New ocean research centre in Copenhagen

A new ocean research centre at the University of Copenhagen aims to improve how we understand the interaction between climate and ecosystems with a special focus on Iceland. The new centre will work in close collaboration with Icelandic authorities and has received grants from the Carlsberg Foundation, the Icelandic state and the Icelandic research centre Rannís. The centre will be led by Professor Katherine Richardson from the GLOBE Institute, and the grants will mostly be used to recruit talented young researchers who can help strengthen the collaboration between the Danish and Icelandic researchers associated with the new centre.

The centre will investigate the interaction between climate, ecosystem and society, including culture, based on the changes in the North Atlantic and Iceland − both in historical time and further back in geological time. While the research activities will focus on Iceland and the ocean around it, the findings will be useful for the North Atlantic as a whole. Professor Katherine Richardson says: “Icelandic society has always been very dependent on ocean resources, which are currently undergoing rapid change due to climate changes. Therefore, Iceland is quite a unique laboratory which makes it possible to map both historical and contemporary interactions between humans and the climate.”

The research centre is called “Queen Margrethe’s and Vigdís Finnbogadóttir’s Interdisciplinary Research Center on Ocean, Climate and Society” because it is introduced as a joint birthday gift to the Danish Queen Margrethe and former Icelandic President Vigdís Finnbogadóttir.

Source: https://globe.ku.dk/news/2020/danish-and-icelandic-ocean-research-center-opens-at-ucph/