One guest lecturer with an international reputation is invited every year as a UNU Visiting Lecturer to give a lecture series and to lead discussions with the trainees. The UNU Visiting Lecturers have stayed from about two weeks to two months in Reykjavik.
Most lectures of the UNU Visiting Lecturers have been published by the Training Programme and are available for download under publications or directly from the 
icons below. Some of these reports have served as important teaching material.
| Year |
Lecturer |
Country |
|
| 2019 | Alper Baba | Turkey | |
| 2018 | William Cumming | USA | |
| 2017 | Juliet Newson | New Zealand | |
| 2016 | James Koenig | USA | |
| 2015 | Meseret Teklemariam Zemedkun (UNU Fellow 1984) | Ethiopia | |
| 2014 | Malcolm A. Grant | New Zealand | |
| 2013 | Kevin Brown | New Zealand | |
| 2012 | Cornel Otieno Ofwona (UNU Fellow 1996) | Kenya | |
| 2011 | Ernst Huenges | Germany | |
| 2010 | Roland N. Horne | USA | |
| 2009 | Wilfred A. Elders | USA | |
| 2008 | Wang Kun (UNU Fellow 1998) | China | |
| 2007 | José Antonio Rodríguez | El Salvador | |
| 2006 | Hagen Hole | New Zealand | |
| 2005 | Martin Mwangi (UNU Fellow 1982) | Kenya | |
| 2004 | Peter Seibt | Germany | |
| 2003 | Beata Kepinska (UNU Fellow 1994) | Poland | |
| 2002 | Karsten Pruess | USA | |
| 2001 | Hilel Legmann | Israel | |
| 2000 | Trevor M. Hunt | New Zealand | |
| 1999 | Philip Michael Wright | USA | |
| 1998 | Agnes Reyes (UNU Fellow 1979) | Philippines/New Zealand | |
| 1997 | Toshihiro Uchida | Japan | |
| 1996 | John Lund | USA | |
| 1995 | Gudmundur Bödvarsson | USA | |
| 1994 | Ladislaus Rybach | Switzerland | |
| 1993 | Zosimo F. Sarmiento (UNU Fellow 1980) | Philippines | |
| 1992 | Patrick Muffler | USA | |
| 1991 | Wang Ji-yang | China | |
| 1990 | Andre Menjoz | France | |
| 1989 | Peter Ottlik | Hungary | |
| 1988 | Robert O. Fournier | USA | |
| 1987 | Robert Harrison | United Kingdom | |
| 1986 | Russel James | New Zealand | |
| 1985 | Bernardo Tolentino | Philippines | |
| 1984 | Enrico Barbier | Italy | |
| 1983 | Patrick Browne | New Zealand | |
| 1982 | Stanley H. Ward | USA | |
| 1981 | Derek H. Freeston | New Zealand | |
| 1980 | Christopher Armstead | United Kingdom | |
| 1979 | Donald E. White | USA |