A seminar held by the Finnish Institute of International Affairs where I gave a presentation on Iceland's European policy, trying to explain why the Icelandic political elite is so reluctant to take part in the European integration. The presentation was called 'Are Icelanders not good Europeans? The reluctance of the Icelandic political elite to take part in the European project'.

The University of Iceland's annual Conference in Social Sciences was held on 31 October. Tómas Joensen and I gave a lecture on 'Iceland's External Affairs from the Reformation to the end of the Napoleonic era'. This is the third article in a research project we have been working on, examining Iceland's foreign relations throughout its history.

The Centre for Arctic Policy Studies at the University of Iceland held its second annual Trans-Arctic Agenda seminar on October 28-29. The main themes were governance, cooperation and sustainability in the Arctic. The participation of top academics and government officials made the seminar a very successful event. Among the speakers was Dr. Asle Toje, Research Director from the Norwegian Nobel Institute (on picture).

Tómas Joensen and I will give a presentation about Iceland's External Affairs at a Social Science Conference at the University of Iceland Friday 31 October

I gave a short lecture on the importance of economic, political and societal shelter for small states at the seminar 'New Emerging Small States in Europe? The Case of Catalonia co-sponsored by the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (DIPLOCAT) and the Centre for Small States Studies at the University of Iceland, 20 October 2014.

Lecture at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs in Helsinki on Friday.

Grein í Fréttablaðið um það hverju sjálfstætt Skotland hefði breytt fyrir Ísland og önnur Norðurlönd sem ég skrifaði ásamt samkennara mínum Alyson Bailes .

I recently attended a Chevening award cerimony at the British Embassy in Reykjavik -  Hafsteinn Hauksson received a grant to study at the London School of Economics and Political Science.  In 1992, I also had the privilege to work on my PhD thesis on small states in the EU at the University of Essex thanks to this particular grant.  It made all the difference and paid for my fees throughout my studies.

The Centre for Small State Studies at the University of Iceland was recently awarded a grant from the European Union’s new Erasmus+ programme. The total amount is 36 million ISK. The project focuses on a strategic partnership between higher education institutions and will last for two years. The University of Iceland is the lead partner, with five other universities participating in the project: The University of Copenhagen, Vilnius University, Tallinn University of Technology, University of St. Andrews and the University of Malta. The Centre for Small State Studies is run under the auspices of the Institute of International Affairs at the University of Iceland.
The first transnational work meeting of the project took place at the University of Copenhagen on September 19. During the next two years the six higher education institutions will develop close cooperation in the field of small state studies. The grant will be used to organise summer schools, seminars, student mobility and to develop cooperation with regard to teaching.
The Erasmus+ grant is a great acknowledgment of the work carried out by the Centre for Small State Studies, which has specialised in the role of small states in Europe. In 2013, the Centre was awarded a Centre of Excellence grant from the European Union and thus became a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence for three years. The establishment of the Centre of Excellence was a continuation of previous acknowledgements that the Centre has received, such as Erasmus grants to organise a Small States Summer School for the last 12 years, as well as grants to develop teaching in European Studies, in collaboration with the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Iceland.

Eitt sinn barðist maður fyrir frjálsu útvarpi. Það var barátta sem skilaði árangri og vert er að halda henni áfram - í dag var ég í hinum ágæta útvarpsþætti Bixinu hjá Höskuldi Höskuldssyni á Útvarpi Sögu. Við ræddum um uppgang hægri öfgaflokka í Evrópu og mismunandi þjóðernishyggju eins og í Skotlandi og á Englandi.