Ramūnas Tupčiauskas in Baltijas Koks: a scientist who preserves warmth both at home and in science
The June 2025 issue of Baltijas Koks features an extensive interview with Dr. sc. ing. Ramūnas Tupčiauskas, leading researcher at the Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry. It is a conversation where academic achievements intertwine with a personal story of perseverance, choices, and a journey that has led from a carpentry workshop to world-class research.
Innovations born from everyday resources
The projects led by Ramūnas demonstrate how seemingly low-value resources – wood residues and agricultural by-products – can be transformed into materials of high added value. The steam explosion technology allows these residues to be converted into fibers and turned into boards for building insulation. The new materials are already protected by a patent, a license has been sold, and their quality is being tested long-term in specially built demonstration houses.
As the scientist himself emphasizes:
“Innovation and yet more innovation – it is a process that requires investment, but one cannot afford to fall behind the times.”
For his contribution in this field, in 2024 Dr. sc. ing. Ramūnas, together with his colleagues, received the forest sector’s highest award – the Golden Pine Cone. The award was granted for the research project “Development of thermal insulation materials from resources available from forestry and agriculture”, which has resulted in three different technologies for producing bulk insulation materials from locally available renewable forest and agricultural resources.
From carpenter to researcher
In the interview, Ramūnas reveals that his path to Latvia was quite unexpected – during a trip to France he met his future wife Elizabete and moved to Riga. At first, he worked as a carpenter, then continued his studies at the master’s level, and after doctoral studies his life path led him to the Institute of Wood Chemistry.
“Today it is particularly important that for the production of durable boards we can use easily available low-value materials – wood residues – and transform them into valuable resources,” Ramūnas underlines in the interview.
Ramūnas calls himself both a scientist and a carpenter. By developing innovative solutions from low-value materials, he creates new opportunities for people to live warmer and safer. In his free time in the countryside, he plants trees and builds a wooden house for his son – with a tower from which the boy can look into the distance and dream.
The full interview (in Latvian) is available in the June 2025 issue of Baltijas Koks (No. 295).
