Awards for undergraduate theses
Awards for undergraduate thesesThe City of Helsinki grants thesis awards each year to authors of exemplary academic theses that explore Helsinki-related themes.
Thesis awards 2025
On Thursday 18 December, the City of Helsinki granted awards to eight authors of excellent Helsinki-related theses.
The award is granted each year to theses with a topic related to Helsinki, Helsinki residents or the city’s services. The City of Helsinki aims to reward theses from several academic disciplines. This year, the recipients of the awards were picked from among 18 candidates that met the application criteria, and the awards granted were worth EUR 500 each.
The award criteria include the quality of the thesis, a link to Helsinki and the university-awarded grade. Innovative approaches and new perspectives are also appreciated. The City of Helsinki has granted thesis awards since 1992.
This year’s thesis awards were presented to:
Helmi Anttila: Helsinki’s horrible creatures: Medieval and fantasy images in Helsinki’s Art Nouveau ornamentation, University of Helsinki, Faculty of Humanities, Master’s Programme in Cultural Heritage.
Roban David Colyer: Allowing Cultures to Take Root: Tales from a Diverse Foodscape in East Helsinki, University of Helsinki, Faculty of Arts, Master’s Programme in Urban Studies and Planning.
Anna Lehtonen: Understanding pluvial flood risk and adaptation through a social-ecological-technological systems (SETS) approach: The case of the city of Helsinki, University of Helsinki, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences. Master’s Programme in Environmental Change and Global Sustainability.
Emmi Volanen: Online calibration of microscopic traffic simulation — with integration of intersection-based near real-time floating cardata, Aalto University, School of Engineering, Master's Programme in Spatial Planning and Transportation Engineering.
Haiyu Dongfang: Perceived Traffic Safety Assessment for Pedestrians and Cyclists in Helsinki Using Street View Imagery, University of Helsinki, Faculty of Science, Master’s Programme in Geography.
Lucas Magnusson: Urban forestry and tree databases: The role of airborne laser scanning for individual tree parameter extraction and its limitations, Aalto University, School of Engineering. Master's Programme in Geoinformatics.
Saana Neulasniemi: Traffic safety of school journeys in Helsinki - Assessing the traffic environment of school surroundings, Aalto University, School of Engineering. Master's Programme in Spatial Planning and Transportation Engineering.
Pasi Okkonen: Spatial distribution and associations between socioeconomic disadvantage and electronic gambling machine accessibility and expenditure in the Helsinki metropolitan area, University of Helsinki, Faculty of Science. Master’s Programme in Geography.
Thesis awards 2024
The thesis awards were received by the following persons:
Joona Jalava: Kaupunkilaisen ja kaupunkilaisuuden narratiivit Helsingin kaavoituksen diskursseissa. Spatial Planning and Transportation Engineering, School of Engineering, Aalto University.
Kia Kautonen: Kestävät työmatkat ja kestävien kulkumuotojen käytön potentiaali neljällä suurimmalla suomalaisella kaupunkiseudulla. Master’s Programme in Communications and Planning, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki.
Fanni Laukkanen: Inclusive Interior Architecture in Learning Spaces - General upper-secondary school students' perceptions on sensory-friendly spatial elements. Master’s programme in Interior architecture, Interior architecture, School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Aalto University.
Akseli Manninen: Spatiotemporal Traffic Accident Prediction Using Deep Learning Models. Master’s Programme in Computer, Communication and Information Sciences, Machine Learning, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, School of Science, Aalto University.
Nabila Nur: The housing preferences and choices of highly skilled second-generation Somalis in Helsinki. Master’s programme in Geography, Human and urban geography, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki.
Sandra Nyström: Unused potential in the teaching of biology: An exploration of student experiences about the teaching of sex, gender, and sexual diversity in biology classrooms. Master’s Programme in Neuroscience, Biology Subject Teacher Study Track, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki.
Linda Rautio: ”Voidaan kysyä, onko asuminen edelleen kohtuuhintaista”: Hekan vuokrankorotukset julkisessa keskustelussa. Master’s Degree in Communication, School of Marketing and Communication, University of Vaasa.
Suvi Rinkineva: Improving the employer image of public sector organizations. Attracting technical and business talent to public employment. Industrial Engineering and Management, School of Science, Aalto University.
Jesse Soininen: Estimating urban carbon uptake using carbonyl sulfide fluxes as a tracer. Master’s Programme in Atmospheric Sciences, Meteorology, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki.
Tuomas Tavi: Pääkaupunkiseudun kerrostalolähiöiden asuntokannan sekä sosioekonomisen kehityksen yhteydestä 2000-luvulla – Määrällinen tarkastelu kahdella aluetasolla. Master’s Programme in Communications and Planning, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki.