{"id":25999,"date":"2024-03-19T13:02:18","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T13:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/memoirs-of-dr-rognvaldur-olafsson\/"},"modified":"2024-05-06T09:16:45","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T09:16:45","slug":"memoirs-of-dr-rognvaldur-olafsson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/memoirs-of-dr-rognvaldur-olafsson\/","title":{"rendered":"Memoirs of Dr. R\u00f6gnvaldur \u00d3lafsson"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Sigur\u00f0ur Sigursveinsson, the former manager of the University Center of South Iceland, wrote the following words in R\u00f6gnvaldur memory, which the association publishes kindly.<\/h5>\n

Physicist R\u00f6gnvaldur \u00d3lafsson has passed away. Our paths crossed primarily at the University Center of South Iceland and Katla Geopark. R\u00f6gnvaldur sat continuously on the board of the Univeristy Center og South Iceland from its foundation in 2007 until 2022. At that level, he took an active part in the company’s first initiative, Network of knowledge from Markarflj\u00f3t to Skei\u00f0ar\u00e1rsandur, from which the first geopark in Iceland emerged, Katla Geopark, which in 2015 became part of UNESCO’s third place register, UNESCO Global Geoparks. R\u00f6gnvaldur was the chairman of the preparatory committee for the foundation of the geopark, which was set up in 2008 with representatives from the respective municipalities. He was on the board of the geopark from 2010 to 2014, of which he was chairman in 2012-2014 when the University Center of South Iceland was responsible for the extensive development of the park’s infrastructure with a so-called IPA grant from the European Union. R\u00f6gnvaldur took an active part in the application writing regarding Katla’s membership in the international association of geoparks, and also regarding the IPA project, and his clear understanding of concise texts, whether in English or Icelandic, was important.<\/em><\/p>\n

R\u00f6gnvaldur was one of the most powerful allies of a regional policy based on knowledge, research and cooperation. For years, he led the Institute of Research Centers of the University of Iceland, which established research centers all over the country, but he focused on getting excellent researchers to lead those centers. He then sat on the boards of numerous other knowledge centers in the countryside. I think that he sat on the board of the University Center of South Iceland for the longest time, as he sometimes said that he would like to be on that board. As the manager of the University Center of South Iceland for many years, I can confirm that this feeling was mutual. The company is owned by the municipalities in the south, but the unwritten rule is that the board consists of people with expertise in the company’s projects. This arrangement has worked well and it is thanks to the superior knowledge of R\u00f6gnvaldur and the other board members about the affairs of Su\u00f0urland.<\/em><\/p>\n

Krist\u00edn and I had the opportunity to visit the Azores in 2017, when the conference of the European geoparks was held there, and so did R\u00f6gnvaldur and Sigr\u00ed\u00f0ur. We are grateful for the pleasant company during that trip. R\u00f6gnvaldur had an exceptionally good presence, was good at making suggestions and made an effort to introduce himself to different points of view regarding the projects each time.<\/em><\/p>\n

I remember him as a gentleman, I am grateful for his cooperation and express my condolences to his family on his passing. Blessed be the memory of R\u00f6gnvaldur \u00d3lafsson.<\/em><\/p>\n

As we at H\u00e1sk\u00f3lf\u00e9lag Su\u00f0urland express our deepest sympathy to R\u00f6gnvaldur loved ones, we remember and thank him for his participation in the association’s forum.<\/h6>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sigur\u00f0ur Sigursveinsson, the former manager of the University Center of South Iceland, wrote the following…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25702,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[269],"tags":[280,278,276],"class_list":["post-25999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-center-of-knowledge","tag-southland","tag-university-association-of-southland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25999"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26002,"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25999\/revisions\/26002"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hfsu.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}