The Centre of Public Health Sciences receives the Icelandic Public Health Awards

The Centre of Public Health Sciences at the University of Iceland received the Icelandic public health awards this year, in the category organisations, for their contribution to increased knowledge and understanding of public health in Iceland. The awards were presented at Bessastaðir on the last day of winter, April 19th 2023.

The Icelandic Public Health Awards are a collaboration between the office of the President of Iceland, the Ministry of Health, the Directorate of Health, Geðhjálp, and the National Olympic and Sports Association of Iceland. The President of Iceland, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, announced the foundation of this award in his address on New Year's day 2023. A call for suggestions from the general public was sent out in February, searching for worthy recipients and almost 350 suggestion were received from various directions, according to the website of the office of the President A special selection committee went over the proposals and nominated three parties in two categories: individuals and organisations. In the end one individual and one organisation were awarded.

As mentioned above the Centre of Public Health Sciences at the University of Iceland received the award in the category organisations, and Arna Hauksdóttir, professor, accepted the awards from Willum Þór Þórsson, Minister of Health on behalf of the centre.

"The Centre of Public Health Sciences tackles diverse epidemiological research on factors influencing health, especially impact from trauma. Among those are studies on the impact of violence and societal trauma such as economic collapse, and natural disasters. The Centre has recently conducted large process studies such as the Saga Cohort and the COVID-19 National Resilience Cohort. All these studies are conducted in international collaboration; often under the leadership of the Centre. It can be maintained, according to the selection committee, that no institute or research team has made the same contribution to increased knowledge and understanding of public health in Iceland as the Centre of Public Health Sciences," is stated on the website for the office of the President.

The Centre of Public Health Sciences was established in 2007 and, in addition to comprehensive research that has received numerous domestic and international grants, the centre is responsible for the graduate study programs in public health sciences, epidemiology, and biostatistics at the University of Iceland.

Since the foundation of the Centre of Public Health Sciences 126 students have completed a Master's degree, 21 a doctoral degree and 176 a postgraduate diploma in public health sciences. These students currently work in diverse positions in the fields of research, public health and in the education and health sector.