Reaching out to new audiences through the New Nordic Lexicon

Faculty from the University of Iceland have contributed relevant content for the New Nordic Lexicon, a free, online resource for young people. The focus of the Lexicon is Nordic society, history and society, and all content is reliable as it is written by scholars and researchers.

Several researchers from the University of Iceland - including Jón Ólafsson, Ásdís A. Arnalds and Guðný Björk Eydal - have provided valuable articles in English on, for example, Iceland’s efforts to create a new constitution and the use-it-or-lose-it leave scheme for fathers, which was introduced in 2000 and heavily shaped parenting policy. These recent contributions join an existing range of content about Iceland in English on nordics.info. This site is the parent, research-based website that runs the Lexicon. The site’s  most popular podcast to date happens to be A History of Iceland (available both in English and Danish).

Academics at the University of Iceland value disseminating research and knowledge outside the university's walls, and the New Nordic Lexicon acts as a useful bridge between them and people between the ages of 16 and 30 across the Nordic region.

Students from the University of Iceland also helped to choose which subjects were selected for the New Nordic Lexicon by taking part in a consultation. Young people have also met with researchers by interviewing them for podcasts and videos. The young interviewers chose subjects such as the use of English in the Nordic countries, gender equality, and how we talk about climate change for the 15 episodes of the New Nordic Lexicon Podcast Series.

The University of Iceland is involved in the Lexicon through a partnership with a research network called Reimagining Norden in an Evolving World (ReNEW). This creates  the opportunity to work with Aarhus University, where the research dissemination platform nordics.info, which runs the Lexicon, is based. 
If you would like to find out more about the New Nordic Lexicon or associated work, or if you are a researcher at the University of Iceland who would like to disseminate your research to a broader audience,  please get in touch with Nicola Witcombe (Editor) at nwitcombe@cas.au.dk.

The university hub Reimagining Norden in an Evolving World (ReNEW), is supported by NordForsk, and the New Nordic Lexicon is supported by the A.P. Moller Foundation (A.P. Møller og Hustry Chastine Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond til almene Formaal).