Evaluation Report Publications of the Academy of Finland 1/11

Research networking and interaction
Due to its international recognition, the unit has an extensive international network 
that is actively used. The unit also has very important and good contacts with 
experimental research groups. These propose research topics to the unit and the unit 
is also able to push these experimental collaborators to experimentally seek to verify 
their theoretical predictions. The winter school the unit organises every year is an 
important asset in increasing the unit’s international awareness, not only through 
students attending the school, but also since this allows the unit to invite leading 
international researchers across a wide range of chemistry topics.

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Recommendations
With the appointment of a new professor, the unit should continue its focus on high-
quality science within the broad field of theoretical and computational chemistry. To 
maintain its international standing, the unit should consider a slightly more narrow 
focus, by selecting a few core research themes that will form the main thrust for the 
activities in the unit. When replacing staff with experimental teaching responsibilities, 
the possibility of creating research synergies with potential experimental research 
activities should be considered, but new openings should be widely announced. The 
unit should consider a more even distribution of administrative responsibilities 
among its senior staff members.