University of Iceland

Young people concerned about opportunities for immigrants

Sigrún Aðalbjarnardóttir, professor at the Faculty of Education Studies

Our society is becoming ever more multicultural with regard to different nationalities, cultures and religions. This raises various complex and urgent questions, for example on democracy, human rights, education and what it means to be a citizen. We must prepare young people for these challenges, placing specific emphasis on increasing awareness of social justice and respect for diversity." So says Sigrún Aðalbjarnardóttir, professor at the Faculty of Education Studies, about her recent work on the research project "The Civil Consciousness of Young People in a Democratic Society".

Slaying of the Basques whalers

Sigrún Antonsdóttir, MA from the Faculty of History and Philosophy

The Basques began whaling off the coast of Iceland during the summer early in the seventeenth century; thus having various dealings with the natives. An Icelandic-Basque lexicon has been preserved, indicating some trading between the two nationalities. The dealings were not always without conflict, and in the autumn of 1615 the so-called Spanish Killings occurred. They were a series of tragic events, costing over thirty stranded Basque whalers their lives. "Many were killed by orders from Ari Magnússon from Ögur near Ísafjörður, by decree of the king of Denmark, but by then the whalers had lost their ships and were unable to return back home," says Sigrún Antonsdóttir who wrote the text to a travelling show on these events in 2015.

Organizing a conference on gendered violence

30/11/2016 - 13:15

RIKK - Institute for Gender, Equality and Difference at the University of Iceland is organizing a Nordic conference on gendered violence with focus on perpetrators held in Helsinki 30 November - 2 December. The conference sets focus on the contexts of perpetrators in the Nordic countries, seeking to find ways to break the cycles of violence.

The purpose of the conference is to generate knowledge within the field and explore different ways to address domestic and intimate partner violence. The conference will offer a platform for sharing lessons, discussing the implementation of the Istanbul convention and create a dialogue between different actors in the field within the Nordic countries, in addition to forming a Nordic network for professionals focusing on perpetrators. The plan is to establish a network of partners working on the issues of perpetrators.

Mobility in money

"This is a metaphysical study on money and its value with emphasis on their role as a sociological phenomenon, and its mobility," says Eyja M. Brynjarsdóttir, specialist at the Institute of Philosophy, who in 2015 began to study the reality of money with the support of the Icelandic Centre for Research (Rannís). She says we need to look at money in connection with consumerism, power structures, distribution of resources, and social justice. The focal point of the research is sociological ontology; studying the existence of social infrastructure and its foundation.

"Money began to interest me as a research subject after the economic collapse in Iceland and the idea of this study slowly began to take shape," she says. Eyja has always been fascinated by everything that has to do with the interaction of human thought and external reality and considers money to be a good example of this.

XIV Nordic Labour History Conference

19/07/2016 - 10:00

XIV Nordic Labour History Conference
Reykjavik, Iceland 28–30 November 2016

The topic of this three-day history conference will be Nordic Labour, broadly defined, including the history of work, history of workers and the history of labour movements. The aim is to bring together scholars and students who specialize in different areas of Nordic labour history to discuss findings from a Nordic comparative perspective, as well as to add a global perspective.

Panels will cover the following themes:

Leads Unesco-application for the government of Greenland

26/03/2016 - 11:00

Orri Vésteinsson, professor of archaeology at the Faculty of History and Philosophy at the University of Iceland has for a number of years studied Nordic remains in South-Greenland. Vésteinsson is the main author of Greenland and Denmark’s application to get five areas in Eystribyggð registered on the UNESCO World Heritage list. The National Museum of Greenland and the Kuhalleq municipality apply in cooperation with the Danish Ministry of Culture.

Icelandic rock bands as trademark

“The study focuses on examining consumers’ sentiments towards the development of rock bands as brand names. The research questions cover how an Icelandic rock band can create a strong brand name and maintain it from the point-of-view of the consumers,” says Víkingur Másson, who combined his hobby and academic interest in his final thesis in Master studies in Marketing and International Business at the Faculty of Business Administration.

Másson, who himself plays guitar in the rock band Hoffman, says that the lack of an academic foundation for current methods used by groups to build brand names was the reason behind his study. “I have all through my studies tried to connect the concept band to traditional merchandize and service in terms of how a brand is created and maintained,” he adds.

Children of immigrants need special attention at school

“Iceland is no longer an ethnically homogenous country,” says Vietnamese-born Anh-Dao Katrín Tran who’s been studying upper secondary education in Iceland’s multicultural society. “The Icelandic educational system and Icelandic society face the challenge of preparing all students to function in a multicultural world. The risk of immigrant youth dropping out of school is significantly higher than for their Icelandic peers.”

The economic crash changed the curriculum

“The research is aimed at analysing to what extent teaching and curricula in finances and economics at a university level need to be revised in light of the recent havoc in international finance. Furthermore, various critiques that had come forward previously are examined,” says Gylfi Magnússon, Associate Professor in finances at the Faculty of Business Administration, about a study he is currently working on. The subject is close to his heart as he has taught both finance and economics at the University of Iceland, written text books in both subjects, and worked in the field in various other ways; including holding the position of Minister of Economic Affairs for a while after the collapse. “It is obvious to me that university lecturers in this field cannot continue to use the same curricula,” says Magnússon.

Are oral statements legally binding?

“The study deals with how legal obligations of states may potentially be instituted in international law without being traced to traditional sources of law, as they are described in legal theory,” says Pétur Dam Leifsson, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law.

One of the most important sources of international law are international treaties, but their existence is generally tied to a particular substance and form. Leifsson took the alternative route of examining phenomena sometimes considered to be equivalent to treaties despite not counting as proper international treaties. Statements of joint policy in particular issued by proper authorities made orally are the most important example of this. “I was mainly interested in whether and under which circumstances such statements could potentially be legally binding for states under international law,” says Leifsson.

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