diff --git a/gyro/core/config.cls.php b/gyro/core/config.cls.php
index d2bc06cb..2221a018 100644
--- a/gyro/core/config.cls.php
+++ b/gyro/core/config.cls.php
@@ -48,6 +48,11 @@ class Config {
 	const LOG_TRANSLATIONS = 'LOG_TRANSLATIONS';
 	const LOG_HTML_ERROR_STATUS = 'LOG_HTML_ERROR_STATUS';
 	const LOG_HTTPREQUESTS = 'LOG_HTTPREQUESTS';
+    /**
+     * DB UTF8 / UTF8MB4
+     */
+    const DB_USE_UTF8MB4_ON_UTF8 = 'DB_USE_UTF8MB4_ON_UTF8';
+    const DB_TR_UTF8_TO_UTF8MB4 = 'DB_TR_UTF8_TO_UTF8MB4';
 	/**
 	 * Added to each email subject line
 	 */
diff --git a/gyro/core/constants.inc.php b/gyro/core/constants.inc.php
index 27a96abc..b08c7410 100644
--- a/gyro/core/constants.inc.php
+++ b/gyro/core/constants.inc.php
@@ -172,6 +172,12 @@
  */
 Config::set_value_from_constant(Config::DB_SLOW_QUERY_THRESHOLD, 'APP_DB_SLOW_QUERY_THRESHOLD', 0.0100);
 
+/**
+ * DB UTF8 / UTF8MB4
+ */
+Config::set_value_from_constant(Config::DB_USE_UTF8MB4_ON_UTF8, 'APP_DB_USE_UTF8MB4_ON_UTF8', false);
+Config::set_value_from_constant(Config::DB_TR_UTF8_TO_UTF8MB4, 'APP_DB_TR_UTF8_TO_UTF8MB4', false);
+
 /**
  * Cache headers
  */
diff --git a/gyro/core/model/base/db.cls.php b/gyro/core/model/base/db.cls.php
index 080f9085..40318b39 100644
--- a/gyro/core/model/base/db.cls.php
+++ b/gyro/core/model/base/db.cls.php
@@ -326,6 +326,9 @@ public static function execute_script($file, $connection = self::DEFAULT_CONNECT
 			$dao = self::create('cache');
 			while($query = self::extract_next_sql_statement($handle)) {
 				if ($query != ';') {
+                    if (Config::has_feature(Config::DB_USE_UTF8MB4_ON_UTF8) && Config::has_feature(Config::DB_TR_UTF8_TO_UTF8MB4)) {
+                        $query = self::translate_query_utf8_utf8mb4($query);
+                    }
 					$status->merge($conn->execute($query));
 					if ($status->is_error()) {
 						break;
@@ -341,7 +344,27 @@ public static function execute_script($file, $connection = self::DEFAULT_CONNECT
 		}
 		return $status;
 	}
-	
+
+    /**
+     * Experimental sql statement translation of:
+     *
+     * - "CHARSET=utf8"             => "CHARSET=utf8mb4"
+     * - "CHARACTER SET 'utf8'"     => "CHARACTER SET 'utf8mb4'"
+     * - "COLLATE=utf8_general_ci"  => "COLLATE=utf8mb4_general_ci"
+     *
+     * This should cover all utf8 use cases in install.sql and update.sql scripts,
+     * but currently only used for table=`sessions`.
+     */
+    protected static function translate_query_utf8_utf8mb4($query) {
+        if (stripos($query, 'CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `sessions`') !== false) {
+            $query = preg_replace('/CHARSET\s*=\s*utf8(?!mb4)/i', 'CHARSET=utf8mb4', $query);
+            $query = preg_replace('/CHARACTER\s+SET\s*\'utf8\'/i', 'CHARACTER SET \'utf8mb4\'', $query);
+            $query = preg_replace('/COLLATE\s*=\s*utf8_general_ci/i', 'COLLATE=utf8mb4_general_ci', $query);
+        }
+        
+        return $query;    
+    }
+    
 	public static function extract_next_sql_statement($handle) {
 		$ret = '';
 		$last = '';
diff --git a/gyro/core/model/drivers/mysql/dbdriver.mysql.php b/gyro/core/model/drivers/mysql/dbdriver.mysql.php
index 587db085..3dd91cad 100644
--- a/gyro/core/model/drivers/mysql/dbdriver.mysql.php
+++ b/gyro/core/model/drivers/mysql/dbdriver.mysql.php
@@ -102,7 +102,11 @@ protected function connect() {
 			if ($err->is_ok()) {
 				// We are connected
 				if (GyroLocale::get_charset() == 'UTF-8') {
-					$this->execute("SET NAMES 'utf8' COLLATE 'utf8_general_ci'");
+                    if (Config::has_feature(Config::DB_USE_UTF8MB4_ON_UTF8)) {
+                        $this->execute("SET NAMES 'utf8mb4' COLLATE 'utf8mb4_general_ci'");
+                    } else {
+                        $this->execute("SET NAMES 'utf8' COLLATE 'utf8_general_ci'");
+                    }
 				}
 				//$this->execute("SET sql_mode=STRICT_ALL_TABLES");
 				$this->execute("SET sql_mode='TRADITIONAL'");