We reached Iceland!
It's a pleasure to announce that CETAF's community is growing. At #CETAF51 we had the opportunity to meet in person a scientist representing our new associated member: the Icelandic Museum of Natural History. Let's know them a little closer.
Can you please introduce yourself?
My name is Ragnhildur Guðmundsdóttir and I’m working at the Natural History Museum of Iceland where I am a biologist and museum educator.
What about the Museum in Reykjavík you represent?
Our institution is a rather small one compared to many of the members of CETAF but we have currently 18 employees and 1 exhibition up and running called "Water in Iceland nature": it is situated in the monumental building the Pearl in our capital city Reykjavík. Our main resource goals and focus points are on biodiversity in Iceland and we put our emphasis on nature in Iceland. For us the biodiversity goes on beyond species level as we have high interspecific species diversity within the country that we want to do some research on further.
Why join the CETAF community?
It is important for our museum to become a part of the CETAF community as it brings us closer to Europe and also to the taxonomic expertise you have. It's also important to be a part of a bigger museum society as it facilitates our research and it’s also fundamental for us to be able to send our students out to get some training and some taxonomic expertise. It is also good for us to be able to send our students to Europe for training and taxonomic expertise as that knowledge is limited for many groups of organisms within Iceland. Currently, we are preparing new headquarters for our museum and a new exhibition that’s gonna be on biodiversity in the ocean.