A course in Academic Writing is starting today at UW. This course is taught as a seminar series throughout the semester, introducing students to academics at the graduate level.

The course Icelandic Society and Nature starts tomorrow at the University Centre of the Westfjords.

Today and tomorrow, Orientation is being held at the University Centre of the Westfjords, where a diverse group of master’s students are being welcomed and the new academic year is officially starting.

Interns from the University of Toulon in France have completed their internship at the University Centre, which has been ongoing since mid-April.

The University Centre of the Westfjords (UW) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Catherine P. Chambers as the new Director. Dr. Chambers brings two decades of experience in academic leadership and interdisciplinary marine research to the role of Director. She has given over 50 professional and public lectures in both Iceland and abroad, supervised 13 student thesis research projects, published 27 research articles and 5 book chapters, and taught several graduate level courses in research methods and design, ethics in research, maritime anthropology, and academic writing. Catherine has served in many professional administrative and service roles, such as chair of the Social and Human Working Group of the International Arctic Science Committee, a member on the Icelandic Committee for Arctic Affairs, a consultant for the Icelandic Fisheries Ministry, a social scientist in the ICES Working Group on the Integrated Ecosystem Assessment of Icelandic Waters, chair of the board of the Iceland Fulbright Commission, and an invited expert to the Arctic Council Assessment on Societal Implications of Climate Change.

The annual Icelandic language courses at the University Centre of the Westfjords are now in full swing, bringing together over 70 participants from all over the world. Some join more than one course, and others return year after year. The group includes language enthusiasts, newcomers to Iceland, professionals, former residents who want to stay connected to the language, as well as current students at UW and other Icelandic universities.

UW recently advertised two new positions – Academic Director and Web Manager – both of which reflect a positive development: the addition of new roles. Following the recruitment process for the Academic Director position, Randall Morgan Greene has been hired as the new Academic Director of the Master’s Programme in Coastal Communities and Regional Development. Morgan previously held a similar role at the Reykjavik University School of Energy from 2015 to 2023. His areas of expertise include economics, political science, and, naturally, energy issues. His doctoral research focuses on public attitudes toward energy transitions. Morgan will begin work this autumn and will relocate to the Westfjords from Kópavogur with his family.

From June 28 to July 6, the Westfjords of Iceland became a living classroom for a group of international students and researchers participating in the ISLAs Summer School 2025—Islands as Laboratories for Sustainability.

From June 16 to 27, the University Centre of the Westfjords (UW) hosted its first-ever Summer Conference Iceland, welcoming 16 students from the FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management in Germany. The two-week program was a successful collaboration between UW and FOM, combining academic modules with hands-on learning and cultural exploration.

Ten years of collaboration with the University Centre of the Westfjords continues with focus on ocean modeling and science communication Five marine engineering students from SeaTech Toulon in France are now in the final weeks of a four-month internship in Ísafjörður, set to conclude on August 1st. The group is part of a long-running collaboration between the University Centre of the Westfjords (UW) and SeaTech Toulon, a Mediterranean-based engineering school specializing in marine and coastal systems.