Fréttir

It's thesis defense season again at the University Centre of the Westfjords. The first defense starts on Wednesday 17th of April. During this defense season 9 students will defend their theses in the coming weeks with many interesting topics. The defenses are open to the public and people are also invited to join through zoom. The links can be found in the table below.

Recently, students taking the “Migration and Population Development” course at UW got the chance to have a meeting with Jón Páll, the mayor of Bolungarvík. Bolungarvík is a coastal town, 15 minutes away from Ísafjörður. They were shown around the municipality building and got to peek into the office of the Natural Science Institute of the Westfjords, Blámi, and the Research Centre of the University of Iceland housed in the same building. After the tour, they had an interesting talk in the mayor's office about the town’s population development and investments, and got an informative presentation. Jón Páll introduced them to a project called “Bolungarvík 1000+” which aimed to increase the population of Bolungarvík from 950 inhabitants to over 1000. It was a response to pressure that was put on small communities with under 1000 inhabitants to merge. Jón Páll said that Bolungarvík is a very independent town, and they didn’t consider the option to merge with another municipality and decided instead to increase the population to over 1000 people. They were successful and on April 13th 2023 the population reached 1000 inhabitants. He said they did this by investing and putting effort into three big pillars.

Nemendur Háskólaseturs Vestfjarða heimsóttu nýlega Jón Pál bæjarstjóra í Bolungarvík sem hluti af námskeiðinu “Búferlaflutningar og íbúaþróun”. Nemendurnir fengu að skoða sig um á bæjarskrifstofunni og kíktu yfir á Náttúrustofu Vestfjarða, Bláma og Rannsóknarsetur Háskóla Íslands í sömu byggingu. Eftir það var förinni heitið á skrifstofu bæjarstjórans og áttu þau áhugavert samtal við Jón og fengu einnig kynningu frá honum um íbúaþróun og skipulag Bolungarvíkur. Hann kynnti þeim fyrir átaki sem kallast “Bolungarvík 1000+” sem snýr að því að fjölga íbúum Bolungarvíkur úr 950 í 1000. Átakið varð til vegna áforma um að sameina bæjarfélög sem væru með færri íbúa en 1000. Jón Páll sagði að Bolungarvík væri sjálfstætt bæjarfélag og tók það í raun ekki til greina, eina leiðin væri að hækka íbúafjöldann. Markmiðið náðist þann 13. apríl 2023 og telur hann að rekja megi árangurinn til þess að bæjarfélagið fjárfesti í þrjár megin stoðir.

Leah Shamlian is an UW alum who recently won the Tom McKnight & Joan Clemons Paper Award for her master’s thesis. The award was presented at the annual Association for Pacific Coast Geographers Conference, and it is given to outstanding papers. The committee, which is made up of 5 to 7 faculty from a variety of universities and colleges, looks for an overall knowledge of the topic presented, the promise shown when the student presents, and their response to questions. The award was created by Tom McKnight and Joan Clomens.

Leah Shamlian er fyrrverandi nemi hjá Háskólasetri sem nýlega hlaut verðlaun fyrir meistararitgerðina sína. Verðlaunin heita Tom McKnight & Joan Clemons Paper Award og voru veitt á árlegri ráðstefnu samtaka landfræðinga á Kyrrahafsströnd (Association for Pacific Coast Geographers). Verðlaunin eru veitt fyrir framúrskarandi meistararitgerðir en tekið er mið af efninu sem er kynnt, hvernig nemandi stendur sig í kynningunni og hvernig þau svara spurningum. Dómnefndin er skipuð af 5-7 deildarmeðlimum frá ýmsum háskólum og verðlaunin voru stofnuð af þeim Tom McKnight og Joan Clemons.

Emma Dexter, a UW student in the Coastal Communities and Regional Development master’s program at UW, is currently conducting a nationwide survey in Iceland as a part of her master’s project. The survey measures place attachment, climate change awareness, and risk perception for people living in Iceland. The findings will help inform sustainable development strategies on a local and national scale and suggest how individuals’ perceptions might be better integrated into these plans.

Emma Dexter, meistaranemi hjá Háskólasetri Vestfjarða í sjávarbyggðafræði, stendur nú fyrir könnun á landsvísu sem hluti af meistaraverkefninu sínu. Könnunin mælir staðartengsl, vitund á loftslagsbreytingum og áhættuskynjun hjá fólki sem býr á Íslandi. Niðurstöðurnar munu nýtast við gerð sjálfbærar þróunaraðferða, bæði staðbundnar og á landsvísu, og varpa ljósi á hvernig skynjun einstaklinga gæti verið betur samþætt í þessar áætlanir.

UW has a visitor this week from a researcher conducting field work in Ísafjörður for his master’s thesis. Matei Filip Popescu is a 26-year-old master’s student in the Environment and Natural Resources program at the University of Iceland. He has been staying at UW, where he uses the remote working office to conduct interviews with locals. His thesis adviser is Dr. David Cook, who is an instructor at UW and adjunct lecturer at the University of Iceland. It is through his connection to UW that Matei came here to us. His master’s thesis is on the social acceptance of green ammonia for maritime uses in Ísafjörður. He is conducting interviews with local institutions, businesses, and members of the community to understand and consider a broad spectrum of opinions, worries, or excitements about the idea of developing a green ammonia hub in Ísafjörður for maritime use.

Háskólasetur Vestfjarða fékk heimsókn frá ungum rannsakanda sem skoðar umhverfisvæna ammoníakframleiðslu á Ísafirði. Matei Filip Popescu er 26 ára meistaranemi við Háskóla Íslands í umhverfis og auðlindafræði. Hann hefur dvalið á Ísafirði í eina viku og hefur nýtt sér fjarvinnuaðstöðu Háskólaseturs Vestfjarða við vinnu sína á rannsókninni, m.a. til að taka viðtöl við íbúa á svæðinu. Leiðbeinandinn hans er Dr. David Cook, stundakennari við Háskólasetur Vestfjarða og aðjúnkt við Háskóla Íslands. Það var í gegnum þessi tengsl David Cook við Háskólasetur að Matei kom til okkar.