Rate My Professor Karl Benediktsson

Karl Benediktsson is Professor of Human Geography in the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, School of Engineering and Natural Sciences, at the University of Iceland. He holds a BS in Geography from the University of Iceland (1987), an MA in Geography from the University of Auckland (1990), and a PhD in Human Geography from the Australian National University (1997). His career at the University of Iceland spans several roles: tutoring in 1987 and 1990, full-time teaching from 1991 to 1993, Lecturer from 1997 to 2002, Senior Lecturer from 2002 to 2006, and Professor since 2006. Internationally, he has tutored in human geography at the University of Auckland (1989) and the Australian National University (1996), participated in ERASMUS teaching exchanges at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1999) and Università degli studi "Gabriele d'Annunzio" Chieti Pescara (2009), and taught in doctoral courses at the University of Oslo (1997), University of Tromsø (2004), University of Stockholm (2008), and Swedish Agricultural University (2010).

Benediktsson's research as a human geographer focuses primarily on rural and regional development and nature-culture relations. Key areas include the politics of nature encompassing energy, landscape, and conservation; relations between humans and other animals; development and environment in the Global South; regional and local development in Iceland, such as fisheries management, agriculture, and innovation; and sustainable urban transport, particularly cycling. His work addresses adaptation of farmers to economic changes in places like New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, socio-economic development in Icelandic coastal and agricultural areas, conflicts over energy resources and tourism, protected areas and national parks, biodiversity and invasive species, and urban mobilities. Notable publications include the monograph Harvesting Development: The Construction of Fresh Food Trade in Papua New Guinea (2002), the edited volume Conversations With Landscape (2010), "Power without politics? Nature, landscape and renewable energy in Iceland" (2020, with Edda Ruth Hlín Waage), "Conflicting imaginaries in the energy transition? Nature and renewable energy in Iceland" (2021), "Earth, wind and fire: island energy landscapes of the Anthropocene" (2022, with Edward Huijbens), "Planning for sustainable agri-food production: Factual or fictional? An example from Iceland" (2024, with Salvör Jónsdóttir), and "Cod, construction, and communities: Relations between fish and architectural history in Ísafjörður, Iceland" (2025, with others). He currently collaborates with Czech researchers on urban mobilities, emphasizing two-wheeled transport, and begins research on urban energy challenges in Freetown, Sierra Leone.