The oceans are fundamental ecosystems on the planet and source the most important resources for Icelands economy. The University of Iceland (UI) and the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute (MFRI) collaborate to offer a multidisciplinary two-year Master of Science (MS) program on aquatic biology and fisheries, emphasizing freshwater and marine ecology and fisheries in sub-Arctic environments. The program will be instigated in 2020 as a specialization within MS in Biology.

Students can take projects at the Institute of Biology, the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute and also at other affiliated institutions and research centers. Students are admitted based on merit (see University of Iceland webpage) and will find a project and supervisor in the first year of study.

Picture of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) from the University of Iceland collections.

The Marine and Freshwater Research Institute has many research areas, including but exclusive to Fish tagging, Lumpfish research, Oceanography, Seabed mapping, Seal research and Whale Research.

The Institute of biology studies many aspects of marine and aquatic biology, spanning questions of ecology and evolution, to toxicology and behavioral biology.

See for instance a list of previous MS projects in the fields of marine-,  aquatic- and fish biology.

Some examples of the research topics and potential supervisors are listed below.

• What is the population structure and diversity of fisheries stocks? Einar Arnason, Steve Campana, Gudrun Marteinsdottir, Snæbjörn Pálsson
• How do fishing stocks respond to fishing and climate change? Einar Arnason, Steve Campana, Gudrun Marteinsdottir
• How did freshwater amphipods survive million years under the glaciers? Snæbjörn Pálsson
• How do cod stocks evolve and change over the last century? Einar Arnason, Steve Campana
• Which genes and environments explain the diversity of Arctic charr? Sigurdur S. Snorrason, Arnar Pálsson, Zophonías O. Jónsson
• How related are different populations of Arctic charr and Brown trout in Iceland? Sigurdur S. Snorrason, Arnar Pálsson, Zophonías O. Jónsson
• What explains the diversity and distribution of whelk in subartic waters?  Snæbjörn Pálsson, Zophonías O. Jónsson

• What influences changes in the biota of freshwater streams? Gísli Már Gíslason

• What are the migration dynamics of birds in the Arctic? Gunnar Þór Hallgrímsson.
• Which microbes live in the intertidal? Eva Benediktsdottir