Professor Kaj Riska

The 2019 POAC Founders Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Professor Kaj Riska.

Prof. Kaj Riska is a naval architect and engineer with extensive expertise in ice and arctic technology. He obtained M.Sc. from the Helsinki University of Technology in Naval Architecture in 1978 and Ph.D. in 1988.

From 1976 to 1988, Kaj worked as a group manager in winter navigation at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, between 1988 and 1991 as a senior researcher at the Academy of Finland, between 1991 and 1996 as a director at the Arctic Offshore Research Centre, and between 1996 and 2005 as a professor in the Helsinki University of Technology. Between 2005 and 2012 he acted as a director at ILS Oy in Helsinki. From 2012 to 2018 he worked as an ice engineer at Total SA E&P in Paris. From 1974 and up to 2005, Kaj worked at many academic institutions as researcher or professor. He has given lectures at the Technical University of Technology in Helsinki, Laboratory of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering in ship design, winter navigation and marine technology. He has been a supporter and promoter of multinational research projects within the European Union and beyond. Since 2006, Kaj has been Professor at the Norwegian Science and Technology University in Trondheim. Recently, Kaj joined TU Delft in November 2017 as part time professor in Arctic Offshore Engineering continuing his dedication to teaching students and a pursuit of academic learning.

Kaj Riska is a foremost expert in Arctic Technology. His works are key references for ISO standards and Rules of Classification of ice-going ships. He is an active member of many organizations. Since 1988 he worked as a specialist on the Finnish-Swedish Ice Class Rules and the development for Energy Efficiency Design Index at IMO for the Finnish Maritime Administration. Kaj contributed to design of several icebreakers, latest ones the IB Varandey and Toboy. At Total SA, Kaj was nominated expert in Ice Engineering and received innovation prize for design of the Arctic LNG carrier in 2014. He has published over 100 scientific publications about ships and offshore structures in ice.

Kaj has attended almost every POAC conference during the last 20 years. He has organized, hosted and chaired, as the president, the conference in 1999 in Helsinki, chaired many sessions at the POAC conferences, promoted the conferences, supported POAC financially and through students attending and participating in the conferences while at HUT, and authored and co-authored a large number of POAC papers.