On Friday May 7 Dr. Daniel Martin, a French specialist in climate changes visited the University Centre of the Westfjords on behalf of the French Embassy in Iceland. Dr. Martin is currently head of the "Management and Impacts of Climate Change (GICC)" research programme at the Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and of the Sea in France (MEEDDM).

Dr. Martin gave a lecture on the Climate Changes and Policy course in the CMM Master's Program. He discussed the importance of the media in terms of keeping the public informed, and talked about current research on climate changes that he is in charge of.

It is a great honour and highly valuable for our students to have a guest of the calibre of Dr. Martin who is at the forefront of scientific discussions on climate changes in the world.

After the lecture, Dr. Martin joined students from the Climate Changes course and the Chemistry and Contamination in the Coastal Zone course, with their instructor Dr. Hrönn Jörundsdóttir, for a field trip to the island Vigur in Ísafjarðardjúp fjord.
In Vigur the Climate Changes students explored the site of a recent withered grass burning and connected that to subjects covered on the course, for example the declining precipitation. Students from Chemistry and Contamination looked at the situation from another perspective, how and if such burnings result in environmental pollution?

In addition to these academic speculations, students and instructors enjoyed the magnificent natural beauty of Vigur and the wonderful hospitality of the island's inhabitants who gave the students an insight into eiderdown collecting and processing. Sailing to and from the island was also very pleasurable in the very capable hands of the boat company Sjóferðir in Ísafjörður who took good care of the group.