1. 1989, Top student award from High School of Loimaa (FIM 200)
2. 1989, Top student award from The August and Lyydia Heino Foundation (FIM 1,000)
3. 1991, Top student award from Student Association of Helsinki University of Technology (FIM 4,000)
4. 1991, Travel Grant from the Student Association of Chemical Engineering at Helsinki University of Technology (2,800 FIM)
5. 1991, Travel Grant from the Helsinki University of Technology (2,000 FIM)
6. 1991, Travel Grant from the Centre of International Mobility, Finnish Ministry of Education (3,000 FIM)
7. 1992, Top student award from the Helsinki University of Technology (FIM 5,000)
8. 1992, The most rapid M.Sc (Eng.) graduate in 2.7 years, a new record in the history of the Department of Chemical Engineering, Helsinki University of Technology (Finland)
9. 1994, Ph.D. research award from the Finnish Cultural Foundation (FIM 15,000)
10. 1994, Ph.D. research award from The August and Lyydia Heino Foundation (FIM 10,000)
11. 1994, Ph.D. research award from The Alfred Kordelin Foundation (FIM 18,000)
12. 1994, Ph.D. research award from Helsinki University of Technology (FIM 3,000)
13. 1995, Ph.D. research award from Alfred Kordelin Foundation (FIM 24,000)
14. 1996, Ph.D. research award from Helsinki University of Technology (FIM 5,000)
15. 1997, Ph.D. research award from Helsinki University of Technology (FIM 15,000)
16. 1997, Ph.D. research award from The Emil Aaltonen Foundation (FIM 20,000)
17. 1997, The youngest Ph.D. (Eng.) holder at Department of Chemical Engineering, Helsinki University of Technology (Finland)
18. 1998, Postdoctoral research award at the Helsinki University of Technology from The Emil Aaltonen Foundation (FIM 20,000)
19. 1998, Postdoctoral research award at the Helsinki University of Technology from the Jenny & Antti Wihuri Foundation (FIM 20,000)
20. 1999, The Academy of Finland’s Postdoctoral Scholarship at Helsinki University of Technology
21. 1999, Postdoctoral research award at the Helsinki University of Technology from the Jenny & Antti Wihuri Foundation (FIM 40,000)
22. 2000, 1st ranking in the Professorship Competence in Chemical Water Treatment at the University of Oulu (Finland) (nine applicants)
23. 2003, The Best Poster Presentation in the 6th Finnish Conference on Environmental Sciences in Joensuu (Finland) (with Jussi Ruotsalainen)
24. 2003, 1st ranking in the Professorship Competence in Environmental Analytics at the University of Kuopio (six applicants)
25. 2005, The Winner of Venture Cup Business Idea (with Jurate Virkutyte)
26. 2007, The 3rd runner up of Venture Business Idea Competition (with Eveliina Repo)
27. 2007, One of the finalists for The Outstanding Young Person in Finland
28. 2009, The Best Business Idea proposal in Venture Cup (with Adriana Ferancova)
29. 2009, Award from the Finnish Cultural Foundation
30. 2010, Candidate for Finland for the International Young Investigator Award for Environmental Technologies
31. 2010, Laureate of the Scientific Committee on the Problems of the Environment (SCOPE)/International Council for Science and Zhongyu Environmental Technologies Corporation Young Scientist Awards on Environmental Issues in the field of Environmental Technological Innovations
32. 2010, Tatu’s Chair Award
33. 2011, Man of the Year 2010, the City of Mikkeli, nominated by Junior Chamber International
34. 2012, Tapani Järvinen Environmental Technology Award
35. 2012, Publication Award of the Lappeenranta University of Technology
36. 2013, Invited keynote speaker at the Water and Energy Conference at the Vaal University of Technology, South Africa, on 19th of November
37. 2014, Science award by Research Foundation of Lappeenranta University of Technology
38. 2014, Science tamer award by the Principal of the University of Helsinki
39. 2014, Pro Mikkeli –medal by City of Mikkeli
