At the ceremony dedicated to the anniversary of the Republic of Estonia, Tallinn University of Technology announced its most outstanding researchers, research articles, and projects from the past year. Margus Viigimaa, professor at the Department of Health Technologies, was elected Researcher of the Year. Juri Belikov, professor of software sciences, was awarded the title Junior Researcher of the Year.
Professor Margus Viigimaa's numerous and comprehensive medical publications have enhanced the world’s science.
In 2020, Viigimaa published 14 publications at the highest scientific level. Many of them address the diagnosis of early vascular calcification by determining arterial stiffness. Viigimaa was also the first author of the article Update of the Position Paper on Arterial Hypertension and Erectile Dysfunction that was published in the Journal of Hypertension, the most influential journal dedicated to hypertension in Europe. It is the official guideline of the European Society for Hypertension that summarises Viigimaa's more than 10 years of research in this field.
Margus Viigimaa is an internationally recognised professional leader. He is a special member of the European Society of Cardiology and the American College of Cardiology, is qualified as a specialist in hypertension in Europe, and manages the Tallinn Research Centre of the European Society of Hypertension. Viigimaa was also the chairman of the organising committee of the Baltic Atherosclerosis Conference held in 2020. He is an active member of several professional organisations, also contributing to their management.
In 2007, Margus Viigimaa was awarded the Order of the Estonian Red Cross, 2nd Class.
Professor Juri Belikov is a competent and active young researcher who defended his doctoral thesis in 2012, followed by two years of postdoctoral studies at Technion University in Israel.
Although the majority of his research focuses on general methods that are independent of applications and mostly rely on the dynamics of a system, in recent years he and his foreign partners have turned their attention to the practical problems of power systems modelled as nonlinear control systems. In particular, he examines the fundamental boundaries of integrating renewable energy sources into the grid and studies their impact on the future of today's electrical grid infrastructure. The results of his research have been published in top journals in the field, he has was elected a member of the editorial board of the journal Energies, and he has contributed to the training of future generations, especially by supervising doctoral and master's students.
Juri Belikov has been awarded the Boris Tamme Scholarship and the President of the Republic's Cultural Foundation’s Young IT Scientist Award.