A new Director of the United Nations University Geothermal Training Programme
Lúdvík S. Georgsson has been appointed the Director of the United Nations University Geothermal Training Programme as of 1st of August 2013.
The Director’s position was advertised in February-March earlier this year and Lúdvík was selected out of six applicants, with the proviso of consent from the Rector of the UNU. The Rector has now formally given his consent, and the Director General of Orkustofnun (the National Energy Authority) has appointed Lúdvík as the new Director of the UNU-GTP from August 1st 2013.
Lúdvík holds an MSc in Engineering Physics and has been the Deputy Director of the UNU-GTP since 1990, with the main responsibilities of planning, and academic and financial management of the 6 month training in Iceland. Prior to joining the Geothermal Training Programme, he served as an exploration geophysicist at the Geothermal Division of Orkustofnun from 1975 to 1990, with responsibilities in the exploration of geothermal systems, both of low-enthalpy and high-enthalpy type, managing many exploration projects.
Lúdvík has been the editor of the UNU-GTP annual yearbook ‘Geothermal Training in Iceland’, from its first publication in 1994. He has also served as a project leader of the annual short courses on geothermal exploration and development, in Kenya and El Salvador, which are Iceland’s contribution to the UN Millennium Development Goals. Furthermore, he has been responsible for planning and implementing of customer-designed courses and training that the UNU-GTP has been contracted for and have become an important part of its operations in the last 3-4 year.
Lúdvík will be succeeding Dr Ingvar B. Fridleifsson, who has been the Director since the Programme’s establishment in 1979. Under Dr Ingvar’s strong and visionary leadership, 515 UNU Fellows from 53 countries, with background in geosciences and engineering, have graduated from the 6 month training of the Geothermal Training Programme. In addition, 35 UNU Fellows have now completed an MSc degree from the University of Iceland on a UNU-GTP Fellowship, and in February 2013, Ms. Pacifica Ogola became the first African to defend her PhD thesis at the University of Iceland, on a UNU-GTP Fellowship. Dr Ingvar will continue to work for the Programme until his retirement in October later this year.
We thank Dr Ingvar B. Fridleifsson for his important contribution to the UNU Geothermal Training Programme, and geothermal development in general worldwide, and welcome Mr Lúdvík S. Georgsson as the new Director.