40. 2014, Certificate of Merit -award by American Chemical Society, Division of Environmental Chemistry, for co-authorship of the poster paper titled “Synthesis of carbon-based nanomaterials and their applications in the removal of water contaminants” which was judged outstanding for material content and for manner of presentation given before the Division at the 248th National Meeting
41. 2014, Top Cited Papers -awards for 2011 and 2012 for the papers titled “A review of emerging adsorbents for nitrate removal from water” and “Fluoride removal from water by adsorption – a review” in Chemical Engineering Journal
42. 2015, Recognized Reviewer Status in Elsevier
43. 2017, Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics in the Field of Engineering
44. 2018, Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics in the Field of Engineering
45. 2018, Literature Award from the Water Association of Finland
46. 2018, Invited Member of the Technology Academy of Finland
47. 2018, Invited Member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters
48. 2019, World’s Top 2% Scientist by Stanford University
49. 2019, Environmental Science: Nano Best Paper Nominees collection in 2018 (http://rsc.li/esnano-nominees)
50. 2019, Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics in the Field of Engineering and Environment/Ecology
51. 2020, 29 research articles being recognized as ‘Highly Cited Papers (top 1%)’ by ‘Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics)’ in the broad scientific areas of ‘engineering, environment/ecology and chemistry’
52. 2020, World’s Top 2% Scientist by Stanford University
53. 2020, Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics in the Field of Engineering and Environment/Ecology
54. 2021, Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics in the Field of Engineering and Environment/Ecology (https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/1780813)
55. 2021, World’s Top 2% Scientist by Stanford University
56. 2022, Editor's Choice Article, MDPI Water
57. 2022, World’s Top 2% Scientist by Stanford University
58. 2022, The Provincial Innovative Talent of Zhejiang Province, China
59. 2022, Global Excellence and Stature, Vice Chancellor’s Distinguished Award, University of Johannesburg
60. 2023, World’s Top 2% Scientist by Stanford University
61. 2023, Rating: B1 NRF rated researcher (Internationally acclaimed researchers). National Research Foundation, South Africa
62. 2023, Most Impactful Paper Award in Journal of Water Process Engineering (Elsevier)
63. 2023, Changjiang (Yangtze River) Scholar award, China (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changjiang_Scholars_Program)
64. 2024, Elected Distinguished Fellow, International Engineering and Technology Institute (IETI) (https://www.ieti.net/memberships/Fellows.aspx)
65. 2024, Chemistry Leader Award, Research.Com (Highest Cited Chemist in South Africa) (https://research.com/careers/world-online-ranking-of-best-chemistry-scientists-2024-report)
66. 2024, World’s Top 2% Scientist by Stanford University
67. 2024, Highly Ranked Scholar by ScholarGPS (https://scholargps.com/scholars/19658439825288/mika-sillanpaa?e_ref=0ddba1bdfab7017d3fb4)
68. 2025, Top Cited Scholar, SCILIT/MDPI
69. 2025, Journal of Computational Chemistry, among op 10 most-cited papers
70. 2025, Chemistry Leader Award, Research.Com (Highest Cited Chemist in Africa) (https://research.com/careers/world-online-ranking-of-best-chemistry-scientists-2025-report)
71. 2025, Highly Ranked Scholar by ScholarGPS (https://scholargps.com/scholars/19658439825288/mika-sillanpaa?e_ref=53040a09b8e4520e983c)
72. 2025, Advanced Materials Award, International Association of Advanced Materials
73. 2025, Selected Lifetime Member of Eudoxia Research University
74. 2026, Ranked Top 0.09% Scientist in the World by AD Scientific Index (https://adscientificindex.com/scientist/mika-sillanpaa/4314218/)
75. 2026, Chemistry Leader Award, Research.Com (Highest Cited Chemist in Africa) (https://research.com/careers/world-online-ranking-of-best-chemistry-scientists-2026-report)
76. 2026, Top 1% Scientist by Global Scientists Index (https://top5percentscientists.com/?query=Mika+Sillanp%C3%A4%C3%A4)