Each year, the flagship awards distinguished researchers in four categories. This year, the Science Award was given for research that produced a new method for classifying tree species from point cloud data. The Impact Award was given for a book that delves into the continues cover forestry. The special award was given both for the distinguished advancement of a young researcher in her career and for the group for the publication of open data in a prestigious publication series. The newest category is the Communication Award, but there was no single nominee above all others. The candidates in this category were good communication acts, the authors of which were awarded honorable mentions.
UNITE Scientific Award
Anna Shcherbacheva (currently at Terrasolid) and Mariana Campos (FGI) were awarded as the main authors of the article which presents a novel method for tree species classification using LiDAR time series. The study advances scientific understanding of real-world constraints to successful tree species mapping, such as point density, acquisition timing, and the limitations associated with the exclusive use of canopy-level information.
Link: Shcherbacheva, A., Campos, MB., et al., 2024, A study of annual tree-wise LiDAR intensity patterns of boreal species observed using a hyper-temporal laser scanning time series, Remote Sensing of Environment, 305, 114083. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2024.114083
UNITE Impact Award
Team Johanna Routa (Luke), Pasi Rautio (Luke) and Saija Huuskonen (currently at Metsähallitus) got UNITE Impact Award for editing a book of continuous cover forestry in Nordic countries with Nordic colleagues. The book compiles the latest research on continuous cover forestry in boreal forests, highlighting both the need for additional information and the exciting possibilities that this method presents. In practical operations, it is important to understand the opportunities and challenges of continuous cover forestry.
Link: P Rautio, J Routa, S Huuskonen, E Holmström, J Cedergren, C Kuehne. 2025. Continuous cover forestry in boreal Nordic countries. Springer. Managing forest ecosystems volume 45.
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-70484-0
UNITE ACME Awards
Doctoral researcher Heli Kymäläinen (UEF) was awarded the Best Poster Award (BPA) in IUFRO World Congress Stockholm in June 2024. Kymäläinen’s poster “Optimizing Support Systems for Cut-To-Length Machine Operators – Current Use and Future Visions” was judged to be both scientifically and visually meritorious and to encourage high quality research. At UNITE, Kymäläinen is finalizing her doctoral thesis on assistive systems for harvesters from the perspective of driver ergonomics. This award can be regarded as an exceptional achievement at this stage of her career.
Wittke, S. (FGI), Campos, M. (FGI), Ruoppa, L., Echriti, R., Golos, A., are members of the publication authors who presented both the open point cloud data, and the processing methods needed in analyzing the LiPheStream dataset in prestigious Scientific Data publication series.
Honourable mentions of Communication went to
Hassan Kamrul (UEF) as the first author of the book ‘State-of-the Art and Business Development of a Tree Seedling Nursery: A Guidebook on Advanced Forest Nursery Management’
Lauri Mehtätalo (Luke) because of the presentation at Tieteen päivät January 2025 about the forest carbon sources and sinks, and especially presents the uncertainties related to the peatland soils.
Eetu Puttonen (FGI) andSamuli Junttila (UEF) appearance in the documentary Scandinavia – Into the Darkness. They were presenting the results of their research in a nice and popular way.