Professor Ryszard M. Kozlowski is the award-winning former Director of the Polish Institute of Natural Fibres and Medicinal Plants. He is Editor-in-Chief of the "Journal of Natural Fibres," Scientific Advisor to the Institute for Engineering of Polymer Materials and Dyes and Coordinator of both the European System of Cooperative Research Networks in Agriculture (ESCORENA) and the European Cooperative Research Network on Flax and other Bast Plants (FAO/ESCORENA).