Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte
Biography
Professor, Dr. habil. sc. ing. Leonīds Ribickis is the 12th Rector of Riga Technical University.
Ribickis had served as Vice Rector for Science at Riga Technical University for 11 years, before
taking office on 2 February 2011. During this time he made several innovations.
Leonīds Ribickis has brought significant improvements and innovations to Riga Technical
University. He initiated the tradition of organizing annual scientific conferences, where
distinguished local and foreign professors present their reports.
Under the guidance of Professor Ribickis the faculties of Riga Technical University started
publishing scientific journals and placing articles in scientific databases.
During his tenure as Vice Rector for Science Professor Ribickis achieved a tenfold increase in the
number of RTU scientific personnel and managed the transition of doctoral study programmes to a
length of four years. Riga Technical University is the only higher educational institution in Latvia
implementing four-year doctoral study programmes. Professor Ribickis has also established the
Doctoral School at Riga Technical University.
Based on the initiative of Professor Ribickis, RTU has created many new institutions, such as the
RTU Innovation Center and Business Support Centre; the Riga Biomaterial Research and
Development Center was founded with the help of attracted financing, and now has the most
advanced equipment in the Baltic States. Another remarkable achievement is the esatblishment of
the Electromagnetic Compatibility Testing Laboratory, which offers testing of electronic
equipment in compliance with 28 EU standards. This is most advanced laboratory of this kind in
Northern-Europe.
Professor Ribickis has supervised establishment of the Latvian Technology Park and Business
Incubator has attracted financial funds for the development of the High Technology Business
Incubator in cooperation with the Cēsis district, the city of Cēsis and the RTU Cēsis Affiliate.
Currently a new international interdisciplinary Power Research Center is being established under
management of Professor Ribickis.
Additionally to the duties of RTU Vice-Rector Professor Ribickis was the Head of the Riga
Technical University Institute of Industrial Electronics and Electrical Engineering and Head of the
Department of Industrial Electronics and Electrical Technologies.
He has been the first RTU researcher to take an active role in the water distribution system
improvement with the application adjustable speed drives since 1976.
In 1970 L. Ribickis received a degree in engineering from Riga Technical University (Faculty of
Electrical Engineering) obtained a PhD in 1980. He is a Dr. habil. sc. ing., at Riga Technical
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Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte
Biography
University since 1994.
L. Ribickis is a Full Member of the Latvian Academy of Science, member of the Latvian Council of
Science, member of the Board of the National Economy Council of the Latvian Ministry of
Economy, member of the European Power Electronics and Drives Association (EPE), IEEE Latvia
Section Chair, member of the board of the WEC LNC (World Energy Council Latvian National
Committee), Delegate and Expert of the Republic of Latvia on the Energy commission of the
European Union 7th Framework Research workgroup and Chairman of the Latvian University
Association.
The scientific work of L. Ribickis is related to such power and electrical engineering fields as
power electronics, electric drives, electrical machines, process control systems and transport.
As a visiting lector, L. Ribickis has lectured at the Norwegian University of Science and
Technology in Trondheim (NTNU) in 1992, the Polytechnic University of Turin (Italy) in 2001, the
Tokyo Denki University (Japan) in 2002, and the Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia) in
2006–2010. He has presented research results at 69 international conferences in 25 countries.
L. Ribickis has made more than 320 scientific publications, including 15 scientific monographs and
18 textbooks. He is the owner of 64 patents, including 2 US patents. At the end of 2006 he was
awarded the highest award in the field of power engineering in Latvia by «Latvenergo» and the
Latvian Academy of Science.
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