Finnish Society of Forest Science awards annually prizes for excellent doctoral and Master’s theses accepted during the preceding year. The awards are made among the theses proposed by the Department of Forest Sciences at the University of Helsinki and the School of Forest Sciences at the University of Eastern Finland. The number of awards is not fixed but depends on the quality of the theses proposed in each year. Typically, the Society awards 1-2 prizes for excellent doctoral dissertations and 1-3 prizes for excellent M.Sc. theses.
The prizes of 2022 were published in the Spring meeting of the Society on 29 March 2022. Dissertation prize awardee gave a talk on his thesis. The presentation recording will be uploaded on this page.
Prize for an excellent doctoral dissertation
Tuomas Yrttimaa, University of Eastern Finland. Characterizing tree communities in space and time using point clouds. https://doi.org/10.14214/df.314
In his dissertation research “Characterizing tree communities in space and time using point clouds”, Tuomas Yrttimaa developed innovative automatic point cloud methods for studying the structure of trees and forests. His dissertation exceeds current requirements: It is composed of five peer-reviewed articles and the extended dissertation summary. All articles were published in international journals before the dissertation date. Tuomas Yrttimaa is the first author in all of them.
Tuomas Yrttimaa presents a new method for detecting and measuring fallen trees. He has developed a method for identifying individual trees based on the point clouds formed by their taper curve and branching structure. The method has produced an invention announcement at the University of Eastern Finland. The reviewers of the dissertation point out that exact description of tree structure developed in the dissertation supports precision supply of timber and improves transparency of the sourcing of wood raw materials in forest bio economy. In addition, Tuomas Yrttimaa presents two automatic methods for identifying standing trees and measuring their properties based on the point clouds. These methods unify ideas presented in earlier research. The methods will be applicable also outside Finland. The dissertation was accepted with distinction.
The dissertation summary article of Dr Yrttimaa’s work was published as volume 314 in Dissertationes Forestales, which is a dissertation monograph series published by the Finnish Society of Forest Science, the University of Helsinki, and the University of Eastern Finland. It is open access with CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence.
Tuomas Yrttimaa gave a talk on his dissertation research in the Spring Meeting of the Finnish Society of Forest Science on 29 March 2022. View the recording.
Prize for an excellent M.Sc. thesis
Esko Karvinen, University of Helsinki. The effects of winter temperature and shared niche on population dynamics of autumnal moth and winter moth. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:hulib-202103031598
The study line of Esko Karvinen is forest ecology and use of forest resources. He has gained a thorough knowledge on the scientific literature on the research topic. He applies this knowledge in an excellent manner in developing the theoretical framework of the study and discussing the results. Esko Karvinen analyses and evaluates two long time series. The methods are exceptionally well applied at the M.Sc. level. His command of management and analysis of large data sets is excellent. Esko Karvinen discusses critically his own results in the light of earlier research. Presentation, language and finishing of the thesis form a high-quality ensemble. The quality of the M.Sc. thesis of Esko Karvinen is equal to a journal article written by a professional scientist.