In the Division of Informatics and Engineering, Maarja Grossberg-Kuusk is competing against Professor Alvo Aabloo of the University of Tartu Institute of Technology and Dan Bogdanov, Director of the Information Security Research Institute of Cybernetica.

Two important pillars

Tarmo Soomere, President of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, stressed that breakthrough research is usually built on two pillars of prior knowledge. ‘One is an excellent understanding of the latest scientific achievements in the broader context of the field, and the other is the perception of the developments and new ways of thinking in the narrower field of the breakthrough. Similarly, a strong and balanced academy of sciences needs excellence in both classical disciplines and new, rapidly developing directions,’ he said.

Candidates from other fields

In the division of physics, the nominees are Professors Heikki Junninen and Kaupo Kukli from the Institute of Physics of the University of Tartu and Toomas Rõõm from the National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics.

In the division of social sciences, the candidates are Veronika Kalmus, Professor of Sociology at the Institute of Social Studies of the University of Tartu, and Ellu Saar, Professor at the School of Governance, Law and Society of Tallinn University.

Candidates will present themselves at a conference on 25 October, which will be broadcast live on the website of the Academy. The choice will be made by the academics at the General Assembly of the Academy on 7 December. To be elected an academician, 2/3 of the votes of the academicians present at the General Assembly are required.

Last year, Dmitri Vinnikov, Research Professor and Head of the Power Electronics Group of Tallinn University of Technology, was elected an academician.