The CoLab project, Coastal laboratories connecting people and nature, is a collaboration between diverse disciplines that aims to provide open-access, foundational knowledge to coastal communities. The project supports bottom-up development of local economies and builds bridges that connect people to nature and culture through the lens of sustainability.

From May 11 to 22, students at the University Centre of the Westfjords took part in the course Marine Protected Area Management, taught by Dr. Bradley W. Barr.

Have you noticed a lot of crab-related art around town lately? That’s because of UW! As part of the Púkinn children’s art festival, we organized a project in connection with Edinborg culture house, where kids set out crab traps to learn about different animals around our waters.

A very fruitful conference of UArctic (University of the Arctic) took place last week, where 1,400 participants from all over the world met in the Faroe Islands to discuss and share information on interdisciplinary topics related to the Arctic. UArctic is a network of Arctic universities, and UW has been a member from the very beginning. Through UArctic, our students enjoy exchange opportunities with other institutions, and our staff and instructors work together on teaching exchanges and research.

From 11 to 22 May, students at the University Centre of the Westfjords took a closer look at tourism, leisure and everyday life in small coastal communities through the course Coastal Communities in an Era of Leisure and Tourism.

With Háskólahátíð we celebrate the graduation of students from the master’s programmes at the University Centre of the Westfjords, as well as the graduation of distance learning students in the Westfjords.

Time flies – like when your kids grow up too fast, when you go down a rabbit hole on the internet, or when you are the new director of the University Centre of the Westfjords. It is unbelievable that one month has gone by since I took over April 1st. There has been a lot to do, many exciting tasks both big and small: for example learning how long it takes to change passwords, or deciding how exactly one should inherit 20 years of files, information, and experience. I am very thankful for all the good folks around me who have helped during this transition time.

We are very excited to share a new published paper that is very close to our hearts. The paper, called “Higher Education as Coastal Community Development: Lessons Learned From the University Centre of the Westfjords, Iceland”, published in the journal “Ocean and Society” is a reflection on the 20 year experience of UW as a rural coastal community educational instition.

Students in the course Navigation, Shipping and Offshore Activities in the Arctic recently took their learning out of the classroom and onto the water during a boating field trip in Ísafjarðardjúp. The excursion offered hands-on insight into navigation in the European Arctic and Icelandic waters, connecting course theory with real-world maritime practice.

From April 13 to 24, students at the University Centre of the Westfjords took part in two courses that approached environmental knowledge from different angles: Environmental Impact Assessment and Science Communication.