Mikko Hupa is former Professor in Chemical Engineering, and since 2021 Professor Emeritus, at the Åbo Akademi in Turku, Finland. In 2014 Mikko was elected to President of the university, a five-year term filled with successful operations and challenging reforms. Mikko has led major industry-academia research programs in areas of clean combustion, biomass and waste derived fuels, high temperature materials etc. His research has been strongly supported by major energy and pulp and papere companies. He was President of the International Flame Research Foundation, IFRF, an international organisation with more than 250 member organisations in almost twenty countries in the world in the area of industrial combustion. He is also a member of scientific or engineering academies in Finland, Sweden and the US. Mikko has supervised some 50 PhD Theses and is author of more than 400 international journal publications. Mikko’s research team was part of a National Center of Excellence in Finland 2000-2012. Mikko will bring his long experience in research collaboration between industry and academia and his expertise in biomass and waste based renewable energy to the HILT CRC Board.