News

Feature film "Dhokbu - the Keeper" June 16th at 18.00 Estonian National Museum (Muuseumi tee 2, Tartu) J. Hurt hall (A-entrance) The film is in Lepcha and in English, with subtitles, 88 min Free entrance

The University of Tartu (UT) has once again improved its position in the prestigious QS World University Rankings published today, reaching 314th place. Compared to last year, UT has improved its position by 33 places. Compared to 2015, UT has moved up a total of 65 places. Considering the fact that there are nearly 26,000 universities in the world, this places UT among the top 1.2%.

A recent survey of the reputation of universities conducted by Kantar Emor confirmed that the University of Tartu (UT) remains the most prestigious university in Estonia.

On 1 and 2 June the Forum and General Assembly of the Guild of European Research Intenstive Universities (the Guild) took place in Brussels. At the meeting the Guild elected a new Board of Directors and admitted a new member university.

This year, an exclusive business development program NGAL® (Network Globally, Act Locally) takes place from 5th to 24th June, engaging five universities from USA and Estonia. The program starts with the boot camp at UT IdeaLab and ends with a launch-camp in Charleston, USA. University of Tartu will be represented by two teams: STARTER program graduate Cody and the Coulomb Sailing Group.

This academic year’s last lecture of the UT University for Senior Citizens was held in Türi last week. In 2016/2017, approximately 2400 learners all over Estonia participated in the programmes of the University for Senior Citizens.

The University of Tartu Botanical Garden will open an exhibition, which is dedicated to the oil palm and seeks answers to the question why manufacturers prefer palm oil and whether consumer choices can save the environment. Among all the goods in shops and stores it is not easy to find a product that does not contain palm oil. However, to found oil palm plantations, rainforests – the most species-rich places on our planet – are cut down. If the use of palm oil is constantly increasing, the question how long the rainforests survive is asked more and more often.

The Baltic TRAM project has opened the first application round for entrepreneurs, offering companies free access to state-of-the-art analytical research facilities in the research institutions of the Baltic Sea region, providing scientific and technical support for the development of new products or services.

From 24 to 27 May, the international Nordic Econometric Meeting, organised by the University of Tartu School of Economics and Business Administration, is held in the Dorpat Convention Centre. One of the keynote speakers is winner of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2011 Christopher A. Sims. The conference concentrates on professional skills required by the financial sector in future, monetary policy and interactions between business cycles and financial markets.

Nature published five of the best images from the competition, which ran throughout March and attracted about 170 entries, from New Zealand to Norway, Canada to Qatar. Winners were chosen by a panel of Nature designers and journalists, who judged the images purely on their aesthetic impact. We did not ask for additional context, and we accepted only one image per person. Submissions could be made either through social media or by e-mail.

As of autumn 2017, students of the international master’s curricula of Software Engineering and Computer Science can apply for the Cybernetica scholarship programme. The scholarship is 5000 euros per year, which is so far the highest scholarship to be paid monthly to IT students in the University of Tartu. The scholarship also involves paid summer internship in Cybernetica AS. The programme gives a unique opportunity to selected students to participate during studies in research projects in one of the leading research and development companies in Estonia.

On 11 May 2017 the “Happy Pregnancy” workshop is held in Tartu for the fourth time already, bringing the world’s top scientists to Estonia to discuss significant clinical and fundamental research studies in reproductive medicine.

One of the biggest gas companies in the world, the German chemistry giant Linde AG, who is represented in the Baltic and Nordic countries by its subsidiary AGA, is building an industrial pilot plant based on the prototype created by the thin film technology specialists of the University of Tartu. Linde supplies gases for industries, medicine and environmental measurements, inert gases for research laboratories, and several specific high-precision gas mixtures.

Researchers of the University of Tartu participate in a joint project of six countries, which aims to raise the capability of organisations dealing with domestic violence in representing the interests of elderly victims of abuse in the health care system and politics.

Today, on 26 April the current and new partners of the research and entrepreneurship cooperation platform ADAPTER.ee meet in Tartu. The new partners joining ADAPTER are the Tallinn University of Applied Sciences, Tartu Observatory, Software Technologies Development Centre and National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics.

In September a new centre for arts will be opened in the Old Anatomical Theatre of the University of Tartu. The centre will draw the competence of the whole faculty into one unit and coordinate arts studies in the university.

For the first time, Estonia takes part in the world’s biggest synthetic biology competition for students iGEM this year. The University of Tartu Institute of Technology has formed a team of students-researchers, who work together over the spring/summer to create cells that are able to cooperate and produce ethylene. Teams of students-researchers work together over spring/summer to solve an important local or global problem by means of synthetic biology. If everything works out, the student contest may result in a revolutionary and life-changing application.

Students of the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies are organising a gesture in solidarity with Central European University (CEU) on Thursday at 13.45. Everyone wishing to express their support are welcome to attend.

On 24 April at 16.15 the lecture “The Era of Algorithms” will be delivered in the series of Granö lectures by the professor of computer science of the University of Helsinki Esko Ukkonen, who explores the limits and possibilities of algorithms.

Researchers of the University of Tartu Institute of Technology in cooperation with Bauroc AS start to develop novel aerated concrete, hoping to take its weight and strength ratio to a new level. A breakthrough is expected from the introduction of new binding agents. “It is not easy to find suitable binders, because the production of aerated concrete involves high pressure and temperature, as well as an alkaline environment and saturated steam in the system, which pose high demands to the binder,” explains senior researcher in materials science Tarmo Tamm.