2026
3rd place in poster competition: 2026 Global Exposomics for Brain Health Symposium (Bordeaux, France); Annika Opperbeck: Exploring the exposome and the unexplained variance in epigenetic ageing – insights from a genetically controlled twin study in early adulthood.
2025
The ‘Good Doctoral Thesis’ Award, presented by the University of Jyväskylä Foundation; Päivi Herranen: Polygenic inheritance of muscle strength as a predictor of old-age adversities, recovery, and survival. The University of Jyväskylä’s Scientific Council nominates the recipient of the ‘Good Doctoral Thesis’ Award. The ‘Good Doctoral Thesis’ Award is presented for a meritorious doctoral thesis that brings together research methods and results in an insightful and multifaceted manner.
2nd prize in the Best Research Paper in Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences; Laura Joensuu: The association of genetic factors linked to aerobic fitness with the risk of the most common non-communicable diseases and premature death in the FinnGen and HUNT biobank cohorts.
3rd prize in the Best Research Paper in Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences; Elina Vettenterä: Predicting type 2 diabetes and associated conditions using genetic variation related to both the disease and physical activity: the FinnGen study of 279,373 Finns.
4th prize in the Best Research Paper in Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences; Tiina Föhr: Leisure-time physical activity and other lifestyle factors as mediators in the associations between weekly working hours, biological ageing and the risk of premature death.
2024
2nd prize in the Best Research Paper in Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences, Päivi Herranen: Genetic predisposition to higher muscle strength is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality in men, regardless of leisure-time physical activity in adulthood: a longitudinal cohort study.
GEREC Doctoral Researchers’ Article Award 2024; Päivi Herranen: A polygenic risk score for hand grip strength predicts muscle strength and proximal and distal functional outcomes among older women.
2023
1st prize for Best Research Paper in the Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences, Anna Kankaanpää: The associations of long-term physical activity in adulthood with later biological ageing and all-cause mortality – a prospective twin study.
3rd prize for Best Research Paper in the Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences, Tiina Föhr: Metabolic syndrome and epigenetic ageing.
4th prize for Best Research Paper in the Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences, Laura Joensuu: Genetic predisposition to sedentary behaviour is associated with higher levels of sedentary behaviour and an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases: A population-based study of 293,250 participants from the FinnGen cohort.
Young Investigator Award in the Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences, Niko Tynkkynen: The associations of inherited lifespan and lifestyle factors with mortality.
2022
2nd prize for Best Research Paper in the Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences, Päivi Herranen: Genome-wide polygenic score for muscle strength predicts risk of common diseases and lifespan: a prospective cohort study.
3rd prize for Best Research Paper in the Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences, Niko Tynkkynen: Associations of polygenic inheritance of physical activity with aerobic fitness, cardiometabolic risk factors and diseases: the HUNT study.
4th prize for Best Research Paper in the Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences, Laura Joensuu: Genetic liability for cardiovascular disease, physical activity and mortality – findings from The Finnish Twin Cohort.
Young Investigator Award in the Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences, Niko Tynkkynen: Associations between polygenic inheritance of physical activity and aerobic fitness, cardiometabolic risk factors and diseases: the HUNT study.
1st prize in the Doctoral Researcher’s Competition at Multidisciplinary Science Day, organised jointly by the Central Finland Health Care District and the University of Jyväskylä, Päivi Herranen: Genome-wide polygenic score for muscle strength predicts risk of common diseases and lifespan: a prospective cohort study.
2021
2nd prize for Best Research Paper in the Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences, Päivi Herranen: A Polygenic Risk Score for Hand Grip Strength Predicts Muscle Strength and Functional Capacity in Ageing Women.
2020
2nd prize for Best Research Paper in the Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences, Elina Sillanpää: Polygenic risk score for physical activity is associated with cardiometabolic diseases.
3rd prize for Best Research Paper in the Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences, Anna Kankaanpää: Can epigenetic clocks provide explanations for sex differences in biological ageing?
4th prize for Best Research Paper in the Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences, Kaisa Koivunen: Cohort differences in maximal physical performance: a comparison of 75- and 80-year-old men and women born 28 years apart.
Young Investigator Award in the Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences, Kaisa Koivunen: Cohort differences in maximal physical performance: a comparison of 75- and 80-year-old men and women born 28 years apart.
2019
1st prize for Best Research Paper in the Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences, Anna Kankaanpää: Leisure-time and occupational physical activity are associated differently with epigenetic ageing.
4th prize for Best Research Paper in the Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences, Elina Sillanpää: Polygenic risk scores and physical activity.
2017
2nd prize for Best Research Paper in the Sports Medicine Competition organised by the Finnish Society of Sport Sciences, Elina Sillanpää: Leisure-time physical activity and DNA methylation age – a twin study.
