Research of ORC found outstanding by the Academy of Finland

The report, released today, presents an evaluation of the physics research in Finland by an international panel of experts. It includes 30 physics units and covers the period 2007-2011. The evaluation was carried out as part of regular assessments of all fields of science in Finland, comparing them to international standards. The panelists evaluated the units based on self-assessment forms and site visits that included interviews.

From TUT, the report covers Aerosol Physics Laboratory, Optics Laboratory, Computational Physics Laboratory and Optoelectronics Research Centre. In general, the panelists describe the units at TUT as competetive and very successful in their research.

In particular, the report highlights ORC as a large, very well funded and equipped and extremely well-organized unit with outstandingly high research quality. The report lists excellent networking and top-quality research environment as key reasons for the excellent national and international visibility of the unit.

Overall, the report paints a very positive picture of ORC as a unit that knows how to best use its diverse and vibrant research environment to achieve important results in a wide range of optoelectronic research themes. With this in mind, the panelists recommend that ORC should consider increasing international collaboration with key research labs and companies to build the critical mass needed for medium or large European projects.

According to the report, the quality of Finnish physics research is generally high, with very successful or even internationally leading units. The research topics cover most international trends, funding is generally satisfactory and the quality of PhD education is good, although the panelists also identified a number of weaknesses, for example the lack of administrative support, units with outdated equipment and inflexibility of funding policies.

For more information, see the full report: Physics Research in Finland 2007-2011 Evaluation Report [Academy of Finland].