Innovation

To know more today than yesterday – to create new knowledge – is the primary mission of universities worldwide. Scientists at Reykjavik University (RU), along with students and partners, create new knowledge every day.

In many fields, RU’s research has influenced established knowledge and policymaking on a global scale. Here are just a few examples:

Sustainability

Research Centre for Sustainable Development
The Research Centre for Sustainable Development oversees research and project development related to sustainability. Its goal is to manage research and teaching on sustainable development, with a focus on the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Renewable Energy Research
The Iceland School of Energy (ISE) is housed at RU. For years, RU has emphasised research and education in sustainable energy development through the Iceland School of Energy within the engineering faculty.

Students gain expertise in harnessing geothermal, hydro, and wind energy – the forces that drive Icelandic society and are sources of research, ensuring sustainable energy resources for the future. The school’s mission is to produce specialists in this field for the global community, where skills in research, design, and management of systems for sustainable energy will be among the most sought-after attributes in the workforce of the future.

Dr. Juliet Newson, Director of the Iceland School of Energy, brought extensive expertise from her prior roles in geothermal projects, including geothermal surface mapping, geological modelling, and resource assessment. She shares this knowledge with students, enabling them to specialise in the field. Dr. Newson has gained international recognition for her contributions to discussions on the transition to sustainable energy and the role of universities in advancing this effort effectively.

New Methods in Plastic Recycling
Reykjavik University and Pure North Recycling, a recycling company in Hveragerði, are collaborating on recycling plastics and other materials in Iceland. The goal is to strengthen Iceland’s circular economy by focusing on plastics and other recyclables, developing new methods for recycling and reusing plastics, increasing automation in processing, collecting materials for recycling, and promoting education. This partnership is part of the national initiative Þjóðþrif and is conducted within RU’s Research Centre for Sustainable Development.

In the coming years, RU experts and students will conduct research projects, including lifecycle analyses of plastics and examining the flow of plastics in and out of Iceland. Additional studies will assess the properties of recycled plastics and their potential for product development and future applications. Public education efforts will aim to highlight the value of recycled plastics and make recycling and reuse methods more accessible to individuals, educational institutions, and businesses.

Energy Transition in Transportation

Dr. Guðrún Arnbjörg Sævarsdóttir is among the leading researchers focusing on sustainable energy sources. The Minister for the Environment appointed her as the chair of a committee tasked with preparing the first steps toward sustainable energy sources by 2050.

Research on Sustainability and Innovation

RU adheres to the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), emphasising social responsibility. Within the business school, research is conducted on sustainability and innovation environments, particularly in developing countries.

International Collaboration

Reykjavik University (RU) collaborates with the Icelandic Energy Cluster (Orkuklasinn), GRP ehf., and Cornell University in New York in the fields of sustainability, energy, innovation, and climate issues. The aim of this collaboration is to create new opportunities in innovation, knowledge transfer, sustainability, green energy solutions, and value creation for Icelandic society.

Among the projects included in this partnership are assessments of Iceland’s energy, agricultural, and fisheries systems; analysis of opportunities for green technology innovation in Iceland; the development of courses on green energy and sustainability focusing on Iceland’s unique attributes; and many other significant initiatives. The collaborative projects are hosted by the Icelandic Energy Cluster, with a dedicated project management team under the leadership of Reykjavik University.

Prevention and Enhancing Quality of Life

Research and Analysis
Positive effects of light therapy on depression in cancer patients, raising awareness about the impacts of concussions, and a comprehensive assessment of mental health and the effects of trauma are among the many areas being researched by scientists at RU. The aim is to improve people's lives.

Reducing Burnout Risk
Examining the interplay between mental health, social support, stress, and trauma
Researchers in RU’s psychology department, led by Bryndís Björk Ásgeirsdóttir, Dean of RU’s School of Social Sciences, have launched a comprehensive longitudinal study on the mental health of men and women in Iceland. The focus is on the interplay between mental health, life satisfaction, social support, stress, and trauma.

Specially trained researchers randomly contact individuals from Iceland’s national registry to conduct interviews with detailed questions covering various aspects of their lives. The goal of the study is to gain a holistic understanding of Icelanders' mental health and determine how social support can best help individuals during stressful situations and crises. The President of Iceland, Dr. Guðni Th. Jóhannesson is the patron of this research.

Facilitating Courtroom Experiences for Victims of Sexual Violence
RU’s psychology department has initiated a study on the use of virtual reality courtrooms for victims of sexual violence. The purpose of the research is to assess whether virtual reality can help educate victims about court procedures and reduce associated distress.

Participants will be invited to try the virtual reality environment, and their responses will be evaluated using questionnaires, interviews, and biological measurements. The study is led by Dr. Rannveig S. Sigurvinsdóttir, a lecturer in RU’s psychology department.

Reducing Depression and Fatigue in Cancer Patients
Dr. Heiðdís B. Valdimarsdóttir, a professor in RU’s psychology department, has studied the effects of light therapy on cancer patients. Her research has shown that such treatment reduces depression and fatigue in this group, where these symptoms are often persistent.

It is well known that light therapy can positively impact individuals suffering from seasonal affective disorder by resetting the body’s internal clock. Dr. Heiðdís’s research demonstrated that similar effects could be achieved for cancer patients. With over 30 years of experience in health psychology, Dr. Heiðdís has explored the effects of cancer on patients’ quality of life and that of their families.

Understanding the Effects of Head Injuries and Concussions
Researchers from RU’s psychology and sports science departments, led by Dr. Hafrún Kristjánsdóttir, Dean of the School of Sports Science, and Professor María Kristín Jónsdóttir from the psychology department, are investigating the consequences of head injuries leading to concussions. This topic has been under-researched until recently, but emerging evidence suggests that long-term health issues faced by individuals, particularly women in this study, later in life may be linked to concussions. Examples of such consequences include depression, thyroid dysfunction, and other hormonal imbalances.

