Evaluation Report Publications of the Academy of Finland 1/11

Research quality
The research output of the unit is reasonable, and results are published in good but 
specialised journals. In general, the unit’s recognition in the scientific community is 
low. This may be due to the fact that the unit’s PhD students are involved in 
industrial/VTT projects and the results cannot be published. The unit produces a 
relatively large number of MSc graduates, but the number of PhD students is low and, 
in addition, the time spent on doctoral studies is quite long.
Research environment
There appears to be limited interaction and communication between the groups 
within the unit as well as between the unit and the department. The unit was, for 
example, not aware of the Dean’s plans to restructure the Department as these had not 
entered the official process yet. The instrumentation with four NMR and mass 
spectrometers is satisfactory; however, the instruments are quite old and should be 
renewed. European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) is strongly 
recommended. Although the educational and administrative load is high, it is 
comparable with other units in Finland. The new graduate school is a very good 
instrument for doctoral training, recruiting more PhD students and decreasing the 
time used to complete a PhD thesis.