Universität Innsbruck Awards Honorary Senatorship to Professor Jón Atli Benediktsson

Professor Jón Atli Benediktsson, former Rector of the University of Iceland, was awarded the title of Honorary Senator on 17 October 2025 at the Universität Innsbruck, during the “Dies Academicus” celebration. The distinction recognises his outstanding contributions to academic cooperation and his strong commitment to the Aurora European Universities Alliance.

Beyond his remarkable academic career, Professor Jón Atli Benediktsson has been a leading voice in shaping the European Higher Education Area. As President of the Aurora Network (2020–2024), he played a pivotal role in defining the alliance’s strategic direction. During his presidency, Universität Innsbruck joined the Aurora Alliance, greatly enhancing its European and international visibility.

Born in Reykjavik in 1960, Professor Jón Atli Benediktsson earned his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University (USA) in 1990. He began his career at the University of Iceland in 1991 and became a full Professor in 1996. From 2009 until he was appointed Rector in 2015, he served as Pro-Rector for Science and Academic Affairs.

One of Iceland’s most productive researchers, Jón Atli, has published over 400 scientific papers in the fields of remote sensing, image analysis, pattern recognition, machine learning, and biomedical signal processing. He is a Fellow of the IEEE (since 2004) and SPIE (since 2013) and has received numerous awards, including the IEEE Millennium Medal and the Highest Impact Paper Award of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society.

Within Aurora, Jón Atli has been a driving force behind the creation of joint European teaching and study programs, collaborative research initiatives, and higher education policy positions. Under his leadership, the University of Iceland took on the consortium leadership of “Aurora 2030,” funded by the European Commission with approximately €15 million, and led the Horizon Europe project “Aurora Research & Innovation.”

A memorable moment in his collaboration with Universität Innsbruck was his participation in the Aurora Spring Biannual 2022, held in Innsbruck from 10–12 May 2022. Together with the then Rector of Innsbruck, he opened the event that brought together over 200 participants from across Europe to shape the future of the alliance.

During his presidency, he also championed Aurora’s solidarity with Ukraine, notably with V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. He played a central role in a fundraising campaign that raised €51,000 to support the continuation of the university’s operations during the war and in establishing the Aurora Karazin University Peace Hub - a platform for peace education and conflict transformation.

This collaboration culminated in the Aurora International Peace Conference, hosted by Universität Innsbruck in February 2025. The high-level event gathered international experts from academia, politics, and civil society to advance dialogue on peacebuilding and further strengthen Innsbruck’s international profile.

Jón Atli Benediktsson's acceptance speech at the "Dies Academicus" celebration.