University of Iceland – UoI

University of Iceland – UoI (www.hi.is/en), established in 1911, offers nearly four hundred undergraduate and graduate degree programmes. The university is organised into five academic schools, and 25 faculties. Postgraduate studies are offered by all faculties, most of them research-based although not exclusively. There are also several multidisciplinary master’s programmes available in the fields of health and environmental sciences, some of them in cooperation with other European universities.
Many of the University’s research projects revolve around sustainable energy, effective energy use and reduction of harmful emissions.The core team for the VALUMICS project are in the Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science at the School of Engineering and Natural Sciences. Two research groups within the faculty are involved, i) the Applied Supply Chain Systems (ASCS) research group, and ii) the Applied System Analysis and System Dynamics (ASASD) Research Group.

The main research focus at ASCS is on interdisciplinary applied science

The main research focus at ASCS is on interdisciplinary applied science in the area of supply chain management for enhanced safety, quality and transparency (traceability) of perishable products. The priority is on the integration of process engineering, computer science, and natural sciences with strong emphasis on project management. Key research areas are aimed at solutions to enhance improved yields and sustainable value from production and transport processes, minimize waste, efficient use of energy, greening of processes and environmental impact assessments (e.g. carbon footprint, LCA). Implementation of new technologies in the field and the associated risk assessments are seen as tools to facilitate good market potential. The research group is involved in research projects that mostly are funded by external research grants, e.g. national, Nordic and European Framework Programs. The group has established a strong network of collaborators with industries, national and European industry associations, NGOs, and international organisations (FAO) in various projects and taken part in establishing dynamic spin-off entrepreneur companies.

UoI is the coordination leader of the consortium and overall coordination

UoI is the coordination leader of the consortium and overall coordination role is filled by Dr Sigurdur Bogason. UoI will lead WP1 and WP2, and contribute to work in all other WPs. In particular, UoI will contribute to tasks in WP4 on LCA with a focus on the aquaculture supply chain and consumer and stakeholder focus group activities in WP6. Professor Harald Sverdrup will lead the dynamic modelling development that frames the conceptual/internal operational mechanism for the VALUMICS project and he will be assisted by Dr. Anna Hulda Olafsdottir in leading the group model building sessions in the first project year as part of WP2. The project management team in WP1 will collaborate with the WP2 team and assist in organising all the workshops over the next 3 years in collaboration with other partners under the different operational WPs.

Guðrún Ólafsdóttir

Guðrún Ólafsdóttir will take on the role to coordinate the compilation of inputs from project partners to formulate the initial research questions and themes and organise the workshops in line with the project meetings and facilitate collaboration with WP9 for stakeholders’ involvement.

The UoI Team

Dr. Sigurdur G. Bogason

(male) is the VALUMICS project coordinator. He has a Ph.D. in Food Science and Technology from Oregon State University (1984), with additional qualifications in nutrition and statistics. He has worked more than 30 years in the food and aquaculture industry, in fish factories, as fisherman, food technology expert, scientist and company manager. His extensive experience in managing international collaborative RTD projects in academia, and also new product development projects within the food industry will benefit this project. Sigurdur has lead numerous successful food product development projects, based on customer requirements in the food and aquaculture sector. In recent years he has focused more the larger perspective of food supply chain systems, and the attached values incorporated in the information attached to particular products and processes. Values like e.g. sustainable sourcing, animal welfare, labeling schemes, food chain transparency and information needed to assure consumers about the integrity of the food supply systems, and their right to know and understand the product, its origin, its processing history, its logistics, and why their purchasing will benefit them as consumers, and the environment etc. In his roles as research director and executive manager for large European multinational seafood companies, working with multidisciplinary teams with different ethnic backgrounds he has gained the critical project management aptitude required for managing complex projects. He was the leader of the field trials for new technologies in perishable chilled foods supply chains in the FP6 large integrated project Chill-on (FP6-016333-2). He coordinated the EC funded research projects; BENEFISH (FP6-44118) and the COOP-SME Craft project CODLIGHT-TECH (FP6-032859), and leader of dissemination WP in the FP7-KBBE Large-scale project COPEWELL (n° 265957). Sigurdur was Scientific Officer at the European Commission (DG FISH) for four years (2000-2004)

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Dr. Gudrún Olafsdóttir

(female) is a research scientist at ASCS. She has MS from University of Wisconsin USA (1985) and PhD in Food Science from University of Iceland (2005). She was a project leader at the Icelandic Fisheries Laboratories (1989-2006) followed by two years as a private consultant for the Icelandic Centre of Research and for food industry, prior to joining ASCS in 2009. Research expertise includes quality evaluation of fish and fish products using (bio- ) chemical, physical, sensory and microbial methods with a focus on application of rapid methods i.e. the application of sensor technologies (electronic nose), qPCR, and smart labels (TTI´s) for traceability, quality and safety monitoring in food industry. Recent research and teaching in an international master program (www.aqfood.org) are focused on supply chain management and assessment of sustainable food production and environmental impacts using life cycle assessment. Gudrún has participated in various EU funded projects (i.e. SUCCESS (H2020–635188), SENSE (FP7-288974), CHILL-ON (FP6-016333-2), SEAFOODPLUS (FP6), MUSTEC (FP5), QIM-IT (FP5), TraceFish (FP5), etc.). She has taken on responsibilities in the past as coordinator in EU, Nordic and national funded projects and more recently as WP leader and task leader in EU projects. She has served as expert for Icelandic and Danish research programme committees and the European Commission and published over 40 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals, conference proceedings and chapters in scientific books.

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Ingunn Gudbrandsdottir

(female)

Nina M. Saviolidis

(female) is a PhD candidate at the School of Business at the University of Iceland. Her research interests include sustainability indicators, pro-environmental behaviour, organizational change and environmental policy-making.

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