“The government has to give priority to universities in Iceland,” said Jón Atli Benediktsson, Rector of the University of Iceland, when addressing the candidates at the graduation ceremony in Háskólabíó last Saturday. This was his first graduation as Rector of the University of Iceland, as Jón Atli Benediktsson superseded Kristín Ingólfsdóttir in July last year. The graduates were 411 in total; 211 from undergraduate studies and 200 from graduate studies. 

Jón Atli Benediktsson emphasized university funding in his address stating that all funding for the University was put to good use thus benefiting society as a whole. International and domestic appraisals had repeatedly shown the University of Iceland to be an extremely efficient and well operated institution. 

He said that it was important that the University move forward and receive funding on par with the Nordic universities, maintaining that recent years‘ accomplishments is not enough.

Gianluca Levi, a postdoctoral chemistry researcher at the UI Institute of Physical Sciences, in collaboration with an international team of researchers, has been awarded a grant from the European Research Council (ERC) of EUR 1.5 million, equivalent to almost ISK 230 million. This funding will support the development of new methods to help us more effectively harness solar energy. This is the ninth grant that UI scientists have received from the ERC in recent years.

The project is titled “New excited state methods for overcoming challenges in sunlight conversion” (NEXUS) and will run for five years. Basic research projects such as NEXUS are the origin of most modern discoveries and innovations.

The research project Fertility intentions and behaviour in Iceland: The role of policies and parenting culture (FIBI) is organizing a symposium where the results of diverse studies related to the development of fertility rates and the impact of family policy and parenting culture on families in Iceland will be presented.