On March 8th the University Centre received the official confirmation that the Ministry of Culture and Education would fund the new master's program in Coastal Communities and Regional Development. When the green light was given by the Ministry in March, the time frame was too short to attract students to a new program in the Westfjords, even though UW took advantage of the latest possible deadline, June 5th.
Brianna Bambic, soon to graduate from the Coastal and Marine Management master’s program at the University Center of the Westfjords, was recently awarded the National Geographic Early Career Grant. Her initial master’s thesis involved the creation of a new immersive virtual experience that allowed participants to see the changing Belizean reef from the last 40 years.
On Tuesday a group of researchers in the Westfjords joined together and opened a photo exhibition in Edinborgarhúsið Culture House in Ísafjörður. The photos will be hosted at the local restaurant Hamraborg and will then be featured in other communities around the Westfjords.
UW director Peter Weiss recently returned from a seminar funded through the Nordic Council of Ministers on Sustainable Adaptation to Climate Change and Globalisation in Disko Bay, West Greenland. The seminar comes at a good time; UW recently launched a new master's programme in Coastal Communities and Regional Development and the topics of the seminar in Greenland were closely aligned with the scope of the new masters programme.
The University Centre of the Westfjords’ new master’s degree study program, Coastal Communities and Regional Development, starts at the end of August 2018. Coastal Communities Studies is an interdisciplinary course that offers insights into sociology, economics, geography, and planning. The course is Iceland’s first coastal communities academic study program, marking a milestone in the development of this field of expertise.
Newly appointed Icelandic Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson has chosen the Westfjords for his first official visit into the Icelandic countryside. Guðmundur was an instructor in the CMM program in 2011-2012, and specially requested a time to meet with CMM students at the University Centre of the Westfjords.
Coastal and Marine Management alumna Anika Truter, who graduated May 2017, has published the results of her thesis on Reynisfjara Beach in Regions Magazine published by the Regional Studies Association in a special issue entitled “Sustainability Transitions in the Coastal Zone.”
The University Centre of the Westfjords is unveiling some changes on its websites sub-sites, with changes to its look and content – and on closer inspection, readers will discover a whole new programme of study on the website: Coastal Communities and Regional Development.
The University of the Westfjords received 17 applications for the job of administrative director of teaching, of whom eleven were from the Westfjords and six from outside the region; eleven women and six men. The selection committee decided to hire Margrét Björk Arnardóttir. Margrét Björk is a studies- and careers-officer at Árskóli in Sauðárkrókur and has also worked as studies- and careers-officer at Hólar University and at the Lifelong learning institute for Northwest Iceland in Sauðárkrókur.
Yesterday the University Centre welcomed a travel study group from Franklin University Switzerland. This is the fourth year in a row that a student group from Franklin University visits the NW Westfjords. The Iceland tour is a 12-day field experience which allows students to examine first-hand the problems and potentials generated by the country's rapid increase in tourism.
