News

On Thurdsay 12th May, Andi Joko Nugroho will defend his work for the degree of Master of Science.  The thesis is entitled: „Optimization of Electrical Power Production from High Temperature Geothermal Fields with respect to Silica Scaling Problems“.  The defence will take place in room 158 in VRII and starts at 14.00.  The Supervisors on the project are Halldór Pálsson & Magnus Thor from the University of Iceland and the external examiner is Páll Valdimarsson from the University of Iceland.

On Wednesday 11th May, Alejandro Rodriguez Badilla will defend his work for degree of Master of Science.  The thesis is entitled: "Water-rock interaction of silicic rocks". The defence will take place in room A131 in Askja and starts at 15.00.  The supervisor is Andri Stefánsson from the University of Iceland and the external examiner is Bergur Sigfússon from Reykjavík Energy.

The Vice-Rector of UNU, Prof. Kazuhiko Takeuchi, was present at the UNU-GTP opening ceremony on Monday the 2nd of May. The purpose of Prof. Takeuchi´s visit to Iceland was to visit the UNU Icelandic Training Programmes: UNU-Geothermal Training programme (UNU-GTP), UNU-Fisheries Training Programme (UNU-FTP) and UNU-Land Restoration Training Programme (UNU-LRT); as well as the Gender Equality Studies and Training programme (GEST) which aims at becoming a UNU training programme in the near future.

The 33rd annual session of the UNU-GTP opened on Monday 2nd of May.   The Vice Rector of UNU, Prof. Takeuchi was an honourary guest at the opening. The opening ceremony was lead by the Director of the UNU-GTP, Dr. Ingvar B. Fridleifsson, and included a speech by the invited speaker, the Permanent Secretary of State,  Dr. Einar Gunnarsson. After the ceremony the UNU Vice Rector gave a presentation on the work of the United Nations University. This was followed by presentations about the UNU-GTP, the UNU Fisheries Training Programme (UNU-FTP), and the UNU Land Restoration Training Programme (UNU-LRT).

Statistics at the National Energy Authority - Orkustofnun (NEA) show that UNU-GTP reports account for 15 out of the 30 most visited sub pages (URLs) at NEA during the first days of April. The most visited UNU-GTP report during this period (visited 426 times in 5 days) is an article on pipeline design written by José Luis Henríquez Miranda and Luis Alonso Aguirre López for the Millennium Short Course held in El Salvador in the January 2011.

At 8:30 PM on Saturday 26th March 2011, lights will switch off around the globe for Earth Hour and people will commit to actions that go beyond the hour. With Earth Hour almost upon us, our thoughts are with the people of Japan during this incredibly challenging and sad time for their country.