Turku Collegium for Science and Medicine selected five new promising group leaders

The Turku Collegium for Science and Medicine (TCSM) was founded in 2008 to support promising group leaders at the early stages of their research career. The TCSM call for applications that ended in January 2020 was the seventh of its kind.

For the researchers selected from this call for applications, a three year term of employment is offered, with the possibility of applying for an extension. TCSM researchers are placed in departments at the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Science and Technology. They receive a 20 000 euro starting fund from TCSM to aid in beginning their own research work.

TCSM received 81 applications from Finland and 18 other countries. The total percentage of international applicants was approximately 53%. Of the applicants, 73 % were from the fields of biosciences, health and environment research.

The selection process consisted of three stages. First, the TCSM board selected the most promising candidates for external evaluation. Based on these external evaluations, ten candidates were selected for interviews, based on which five candidates were selected to fill the positions on offer.

In the evaluation of the applicants, emphasis was placed on e.g. the scientific competence and qualifications of each applicant, their international experience, independence, and their research plan and the connections of said plan to research already conducted at the department or institution that would host the applicant.

–From the beginning, the mission of TCSM has been to find those researchers among applicants who show the most promise, are the most motivated and the readiest for an independent research career. Interviewing the researchers is important. In an interview one discovers the readiness, enthusiasm and plans for promoting their research career of each applicant. Selecting candidates has always been difficult for the board due to the high number of good applicants, said Sirpa Jalkanen, chair of TCSM board.

Of the candidates selected, four will be placed at the Faculty of Science and Technology, and one at the Faculty of Medicine.

Collegium researchers selected for TCSM posts, and their host deparments:

• Nina Gieseler (Dresing), Department of Physics and Astronomy
  Understanding solar energetic particle physics with next-generation multi-spacecraft observations
  ORCID
• Kimmo Luoma, Department of Physics and Astronomy
  Truly quatum heat engines
  ORCID
• Suvi Ruuskanen, Department of Biology
  Novel pathways underlying phenotypic variation and adaptation
  ORCID
• Antoine Stier, Department of Biology
  From the proximate determinants of cellular metabolism efficiency to its ultimate consequences on animal performance and ageing
  ORCID
• Jetro Tuulari, Department of Clinical Medicine
  Population NeuroScience - a big data approach for health prediction of children and adolescents with cutting edge connectomics: brain state dynamics, harmonics and computational models
  ORCID

A new faculty for technology will be founded at the University of Turku from 1 January 2021 onwards. The founding of this new faculty is also reflected in the operations of TCSM:

–It was decided that the current TCSM board will continue until the end of the current year, so that the new faculty can be taken into consideration when selecting the next chair. The composition and forming of a new board will be discussed within faculties this Autumn, said vice-rector for research Kalle-Antti Suominen.

TCSM researchers include postdoctoral and collegium researchers. Earlier this year, TCSM selected five new postdoctoral researchers. The next call for applications for postdoctoral researcher positions will be organised in November–December this year, and a call for applications for collegium researchers at the end of 2021 at the earliest.

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