News

Olav Thon Foundation grants the 2018 international research award to Academician, Professor Emerita Riitta Hari

The researcher prize was awarded due to excellence in brain research.
Picture: Mikael Ahlfors, The Women Leaders Program of Finland Chamber of Commerce.

The Norwegian Olav Thon Foundation has named Professor Emerita Riitta Hari the recipient of its international researcher award for excellence in brain research. The award totals 5 million Norwegian kroner, which is approximately 518,000 euros.

According to the foundation's chairperson Olav Thon, Professor Emerita Riitta Hari is a highly respected brain researcher. Many breakthroughs have been made in the field of brain science thanks to Hari.

According to Ole Petter Ottersen, head of the Olav Thon Foundation's Expert Committee and President of Karolinska Institutet, Hari has been a pioneer of magnetoencephalography (MEG) since the 1980s.

'This award came as a complete surprise to me. I have been Professor Emerita at the Aalto University Department of Art since 2016, with the aim to lower the borders between art and neuroscience. I take great delight in the award, as well as in the possibility to continue my interesting research, and even to participate in the ceramics courses at the Departments of Art and Design,' says Professor Emerita Riitta Hari.

Hari directed brain research at Aalto University for over three decades. In 2010, she was granted the honorary title of Academician of Science. Hari has published over 300 peer reviewed articles and numerous other publications. In 2009 Hari was the recipient of the Finnish Science Award, in 2003 she received the Louis Jeantet Prize for Medicine and in 2001 Hari was granted the Matti Äyräpää award.

  • Published:
  • Updated:

Read more news

Flowers, photo: Ira Matilainen / Aalto University
Awards and Recognition Published:

Dean's list scholarship awarded to outstanding business students

Dean of the School of Business awards students every autumn
A man and a woman looking up in a room
Research & Art Published:

How to educate for innovation? New report sheds light on the best practices

The report by Aalto Design Factory dives into the core elements of creating a collaborative learning environment that prioritizes student-centered, real-world problem-solving.
Mari Lundström
Awards and Recognition Published:

Alfred Kordelin Prize for research on the green transition

The Alfred Kordelin Foundation has awarded the Alfred Kordelin Prize to Aalto University Professor of Hydrometallurgy Mari Lundström, dance artist and choreographer Tero Saarinen and the Sekasin Collective, a youth mental health organisation.
Valkoinen kukka edessä, ihmisiä taustalla
Press releases, Research & Art Published:

Men, Swedish speakers and Master's degree holders most likely to own shares in unlisted companies

The first comprehensive study of Finnish owners of privately held firms found, among other things, that only three per cent of the population own shares in these companies.