Dr. Hans Kristjan Gudmundsson, is since 2008 Dean of the School of Business and Science at the University of Akureyri. He is a physicist with a doctoral degree in Solid State Physics (TechnD) from KTH, Stockholm, 1982. After research, teaching and administrative careers at KTH, the University of Iceland and the Iceland Technology Institute, IceTec, Hans Kristjan Gudmundsson served as scientific counselor with the European Free Trade Association, EFTA, from 1992 to 1994 and at the Icelandic Mission to the European Union in Brussels from 1995 to 1999.
He was member of the Nordic Science Policy Council 1996 to 1999, as chairman 1998-1999. Hans Kristjan Gudmundsson served from 1999 to 2003 as Rector of NorFA, the Nordic Academy for Advanced Study, an institution under the Nordic Council of Ministers promoting doctoral education. In 2004 he was chairman of the NorFA Governing Board. In the years 2004 to 2006 he served as vice chairman of IGFA, the International Group of Funding Agencies for Global Change Research.
From 2003 to 2008 he was the general director of RANNIS, the Icelandic Centre for Research, a governmental institution supporting research, technological development and innovation, providing professional assistance to the preparation and implementation of science and technology policy in Iceland.