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Science Day at the Department of Applied Physics showcased young talent

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The day included talks, posters and alumni presentations. Prize for best presentation went to Elizabath Nallukunnel Raju and best poster to Laura Fieber.
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Photos: Ekaterina Osmekhina, illustration: Ville Heirola / Aalto University.

The Department of Applied Physics threw together a Science Day on August 26, 2025. The day featured presentations by doctoral researchers at Dipoli's Lumituuli auditorium, showcasing what exactly young physics researchers are working on. With over 140 participants, Science Day also provided an opportunity for the researchers to discuss and network, especially during the poster presentation session. 

Science talks and staff introductions

The start of the programme also saw the service personnel introduce themselves to the audience and describe how their job supports the researchers. The scientific presentations topics ranged from measuring the Casmir force between superconductors (Matthijs de Jong, QNOF group) to probing non-equilibrium quantum Hall states in a Corbino geometry (Kristiana Frei, NANO group) and manipulating Polarons in Monolayer NiBr2 (Anshika Mishra, ASP group). 

Near the end of the program, the audience voted to name the best presentation of the day. The honor went to Doctoral Researcher Elizabath Nallukunnel Raju of the Soft Adhesion and Interfaces group for a talk titled "Under water adhesion studies using soft matter adhesion microscope."

A conference room with attendees seated facing a speaker and a projected screen displaying 'PHYS Science Day 2023'.
A group of people standing in front of a large screen during a presentation in a lecture hall.
A person presenting research on carbon and 2D materials at Aalto University, using a laptop and microphone in a lecture hall.
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A person speaking at Aalto University with a presentation screen and laptop in the background.
Best presentation winner Elizabath Nallukunnel Raju.

Alumni talks

Following the presentations were two talks by Department alumni: Benjamin Alldritt, an R&D Scientist at the cryotechnology company Bluefors, and Matti Toivonen, a Full-Stack Data Scientist in the finance corporation OP Group. 

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Department alumnus Matti Toivonen (right) and academic coordinator Maryam Borghei.
A man in a grey sweater giving a presentation in front of a screen and standing behind a podium with a laptop.
Department alumnus Benjamin Alldritt.

The poster session

Research group members presented posters during breaks in the programming. A total of over 20 posters were on display from 15 groups. Doctoral Researcher Laura Fieber from the Soft Matter and Wetting group took home the prize of best poster. The winner was selected by an evaluation committee comprised of senior postdocs.

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Best poster winner Laura Fieber (left).
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Afterparty

After the seminar, a dinner party was held at Seurasaari's Juhlatalo in Helsinki. The winners were announced and celebrated with a toast!

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Three people standing together, one holding a certificate. A table with drinks beside them, inside a wooden building.
Two people stand outside a restaurant. One holds a certificate. Blue checkered tablecloths cover tables.

Check out the full programme below:

PHYS Science Day 2025 Programme, pdf, attachment
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