Tietotekniikan tutkimussäätiö annually awards the best PhD thesis in computer science that has been completed during the previous year in a Finnish university. The award is given based on the evaluation made by Finnish Society for Computer Science and announced during the Annual Symposium for Computer Science. The Finnish Society for Computer Science may also distribute honorary mentions. The members of the competition committee were Mats Aspnäs (Åbo Akademi), Tero Vartiainen (University of Vaasa) and Davide Taibi (University of Oulu). The call for nominations was sent to the Finnish universities on the 5. February 2024 and the deadline for submissions was 1. March 2024. By the deadline, three nominations were received for the Ph.D. competition: ● Susanne Jauhiainen, University of Jyväskylä, Potential of Predictive Modeling Methods for Individual Response: Applications and Prediction Protocols for Sports Sciences
The committee unanimously decided to suggest to Tietotekniikan tutkimussäätiö that the price for the best Ph.D. thesis in computer science during the year 2023 is granted to Susanne Jauhiainen from University of Jyväskylä for her thesis “Potential of Predictive Modeling Methods for Individual Response: Applications and Prediction Protocols for Sports Sciences”.
In the thesis, Susanna Jauhiainen investigates machine learning methods for potential talent identification and injury prediction among young football players, based on earlier collected data sets. The work is highly original and novel, and Susanna Jauhiainen has had a leading role in developing the theory and implementing the methods. The significance of the work is also supported by the number of references to the publications of the thesis.