City of Helsinki Scientific Award awarded to University of Helsinki Professor Minna Huotilainen

The winner of the 2025 City of Helsinki Scientific Award, Professor Minna Huotilainen (born 1968), holds a PhD in engineering and a title of docent in cognitive sciences. She works at the University of Helsinki as a professor of educational sciences. Huotilainen carries out research on memory and learning at the Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain (CoE MMBB).

The Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain (CoE MMBB) studies music as a multimodal human experience and as a versatile engine of change, throughout the life span and in health and disease. As a multidisciplinary research centre, it combines musicology, psychology, education, music therapy, computer science, and cognitive neuroscience. Huotilainen is particularly interested in the use of music to improve learning and well-being.

In addition to carrying out cutting-edge research, Huotilainen has actively promoted the wider utilisation of research and popularised science for the general public. She has written numerous books in her fields of research with collaborators, such as Tunne aivosi (2017), Aivot työssä (2018), Näin aivot oppivat (2019), Uuden ajan muistikirja (2020) and Aivosi tarvitsevat tauon (2021).

The purpose of the annual scientific award is to strengthen Helsinki as a city of science and research

The City of Helsinki Scientific Award has been given out since 1996. The purpose of the award is to strengthen and increase the recognition of Helsinki as a city of science and research. 

The award is awarded in recognition of significant scientific work conducted by Helsinki residents or carried out in Helsinki.

Helsinki awarded research grants for urban research

On Helsinki Day, the City of Helsinki also awarded research grants to 11 research projects. The total grant amount is EUR 73,000. 

The grants are intended for researchers with master's degrees, especially those working on licentiate research and doctoral dissertations. The grants also support new postdoctoral researchers. 

The criteria for awarding the grant have been the scientific quality of research plans, feasibility and significance of the research area to the City of Helsinki.

The City of Helsinki’s research grant was awarded to the following applicants and research topics:

Milad Malekzadeh: Enhancing Citizen Engagement in Urban Planning through Large Language Models.

Essi Strandén: Varhaiskasvatuksen opettajien ammattiin sitoutuminen työn induktiovaiheessa.

Yanxin Xi: Building Multimodal AI for Urban Imagery and Textual Data to Support Sustainable Development and Urbanization Analysis in Helsinki.

Ilona Kaitala: Ikääntyneiden asiakkaiden kokemuksia Helsingin kaupungin päihteidenkäytön huomioivista senioripalveluista.

Jenni Kuhta: Ammatillisen koulutuksen opettajien kehittäjätoimijuus: ennakointikyvykkyys, tietokäytännöt ja ammatilliset verkostot.

Paula-Kaisa Leppänen: Asuintonttien kasvillisuus ja sen ilmastovaikutukset - skaalaus yksittäisten kasvien tasolta tonteille ja kaupunginosiin.

Jiawei Zhao: From Proximity to Experience: Measuring Green Space Accessibility through Route Quality and Citizen Perception.

Anna-Riikka Rasa: Kielenoppimistilanteet työssäoppimisen ohjauskeskusteluissa sosiaali- ja terveysalalla.

Eurídice Hernández Gomes: Latin America in Helsinki: Unveiling cultural dialogues and identity navigation in the city social infrastructure.

Nanna Wackström: Fysisk aktivitet och motoriska färdigheter bland barn - Betydelsen av familjens rörelsebeteende, urban och rural omgivning och utomhusundervisning.

Boris Brander: Vernacular ritual magic and the magical class struggle of Tattarisuo coven.