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.
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