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With great sorrow, the University of Tartu announces the unexpected death of Rector Volli Kalm on Saturday, December 23. Volli Kalm was born on February 10, 1953 in Vändra. He graduated from the University of Tartu in 1976 with a degree in geology. In 1984, Kalm earned his PhD in geology from the Estonian Academy of Sciences after successfully defending his doctoral thesis "Formation, composition and usage of glaciofluvial deposits in Estonia." From 1988-1989, he attended postdoctoral studies in the geology department of the University of Alberta.

At the extraordinary senate session on 27 December, the senate of the University of Tartu unanimously appointed professor Tõnu Lehtsaar as the acting rector. In his speech to the senate, Lehtsaar said that his primary goal as the university’s acting rector is to maintain stability and find a new rector. “We will keep the university going. I asked members of the Rector’s Office at the meeting this morning if they were willing to continue in their office. I didn’t expect them to answer right away, but they confirmed that we will go forward together,” he said.

Professor Volli Kalm, Rector of the University of Tartu (10 February 1953 – 23 December 2017)

Friday, December 1 2017 marks the 98th birthday of the Estonia’s national university in Tartu. To celebrate the event, several events take place during the week-long celebrations – honorary doctorates and doctorates are conferred, the University’s honorary member named and the laurate of The University of Tartu Award for Contribution to Estonian National Identity named.

Meelis Luht, former management board member of Eesti Meedia Group, will start work as the Director of Administration of the University of Tartu on 21 August. Rector Volli Kalm said the new director of administration has been in charge of several different areas of activity in his career and is a top leader with international work experience. We can see his capability as well as his desire and ambition to actively contribute to the implementation of the university’s development goals.

The University of Tartu has the largest number of graduates in Estonia—an estimated of 70 000 graduates. Aiming to bring the alumni community closer together, link them more to the university, develop mutual communication and professional cooperation, the University of Tartu launched a network for its alumni (www.utalumni.ee), novel in Estonia as well as Europe, the like of which is also used by the University of Oxford.

Five projects have currently received funding from the Archimedes smart specialisation measure, UT is a development partner in three of these. Two projects received funding in the last round, the first studies population mobility on the basis of mobile data and the second aims to create lactic acid bacteria with specific characteristics.

In recent years, engineering has strongly made its way into biology, enabling to create systems with completely new qualities. Several herbs, fuels and medication are produced with the help of such technologies. The Centre of Excellence for Molecular Cell Technology, led by UT Professor Tanel Tenson, works in this field.

The IEEE Distinguished Lecturer Prof. Hamid Krim is going to deliver a speech on Friday, Jun. 10, 15:30 - 17:30, in the Auditorium (room 111) of the Computer Science Department, located at Juhan Liivi 2, 50409 Tartu. The event is organized by the University IEEE Student Branch, and sponsored by the iCV Research Group. The speech will be followed by free discussion and refreshments. Two attendants will win prizes each being worth a one-year IEEE student membership.

The energy and resource conservation competition Negawatt for students elected its winners: recycling plastic, quitting cups and saving heat. The first place went to the UT team “Box Spinners” who make the boxes of pipette caps used in labs into thread for 3D printers.

The University of Tartu IEEE Student Branch is going to hold a career seminar on Thursday, Apr. 07, 16:00 - 18:00. During the seminar, as the main theme, the following successful entrepreneurs will deliver keynote speeches.

Icosagen Cell Factory, a spin-off company from the University of Tartu, received a prestigious SME grant within the framework of Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, in which the European Commission hand-picks businesses to invest in and support. A total of 30 projects out of 1090 submitted proposals under Phase 2 were selected in the last call, with the cut-off date being 25 November 2015.

Author: Katre Tatrik / ERR Novaator The infection, which usually displays no symptoms, might cause paralysis and women infected during pregnancy might give birth to babies with underdeveloped brains. This is caused by the Zika virus, its spread can currently only be contained with campaigns that warn of mosquitoes and promote safe sex. Can virologists of the University of Tartu find a reasonable way out of the global emergency?

UT was successful in the call for proposals for centres of excellence in research: Archimedes Foundation made the proposal to fund three centres of excellence which are led by UT researchers. In addition, UT participates as a partner in all other centres of excellence which were successful in this call for proposals.

Funds in the amount of 2.6 million euros were received from the European Research Area (ERA) Chair measure to establish a centre for synthetic biology at the University of Tartu. Dr Petri-Jaan Lahtvee joined the centre to create microbial cell factories for the sustainable production of biochemicals.

In January, the semi-finals for the robotics contest FIRST LEGO League, which this season brings together more than 290 000 children from all over the world, will take place in Tartu, Tallinn and Jõhvi. The topic of the contest is Trash Trek and so, from Estonia 74 teams of more than 500 students will explore trash related problems and design innovative solutions as teams.

Opening ceremony of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) student branch takes place on Friday, 4 December from 14-16 at the Institute of Technology (Nooruse 1), room 121.

Do you have a science-based business idea but you do not have any money to start? Do you want to help to launch next revolutionary product or service? Vega fund, created in co-operation between SEB bank and the Universiy of Tartu, supports early stage science-based innovative business ideas with 36 000 euros. Applications are opened to: 1. A team of students or scientists who already have an innovative science-based solution to a common problem.

The Idea Lab starts their autumn season and invites students from all specialisations to the workshop “Kick-off Ideation” on Friday, 9 October at 16:00 (at Narva mnt 4) where Amid Moradganjeh, interaction designer with international experience, will give advice on how to recognise ideas with potential and how to find suitable team members.

The University of Tartu Foundation granted the first Valda and Bernard Õun scholarship of 5000 euros to the research of doctoral student of the Faculty of Science and Technology Kaido Siimon who is developing gelatine–based scaffolds for skin cells that can be used for transplants.