News

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...

From August 14 to 17, The Latvian Association of Young Researchers (LJZA) Summer School 2025 took place at the guest house “Mauriņi”, bringing together young researchers and doctoral students from across Latvia. This year’s central theme was “Communication, Governance, Ethics”, and over four days participants engaged in discussions, workshops, and experience sharing on topics such as science–policy collaboration, science communication, project and research data management, academic integrity, and researcher well-being. The aim of the Summer School is to strengthen young scientists’...

On 27 August, the Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry (LSIWC) welcomed Professor Carol Sze Ki Lin (City University of Hong Kong, CityUHK), a world-renowned researcher with more than 20 years of experience in biorefinery and biomass valorisation. Her lecture, “Development of Waste Biorefineries Towards a Circular Bioeconomy”, highlighted how different types of waste – food waste (domestic and industrial), agriculture, marine, and lignocellulosic – can be converted into high value-added products and technologies that mitigate climate change while delivering tangible benefits for industry...

(Concluding story on LSIWC’s participation in DPN 2025 (11–14 August, Reykjavik)). Ph.D. Miķelis Kirpļuks, researcher at the LSIWC Polymer Laboratory, delivered an oral presentation at DPN 2025 on vitrimer solutions for fibreboard production: “Bio-Based β-Amino Polyester Vitrimers: A Sustainable and Recyclable Adhesive for Fibreboard Production.” In addition, Miķelis also presented a poster contribution from the Polymers-5B project: “Development of Bio-Based Aza-Michael Vitrimers for Reprocessable Polymer Networks.” Vitrimers are thermosetting polymer materials with dynamic covalent bonds...

From 18 to 22 August, Riga Technical University (RTU) hosted the Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme “Space Industry-Science Workshop”, which brought together students, academic staff, and industry representatives from Latvia, Finland, Sweden, and other European countries. The programme aims to strengthen collaboration between space science and industry by developing new cooperation models in space mission planning and technology development. The Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry (LSIWC) also took part in the seminar, represented by Dr. Uģis Cābulis, Head of the Polymer Laboratory and...

The educational kit “Wood Suitcase for Natural Science Experiments in Schools”, developed by the Latvijas Koks Association, has already become an inspiration for both students and teachers across Latvia. To make this experience even more accessible, with the support of the Latvian Forest Development Fund, a new project is being implemented in 2025 to create video instructions for STEM-related experiments included in the “Wood Suitcase.” Five new video instructions for schools Within the project, five new experiment video guides will be developed, continuing the work started in 2024, when the...