The University Centre is offering a new master’s program in Coastal Communities and Regional Development to begin in Autumn 2019 and of course such a new program needs a director.

There were thirteen applicants for the position, four of which held a PhD, five applicants had command of Icelandic, six were male and seven female. Four applicants were invited for an interview. Special attention was paid to qualifications, but also to knowledge of Icelandic, and Icelandic society and university system. Coastal Communities and Regional Development is a parallel program to the existing Coastal and Marine Management program, and as such it is important that the director have a good background in regional development, which is based on elements of geography, sociology and economics.

The person hired is Dr. Matthias Kokorsch. Matthias holds a PhD from University of Iceland. The topic of his thesis was "Mapping Resilience – Coastal Communities in Iceland" which was under the supervision of Dr. Karl Benediktsson from HÍ, Dr. Anna Karlsdóttir from Nordregio, and Dr. Kevin St. Martin from Rutgers University. 

Matthias Kokorsch’s background is broad and he has used both quantitative and qualitative methods in his dissertation, which is important for the University Centre, as the program director needs to guide students with broad and diverse interests in their master’s theses research topic and design.

Matthias Kokorsch works for the Thünen Institute of Rural Studies in Braunschweig, Germany at the moment and teaches a course at Leibniz-University in Hannover entitled "Villages and towns in the course of time: Theories, methods, and policy recommendations."

The new program director will commence in August, just before the start of the new term.