GRÓ·FTP moves
After over 20 eventful years in downtown Reykjavik, GRÓ·FTP and its host institution, the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute (MFRI), have officially moved to a new office at Fornubúðir 5 in Hafnarfjördur, a port town on the southwest coast of Iceland, about 10 km south of Reykjavík.
The MFRI, in which the FTP has been hosted since it was founded in 1998, decided several months ago to move its headquarters to a new building, custom built to accommodate its work. This was an ambitious undertaking, and the results are stunning.
Last Friday, there was a celebration in honor of the official move to our new home. As part of this celebration, MFRI’s research vessels, Árni Friðriksson and Bjarni Sæmundsson, sailed from Reykjavik to Hafnarfjörður with MFRI staff.
We were joined on this journey by the President of Iceland, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson and the Minister for Fisheries and Agriculture, Kristján Þór Júlíusson. The research vessels docked on the new pier directly outside the new MFRI building and were welcomed with music and speeches.
Tours of the new facilities were given to invited guests, which included representatives from the state and municipal governments, MFRI partner organisations, the team behind the design and construction of the new building, and several other distinguished guests.
The FTP staff is now settling into its new offices and environment. We feel sure that future FTP fellows will enjoy this new working space, complete with views of the Hafnarfjörður harbor, and easy transit access to the capital area.