Kulmala gets Chinese Govt Friendship Award

Professor Markku Kulmala of the University of Helsinki received the Chinese Government Friendship Award 2018, said a press release issued by the University of Helsinki.

Kulmala, also a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been active in China since 2009. He received the medal from Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.

The Chinese Government Friendship Award ceremony was held in Beijing in September where 50 foreign experts from 21 countries received this honour on the eve of the 69th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.

Scientific discoveries in the field of atmospheric and climate research from Professor Markku Kulmala’s collaboration with Professor Congbin Fu and Professor Aijun Ding are the backgrounder for Kulmala receiving the Award.

The press release said, “It is well known, and appreciated, that Professor Kulmala’s scientific approach always includes knowledge transfer to cultivate the next generation young Chinese talent base, to support development of scientific research infrastructures and platforms, and to provide tools for innovations to grow to commercial products. Now this activity has spread to Beijing and Shanghai, as well as to other Eurasian countries.”

Recently Markku Kulmala has established the Haze and Aerosol Laboratory at the Beijing University of Chemical Technology and published mechanisms of new particle formation in Shanghai in the journal Science in collaboration with Fudan University and other collaborators.

It was Nanjing University, the first Chinese university with which Professor Kulmala has been collaborated with in China that nominated Professor Kulmala for the Friendship Award.

Nanjing University and the University of Helsinki started their collaboration in 2009 and since 2015 have a Joint International Research Laboratory of Atmospheric and Earth SysTem Sciences (JirLATEST).