Is There Scientific Research Outside The University of Iceland?

 

Questions like the one raised in the title of this post are always difficult to answer in the abstract. Therefore, for what it is worth, let me give a possible answer to it by using an "observational" approach. Let me postulate that observing the distribution of successful grant applications from Rannis can be used as an indicator of the level of research activity in different universities and depatments. Based on this assumption, we can try to make a few informed inferences by browsing through the list of grants awarded by Rannis for 2007.  

In my field, computer science, researchers from Reykjavík University obtained four out the five new grants. (The fifth went to Magnus M. Halldorsson from HÍ Congrats Magnus!)  In the subject area “Verkfræði, tækni- og raunvísindi”, researchers from Reykavík University were awarded five of the 11 grants. This seems to indicate that  about half of the Rannis funded research in science and engineering in Iceland will take place outside the University of Iceland.  For computer science, I have many more data related to publications in international outlets that can be used to argue that a much larger percentage of research in that field is being done outside the walls of the University of Iceland. A discussion of those data will need another post, as the margins of this blog post are too narrow to hold it. 

Overall, computer science at Reykjavík University will receive about 25 million ISK  from Rannis during 2007, and mathematics will get 8 million (courtesy of Einar Steingrimsson and his top class research group in algebraic combinatorics). This is the result of a lot of work by several dedicated scientists. I find it amazing that the use of so many (expensive) brain cycles results only in about 33 million ISK for research, which is barely one third of an "Elton John": our new currency :-( This is substantially less than the funding that BRICS received for one year from the Danish National Research Foundation during the first five years of its existence. 

The new  Rannis grants for the subject area “Verkfræði, tækni- og raunvísindi” amounted to about 34 million overall. It seems clear to me that  science in Iceland would greatly benefit by a substantial increase in the level of Rannis funding.

To go back to my motivating question, the "observational approach" seems to indicate that the answer  is a resounding yes. I leave the drawing of further conclusions as an exercise to the people who hold the purse.