MARBIO Master's Program Visit

From the 22nd to 26th of September, students from the MARBIO Master’s program visited Iceland. MARBIO is a collaborative Master degree between Hólar University, Nord University in Bodø and the University of Gothenburg (MARBIO information here). The program begins with a nine-week introductory course, with three weeks organized by each university and one week dedicated to on-site visits.

This year the Iceland week brought an enthusiastic and motivated group of 18 students. We spent 2 days at Hólar introducing research in the aquaculture and fish biology department and got a lecture from Ingibjörg Sigurðardóttir about tourism in Iceland. We visited Amber Monroe at her aquaponics station in Hófsós (Ísponica ehf). Later in the week, the students got to spent some time on board the trawler Drangey SK-1, guided by FISK technical manager Jón Ingi Sigurðsson, and had the chance to talk with the captain. The students enjoyed an engaging tour through the Herring Era Museum in Siglufjörður with Daníel Pétur Daníelsson and, thanks to unusually warm autumn weather, were able to sit outside afterwards to chat and have coffee together. In Dalvík, they visited the Samherji whitefish processing plant.

As the overall theme of the course was the use of natural resources in Iceland, the group also explored the Blönduvirkjun and Kröfluvirkjun power stations, where Landsvirkjun staff —Guðmundur Ögmundsson and Hildur Vésteinsdóttir — provided informative and entertaining tours. Another highlight, frequently mentioned in the students’ feedback, was the visit to Mýsköpun, where Júlia welcomed them with tastings of innovative products such as a spirulina cocktail and skútaís.

We wrapped up the week with a visit to one of our field sites and discussed some possibilities of research projects in the department.

It was a week full of learning, discussion and first-hand experience of how Iceland uses and manages its rich natural resources, accompanied by unexpectedly pleasant autumn weather that made the visits even more memorable.