Keynote Speakers 2017

3rd Karelia Symposium keynote speakers 2017

Dr. Lennart Salmén

is a principal scientist at the Research Institutes of Sweden, RISE. His research interests have mainly been devoted to the understanding of the relationship between the properties of the wood polymeric constituents and the macroscopic physical properties of fibres, wood and paper materials exploring new and innovative techniques for enhancing the understanding of the built-up of the wood cell wall.

Studies of softening phenomena, cell wall properties, micro-mechanical modelling, water interaction, mechano-sorptive creep, dimensional stability, fatigue of wood and mechanical pulping are among the areas of published work.

Much of the work has been devoted to the interaction of the cellulosic material with moisture where especially the development of moisture induced dynamic FTIR has been shown to give new insights. In recent years, Salmén has been mostly active in the Biorefining area in upgrading the wood polymers for new products and especially of understanding the structure of cellulose in relation to its interaction with water and its dissolution properties.

Dr. Niklas von Weymarn

has a doctoral degree in bioprocess engineering. He has also studied economics and innovation strategies. His job career begun in 1999, when he took on the position of Research Scientist at Cultor Technology Center (Cultor is today a part of DuPont). He has since hold the positions of Project Manager, Team Leader, Program Manager and Technology Manager at Aalto University, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. and CLIC Innovation Ltd.

He is currently Vice President for Research at Metsä Fibre, a part of Metsä Group. In that role he is managing the development of new bioproducts related to Metsä Group’s bioproduct mill in Äänekoski, Finland.

Niklas was part of the industrial core team that set up the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) and together with the European Commission, the Bio-based Industries Public-Private Partnership. He is Board Member of BIC and the Forest-based Sector Technology Platform.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peer Haller

has published about 200 papers in journals and proceedings. He holds several patents in wood technology and construction and has received numerous national and international distinctions such as Schweighofer Award 2005, Wilhelm Klauditz Award 2006, IKU Award for Climate and Environment by the Federal Ministry for the Environment and the Voice of the German Industry – BDI. During 1979-1984, Professor Haller studied mechanical engineering at Fachhochschule Offenburg, Deutsch-Französische Hochschule Saarbrücken/Metz and Institut National Polytechnique de la Lorraine. Later, in 1987, he defended his doctoral thesis in fracture mechanics at the Institut National Polytechnique de la Lorraine.

In the late 1980´s he conducted postdoctoral studies at Tokyo University on wood physics as a visiting scientist of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. After this, he worked as a research assistant at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, chair of Timber Structures. Since 1994, Dr. Haller has been working as a professor at Technische Universität Dresden, Department of Civil Engineering, Chair of Timber Structures. In 2009, he was invited professor at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

Dr. Andreja Kutnar

is an associate professor in the field of wood science at University of Primorska, Slovenia and acting director of the InnoRenew CoE Renewable materials and healthy environments research and innovation centre of excellence. She is an executive board member of international organization InnovaWood and a director on the board of the Society of Wood Science and Technology (SWST).

In 2014, Dr. Kutnar co-authored a book “Contemporary Slovenian Timber Architecture for Sustainability” published by Springer International Publishing AG in a Series Green Energy and Technology. Furthermore, in 2016 Dr. Andreja Kutnar co-edited a scientific book “Environmental Impacts of Traditional and Innovative Forest-based Bioproducts” published by Springer International Publishing AG in a Series Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes.

She is coordinating H2020 Teaming project Renewable materials and healthy environments research and innovation centre of excellence (InnoRenew CoE). Furthermore, she is the chair of COST Action FP1407 “Understanding wood modification through an integrated scientific and environmental impact approach (ModWoodLife). In 2016, she received recognition of “Prometheus of Science for excellence in communication” for a successful multi-level communication in wood sciences and supporting the enforcement of the sustainable development paradigm.