rector candidates, Toomas Asser and Margit Sutrop. All university employees and students can ask questions via the special form (anonymously) or by sending an email to [email protected]. This is an excellent opportunity to hear the rector candidates’ opinions on university life and on the development of the area that interests you most in the University of Tartu.

At the end of February, the prominent QS World University Rankings published its World University Rankings by Subjects 2018, covering 48 subjects. This year 18 subjects taught at the University of Tartu are represented in the rankings, five more than last year.

EstLat-Accelerate pre-acceleration program for Estonian and Latvian early-stage start-ups invites all new business owners to apply for its second season before March 11. The program suits best early-stage startup projects, who need to validate their idea and test the team before diving into the process with full speed. EstLat-Accelerate consists of joint workshops both in Tartu and in Riga on topics such as business development, marketing, and pitching, followed by one-on-one mentoring speed sessions and meetings with a coach to monitor your process.

Until March 12, all students of the University of Tartu are invited to send in photos and videos from their time spent studying or interning abroad as part of our My Adventure Abroad contest. The only requirement for the photo or video to be taken during an overseas study or interning experience, meaning short tourist trips do not count. The winner of the contest will be rewarded with an aerial adventure – a unique sightseeing flight over Tartu. The runner-up will receive University of Tartu memorabilia and souvenirs.

The government of Estonia has announced the laureates of this year’s national research awards. The award for outstanding lifetime achievement in research and development, 40 000 euros, was granted to professor emeritus of the University of Tartu, academician Agu Laisk. In addition, three projects won the award for best research work. Minister Mailis Reps congratulated all the awardees and expressed gratitude for their contribution to Estonian science. “The laureates are committed scientists and determined trailblazers in their field,” said Reps.

On 20 February, UT Professor of Software Engineering Dietmar Pfahl delivers his inaugural lecture “Data-driven Decision Support in Software Engineering and Management” in the university assembly hall.

The Marketing Office of the University of Tartu conducted a survey among international degree students in summer 2017. The purpose of the survey was to help understand how current international students made their decision to come to study in Estonia. Total number of respondents was 176, 84% of whom were master’s and 16% bachelor’s students. Most of the respondents came from Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Finland, USA, Nigeria, Germany, Latvia or Azerbaijan.

Kaur Alasoo, a young scientist who has defended his doctoral thesis at the University of Cambridge and is now working as a bioinformatics researcher at the University of Tartu, focused on the reasons for complicated genetic diseases and ways to avoid them in the future.

The daily newspaper Postimees has recognised lead research fellow in conservation biology of the University of Tartu Asko Lõhmus with the title “Person of the Year 2017”. “Lõhmus has led the forest ecology and logging discussion in a balanced and well-argued manner, and thereby significantly contributed to the nature conservation debate in Estonia,” Postimees editor-in-chief Lauri Hussar explained the choice of the staff.

Minister of education and research Mailis Reps and rector of the University of Tartu Volli Kalm signed the merger agreement of Tartu Observatory and the University of Tartu today, on 13 December. Tõravere-based Tartu Observatory will operate as an institute in the Faculty of Science and Technology as of 1 January 2018.

With great sorrow, the University of Tartu announces the unexpected death of Rector Volli Kalm on Saturday, December 23. Volli Kalm was born on February 10, 1953 in Vändra. He graduated from the University of Tartu in 1976 with a degree in geology. In 1984, Kalm earned his PhD in geology from the Estonian Academy of Sciences after successfully defending his doctoral thesis "Formation, composition and usage of glaciofluvial deposits in Estonia." From 1988-1989, he attended postdoctoral studies in the geology department of the University of Alberta.

At the extraordinary senate session on 27 December, the senate of the University of Tartu unanimously appointed professor Tõnu Lehtsaar as the acting rector. In his speech to the senate, Lehtsaar said that his primary goal as the university’s acting rector is to maintain stability and find a new rector. “We will keep the university going. I asked members of the Rector’s Office at the meeting this morning if they were willing to continue in their office. I didn’t expect them to answer right away, but they confirmed that we will go forward together,” he said.

Professor Volli Kalm, Rector of the University of Tartu (10 February 1953 – 23 December 2017)

Friday, December 1 2017 marks the 98th birthday of the Estonia’s national university in Tartu. To celebrate the event, several events take place during the week-long celebrations – honorary doctorates and doctorates are conferred, the University’s honorary member named and the laurate of The University of Tartu Award for Contribution to Estonian National Identity named.

On Thursday, the 7th of December, the biggest business festival in the Baltics takes off with over 2500 attendees from 27 countries. The sTARTUp Day 2017 business festival is happening only for the 2nd time, but just as last year, the event has been sold out. The theme of this year’s event “From Zero To Hero” focuses on how to work oneself to the top with limited resources. During the opening day there will be numerous side-events around the city of Tartu: trainings and seminars on production, education, biotechnology, business and export topics.

On Friday, November 10, a 48-hour "Social Impact Data Hack 2017" will begin at the University of Tartu, which explores the possibilities of contributing to society by using big data from various public institutions and private enterprises.

Meelis Luht, former management board member of Eesti Meedia Group, will start work as the Director of Administration of the University of Tartu on 21 August. Rector Volli Kalm said the new director of administration has been in charge of several different areas of activity in his career and is a top leader with international work experience. We can see his capability as well as his desire and ambition to actively contribute to the implementation of the university’s development goals.

The University of Tartu was one of the two Central and Eastern European universities to enter the Times Higher Education Rankings table in computer science. In computer science, UT is ranked among the top 250 universities in the world. Furthermore, the head of Institute of Computer Science Prof. Jaak Vilo was elected as the board member of Informatics Europe.