Staff members awarded in the traditional Christmas celebration

Science Communication Award for a defender of elderly care

The recipient of the Science Communication Award was Professor of Social and Public Policy Teppo Kröger. As a researcher of ageing and care, he has helped to evaluate issues related to social and health services and other societal solutions. He is also a skilled populariser of science, providing research-based perspectives in interviews, newspaper articles and social media.

Community Spirit Builder Award to two individuals and one group

The Community Spirit Builder Awards were granted to Senior Lecturer Tommi Auvinen, Head of Academic Sports Anneli Mörä-Leino and the occupational wellbeing workgroup of the Open University. The awards for individuals were 700 euros and the group award 1,400 euros.

With his example, Tommi Auvinen creates good atmosphere, builds the team spirit and cooperation networks as well as promotes wellbeing at work. He has especially promoted the position of younger researchers determinedly.

With her inspiring example, Anneli Mörä-Leino has encouraged the members of the University community to an active lifestyle. She has activated people in all faculties, led different groups and, for example, taken exchange students to hike in forests.

The occupational wellbeing workgroup of the Open University (Sanna Uotinen, Annamaija Oksanen, Päivi Eskola, Paula Savela and Tuija Leena Viirret) has promoted the good of the community through strategic and practical efforts. The group has improved development targets indicated in the staff survey and has convinced their community about the significance of the survey, resulting in that the Open University’s response rate in the survey raised to 96%. The group has made occupational wellbeing an everyday matter, for example, by organising activities and theme weeks.

The Jyväskylä University Foundation grants the awards based on proposals from the staff.

Education Development Award to open-minded developers of teaching

Based on the proposals of the University community, Education Development Awards were granted to groups of teacher-researchers. Their work is described as creative, open-minded, systematic and community-oriented.

The awards were handed to the development group of the Cultures, Communities and Change degree programme (Kulttuurit ja yhteisöt muuttuvassa maailmassa, KUMU): Outi Fingerroos, Minna Mäkinen, Laura Stark and Jukka Jouhki from the Department of History and Ethnology and Miikka Pyykkönen, Karina Horsti and Kaisu Kumpulainen from the Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy and Sanna Vierimaa from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. The justification highlighted, for example, the programme’s closeness to the world of work and focus on learning project work.

- Developers of the Primetime Learning model: Pekka Koskinen and Jussi Maunuksela from the Department of Physics, Joni Lämsä from the Department of Education and Heli Lehtivuori from the Department of Chemistry. The group was praised for developing continuous evaluation and making it visible to students, and for focussing on interaction in learning.

- Judit Hahn and Joanna Kedra from the Department of Language and Communication Studies. They were awarded for the collaborative and diverse development of teaching and learning at the department.

The award is 800 euros per person.

The traditional Christmas celebration for staff was held on 18 December in the assembly hall of the Main Building.

Further information:

Head of External Relations Anu Mustonen (awards of the Jyväskylä University Foundation), tel. +358 50 564 9022, anu.mustonen@jyu.fi

Ulla Klemola (Education Development Awards), tel. +358 40 805 3340, ulla.klemola@jyu.fi