UI students create new knowledge

Jón Atli Benediktsson, Rector of the University of Iceland, sent the following message to University staff and students today (11 February 2022):

"Dear students and colleagues,

The University of Iceland prepares its students to tackle diverse challenges in our society and ever-changing industries, leading to innovation in a broad sense. At UI, it is not just experienced researchers who discover innovations, because our students also create new knowledge that can make a significant impact. These innovations often emerge from partnerships between the University and businesses or when researchers from different disciplines join forces. In a perfect illustration of this, it was absolutely wonderful to see three UI students receive the President of Iceland's Innovation Award at Bessastaðir yesterday.

Margrét Vala Þórisdóttir and Signý Kristín Sigurjónsdóttir, who both have BS degrees in applied mathematics from the University of Iceland, and Valgerður Jónsdóttir, who has a BS in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Iceland, won the award for their project "Better intensive care with data display software". They completed the project for the ICU at Landspítali University Hospital under the supervision of UI professors Martin Ingi Sigurðsson, Rögnvaldur Jóhann Sæmundsson and Tómas Philip Rúnarsson.

The data display software makes it possible to systematically monitor the progression of diverse, complex and costly intensive treatments, as well as identifying ways to improve the quality of care, designing interventions, and reforming working procedures.

This is an excellent example of UI students who have taken on an extremely complex and pressing challenge and come up with an effective solution. The President's Innovation Award is presented to students who have achieved outstanding success in a project that won a grant from the Student Innovation Fund last year. It is testament to the strength of our students that four of the six projects nominated for this year's Innovation Award were completed by UI students.

It is also noteworthy that yesterday's winners were three young women, especially for the fact that they all studied traditionally male-dominated subjects. Fortunately, we are now seeing women break down barriers and claiming their place in all subjects, to the benefit of our entire society. Equality and diversity are cornerstones in everything we do, not just at the University of Iceland but in all areas of society. The whole of next week will be devoted to these two principles with the Equality Days programme. Due to public health restrictions, most of the events will be online. The programme has been designed to spark vital discussions about equality in a broad sense and raise awareness of these issues within the University and in wider society. I encourage you all to get involved, dear students and colleagues.

Public health restrictions will be further relaxed from midnight. Gatherings at the University of Iceland will be limited to 200 people, an increase from 50, and quarantine will no longer be required. Let's continue to take care, despite the easing of restrictions.

One of the goals of our new strategy, UI26, is to combat misinformation by disseminating scientific facts, thereby increasing confidence in the importance of science for our communities, environment and ecosystems.

The UI Web of Science has been a vital part of the University's mission to share information relevant to a wide range of current issues. It has played an absolutely essential social role by shedding light on various aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, on viruses in general and the importance of vaccines. Questions and answers related to the pandemic were unsurprisingly among the most popular last year, alongside answers about volcanic activity and the eruption at Geldingadalir.

The impact of the Web of Science can be seen particularly clearly by the rising popularity of the website. Last year it was visited over three million times, which is a new record.

Dear students and colleagues. Although the days are growing brighter, last weekend was a dark one. We received the tragic news that a plane had crashed into Lake Þingvallavatn with four people on board, including a first-year student from the University of Iceland. Our thoughts are with the families, friends and fellow students of those who lost their lives.

Jón Atli Benediktsson, Rector"