Preliminary findings indicate that the long-term effects of concussions are serious, and knowledge of the consequences of head injuries is severely lacking within both the sports and healthcare sectors.

Reducing Substance Abuse Among Youth
The Research and Analysis Centre focuses on studies aimed at improving young people’s well-being. One of its most impactful initiatives is the Youth in Iceland survey, which annually examines the well-being, behaviour, and substance use patterns of young people.

These studies gave rise to the so-called Icelandic Model, which encourages whole-community involvement in creating conditions for children that prevent substance use and other undesirable behaviours. The Icelandic Model has gained widespread international attention due to its proven effectiveness. Statistics show that teenage drinking, which was a widespread problem across the country when the research began in 1999, has now dropped to a historic low. Additionally, the importance of spending quality time with parents and participating in organized extracurricular activities has been substantiated.

The Icelandic Model is now implemented in municipalities in the Netherlands, Ireland, Spain, Chile, Lithuania, Australia, and Vermont, USA.

Language Technology

The future of the Icelandic language in the digital jungle partly lies in the hands of scientists and students at Reykjavik University (RU).

Several years ago, deliberate efforts began to teach the Icelandic language to the digital world. With the advent of smart devices controlled almost entirely by spoken and written language, it became evident that Iceland, as a small linguistic area, was at significant risk of being overshadowed by dominant languages. However, a conscious decision was made to establish Icelandic as a fully functional language on the internet, and this journey is well underway.

This extensive and complex project of digitising the Icelandic language formally began in 2017, when the Icelandic government launched a five-year language technology initiative aimed at enabling computers to understand and process Icelandic. Part of this effort has involved scientists and students at RU in collaboration with the University of Iceland (HÍ), where a master’s program in language technology is offered within RU’s School of Engineering. RU’s Language and Speech Technology Lab, under the RU Center for Artificial Intelligence, oversees the project for the university.

The project spans various fields, including computer science, artificial intelligence, engineering, and project management – all areas where RU has established a strong foundation. It is, therefore, in an ideal position to combine expertise, experience, and ambition.

RU’s role in this ambitious language technology initiative is fourfold:

• Speech recognition: Converting speech into text.
• Text-to-speech synthesis: Converting text into speech.
• Machine translation: Translating between Icelandic and other languages.
• Text summarisation: Using artificial intelligence to condense long texts into shorter ones.

If successful, the team’s work could help secure the future of the Icelandic language and serve as a beacon for other small linguistic communities seeking to preserve their languages.

Dr. Hrafn Loftsson, Associate Professor in RU’s School of Computer Science, and Dr. Jón Guðnason, Associate Professor in RU’s School of Engineering, are among the leading scientists working to enable computers and devices to understand Icelandic. They spearheaded the establishment of the collaborative group SÍM (Collaboration on Icelandic Language Technology), which brings together universities, institutions, companies, and organisations to develop Icelandic language technology.

Dr. Hrafn has focused on developing software to analyse Icelandic. His doctoral project, IceNLP, completed between 2004 and 2007, is software used to analyse Icelandic text. Individual components of this software have since been further developed, including by students in RU and HÍ’s language technology programs.

Dr. Jón Guðnason conducts research in speech signal processing and designs methods to assess vocal health and cognitive stress through the voice. He earned his PhD in speech signal processing from Imperial College London in 2007, where he developed new algorithms to time the vibrations of vocal cords for voice identification.

Dr. Eydís Huld Magnúsdóttir, in her doctoral research at RU’s School of Engineering, analysed cognitive workload by studying physiological data from the voice and cardiovascular system. She classified this information into three categories using artificial intelligence, helping to identify individuals under excessive stress. Her methods were used to detect over- or under-stressed air traffic controllers, whose jobs demand peak performance at all times.

Dr. Eydís posed questions such as: Is it possible to measure when individuals reach stress thresholds that impair their ability to perform their duties responsibly? And can potential mistakes caused by stress be prevented? Using her model, stress can be detected before it exceeds limits, allowing interventions to prevent costly errors.

Learn more about the project’s progress:

• Language Technology Center
• Almannarómur

Artificial Intelligence

Within RU’s Center for Artificial Intelligence (Cadia), research in AI spans multiple disciplines, including the Schools of:

• Engineering
• Psychology
• Business
• Industrial and Technical Sciences

The Icelandic Institute for Intelligent Machines (IIIM) is also based at RU.

Monitoring Air Traffic Controllers’ Workload
Several AI-focused projects have emerged at RU, including a study by Dr. Kamilla Rúnar Jóhannsdóttir, Dean of RU’s School of Psychology, and Dr. Jón Guðnason, Associate Professor at RU’s School of Engineering. Their research used AI to analyse air traffic controllers’ workload based on vocal data.

Using a model developed by Dr. Eydís Huld Magnúsdóttir, physiological signals can be monitored in real-time to track workload. This innovation is designed for professions where mistakes are costly, such as air traffic control and aviation.

3D Printing of Organs

New opportunities have arisen from the use of 3D-printed organs in preparing surgeries and conducting research and testing. RU’s Health Tech Centre, in collaboration with Landspítali University Hospital (LSH), has installed a 3D printer capable of creating highly precise models with a margin of error of less than 0.1 millimetres.

So far, 15 surgeries annually have benefited from 3D-printed organs, enhancing safety and preparation. With the new printer, RU and its partners aim to advance even further in this field.

For more information:
Icelandic Center for Advanced Additive Manufacturing (ICAAM)