Last summer, one of our students, Gustav Hvalkof Kristensen, participated in the Wadden Sea World Heritage Summer School and decided to tell us about his expirience there.

Since 2015, Byggðastofnun has awarded grants to master’s students working on final thesis projects in the field of rural and regional development, with projects linked to Iceland’s Regional Development Plan considered an advantage.

From 19 January to 6 February, the University Centre of the Westfjords (UW) offered an intensive Geographic Information Systems (GIS) course, giving students a hands-on introduction to spatial analysis and cartographic tools that are increasingly important in research and practice across disciplines.

The Gefum íslensku séns (Give Icelandic a Chance) initiative, which began in Ísafjörður, has expanded beyond the region in recent years. To support and coordinate the work, a new association has been founded. Its board includes Eiríkur Rögnvaldsson, Eliza Reid, Martína Jansson, Ólafur Guðsteinn Kristjánsson, and Peter Weiss, who was elected chair.

Dr. James Kennedy, fishery biologist at Iceland’s Marine and Freshwater Research Institute (MFRI), is currently teaching the course Fisheries Management and Technology at UW. The class explores key themes in marine fisheries, including population assessments, fish–habitat associations, life-history, population dynamics, and management.

Every year on 25 January, the people of Ísafjörður celebrate Sun Day—a joyful welcome to the sun’s return. The occasion is marked with a traditional sólarkaffi (Sun Day coffee gathering), where people drink coffee and enjoy “sun pancakes” served with sugar, or with jam and whipped cream. For more than a hundred years, Ísafjörður residents have observed this day, which is tied to the moment when the sun first brushes Sólgata (“Sun Street”) again, after a long winter hidden behind the mountains.

On Wednesday, February 4th, UW will hold an info session about the two international multidisciplinary masters programs offered at the University Centre of the Westfjords: Coastal Communities and Regional Development and Coastal and Marine Management

One of the projects that the University Centre of the Westfjords participates in is The Grimsson Fellowship residency in Grímshús in Ísafjörður. The project was launched at a conference at UW in November 2022, and in 2023 the first guests arrived at Grímshús.

UW’s is back to its usual self these days after Christmas break and our students have returned to the classrooms.

The halls of the University Centre are now rather quiet, as most of our students have gone home for the holidays and students at Icelandic universities have completed their exams before Christmas.