On July 3, Oddur Már Gunnarsson, director of Matís, and Ragnheiður I. Þórarinsdóttir, rector of the Icelandic University of Agriculture, signed a cooperation agreement between Matís and the Icelandic University of Agriculture on cooperation to increase knowledge and improve services in the field of agriculture and food production.
The agreement is about research cooperation in both domestic and foreign projects and cooperation on proposals and special projects for the government in the field of agriculture and food.
There will be cooperation on the development of research infrastructure and expertise where appropriate. Experts from both will be better connected through joint projects. The focus areas where the cooperation will benefit are, for example, sheep breeding, breeding (genetics), new proteins, linking processing and primary production, utilization of by-products, feed, fertilizers, product development and cooperation with consumers. The aim is to utilize each other's specific research infrastructures in order to create synergy in the activities and at the same time to strengthen the operating conditions of the infrastructures.
The work of newly-doctored, doctoral and/or master's students is expected in selected collaborative projects, and they must normally be under the guidance of experts from one or both parties. The parties are working to increase the number of doctoral students in the field of agriculture and food.
The parties emphasize the use of foreign networks in Europe and the Nordic countries, cf. UNIgreen and other partners as appropriate.