Sandra Ósk Snæbjörnsdóttir, a doctoral student at the Faculty of Earth Sciences

"Climate change is one of the biggest threat of our times and we have to react against the elevated strength of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere any way we can. Sequestering carbon dioxide in basalt is one of the methods we could use in this battle," says Sandra Ósk Snæbjörnsdóttir, a doctoral student in geology, who wants to contribute in the fight against climate change via a world-renowned project.

"My doctoral project is part of the CarbFix project launched in 2007 by the University of Iceland, OR group, CNRS ín Toulouse, and Columbia University in New York.  The aim of CarbFix is to find a way to sequester carbon dioxide in the deep basalts in order to reduce its effect in the atmosphere," she explains.

Atli V. Harðarson, Assistant Lecturer at UI's Faculty of Education Studies 

"Philosophical questions on free will and self-control have always fascinated me. It is necessary to tackle discursive complications and contradictory ideas when dealing with them. You can hardly find a more fun arena for a philosopher," says Atli V. Harðarson, Assistant Lecturer in ethics on his study on self-control and ethical upbringing. 

Atli points out that questions on self-control are interesting, both in parenting and for those who wish to improve their own lives, as lack of control is a big part of people's problems. "Everyone who has intended to have a good time but wound up arguing should know this, as well as those who have resolved to wake up early but slept in and then played videogames. Why do people so often do something other than they had set their mind to?" asks Atli. 

Elizabeth Lay, MA student at the Faculty of Education Studies

Elizabeth Lay, a Master's student in International studies in education, sought inspiration for her final project from her own experience as an immigrant in Iceland. She explored the involvement of parents of immigrant teenagers in their children's education.

"Society expects immigrants to support their teenagers, who face challenges relating both to the rapid development children go through in adolescence and also to their position as immigrants. Both of these things affect their performance in school. I wanted to try to find out whether there was a link between the involvement of immigrants in their adolescent children's education and the recognised milestones these students meet, including learning Icelandic, finishing secondary school and adapting to society," Elizabeth says.