UW has received funding as a partner on a Nordic Council of Ministers project called SUSCULT - The Sustainable Culture of Seaweeds in the Nordic countries. The one-year project aims to explore the biological and legal aspects of commercial seaweed cultivation. The project is led by the Finnish Environment Institute, with other partners in Norway, Estonia, Denmark, and Sweden.

In Iceland, the farming of seaweed for commercial purposes is not yet legal, but the hope for the project is that Iceland can learn from the growth of this industry in other countries. Seaweed aquaculture is an increasing part of aquaculture products and is a growing industry with expanding markets worldwide. 

In order to carry out the project tasks, UW has partnered with local start-up companies Djúpið and Eldey Aqua. The team from UW includes Dr. Catherine Chambers, UW research manager, Justin Brown, CMM alumni and founder of Overseas Environmental consulting and CMM student Kerstin Frank, who is the intern to Djupið. Her role will be to explore the legal structure in other countries and provide information to companies like Djúpið that focus on innovation in the marine sectors. The project will also contract out Djúpið, Eldey Aqua and Overseas Environmental to deploy test cultivation lines for research purposes, since part of the SUSCULT project is also to research best species for cultivation.

The project will conclude in 2021 and will serve as a basis for future research on the biological and economic aspects of seaweed cultivation in Iceland.