Embla Eir Oddsdottir has experience in research, project management, and various policy relevant issues including Arctic environmental governance, shipping and resource extraction, climate change, and resilience. In her current position, she leads the Icelandic Arctic Cooperation Network (IACN) in facilitating cooperation among Icelandic public and private organizations in research, education, monitoring, innovation, and other activities related to the Arctic region. The IACN is a part of the Nordic Center of Excellence Arctic Climate Predictions: Pathways to Resilient, Sustainable Societies (ARCPATH). ARCPATH is funded by the Nordic Council and includes nine partners from Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Iceland – including the Stefansson Arctic Institute and Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre (NERSC) – in addition to Canadian, Chinese, Russian and US partners.
Embla has held leadership roles and directed projects at the Northern Research Forum and the Stefansson Arctic Institute, Iceland. She has also taught courses on northern issues at the University of Akureyri and Western Kentucky University, where she holds a position of adjunct professor at the Department of Geography and Environmental Science. Her educational background is interdisciplinary, including socio-economic developement, anthropology, cultural geography, international relations, international law and governance, indigenous studies, gender studies, rural development, political science, etc. Her current interests include a grounding in interdisciplinary, intercultural and multi-stakeholder research and projects, including factors of perception, translation and interpretation in cooperation. Current Arctic specific interests include issues of power, corporate and state behaviour, gender, climate change and life-sustaining ecological systems.
Embla holds a Msc in Law, Anthropology and Society from The London School of Economics and Political Science, London. Her undergraduate studies include socio-economic development at the University of Akureyri and interdisciplinary studies at the University of Northern British Columbia in Canada. Further, Embla has completed Masters level courses in Polar Law at the University of Akureyri.