99 Notable alumni of University of Iceland

Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir is an Icelandic professor of medieval Icelandic literature at the University of Iceland.

Ágústa Guðmundsdóttir is a professor emerita in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Iceland, and was a co-founder of the biotechnology company Zymetech, where she also works in research and development.

Ragnheiður Bragadóttir is a professor in law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Iceland.

Sóley Sesselja Bender is a professor at the Faculty of Nursing of the University of Iceland. Her specialty is sexual and reproductive health, where she has worked for years on these health matters. She has pioneered in the development of teaching in the field of sexual and reproductive health, contraceptive counselling, and sexual and reproductive health policy formulation in Iceland...

Brynjar Níelsson is an Icelandic politician who was a member of the Althing (Iceland's parliament) for the Reykjavík North constituency from 2013 to 2016 and the Reykjavík South constituency from 2016 to 2021, representing for the Independence Party.

Stefan Karlsson is a Professor of Molecular Medicine and Gene Therapy at the Lund Stem Cell Center, in the Department of Laboratory Medicine, Lund University, Sweden. He is recognized for significant contributions to the fields of gene therapy and hematopoietic stem cell biology and in 2009 was awarded the Tobias Prize by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Hallgerður Gísladóttir was an Icelandic ethnologist and poet. Her specialty was Icelandic food traditions and gastronomy, and Icelandic man-made caves.

Atli Ingólfsson is a composer. His works have been performed in new music festivals across Europe and occasionally overseas. His oeuvre comprises a big range of different works, from solo to orchestral to music theatre. Of his chamber works, the most widely performed might be Object of Terror for chamber group (Ed. Ricordi, Milan), present on his profile CD Enter,...

Líneik Anna Sævarsdóttir is an Icelandic politician who is a member of the Althing (Iceland's parliament) for the Northeast Constituency since 2013 and she has also served as the Deputy Chairman of the Constitutional and Supervisory Committee since 2017.

Katrín Fjeldsted is an Icelandic politician and medical doctor. She has been a member of Reykjavík city council and a member of parliament at Iceland's Althingi. She was elected to Iceland's Constitutional Assembly in 2010. She has been the chairman of the Icelandic College of Family Physicians and was the President of the Standing Committee of European Doctors from 2013...

Kristín Vala Ragnarsdóttir is an Icelandic Earth and sustainability scientist and activist who is Professor of Sustainability Science in the Faculty of Earth Sciences and the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland. She was the first woman to be a full professor in Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol in the UK and at the same...

Margrét Guðmunda Guðnadóttir was an Icelandic doctor and virologist She was the first woman to become a professor at the University of Iceland.

Andri Steinþór Björnsson is a clinical psychologist and an associate professor of psychology at the University of Iceland. In addition to his work on body dysmorphic syndrome, he has hosted a series of radio programs on science and the scientific method broadcast by RÚV, as well as editing and writing books on science aimed at the general public.

Gylfi Magnússon is an Icelandic economist, a professor at University of Iceland and former chair of the Icelandic Competition Authority (Samkeppniseftirlitið). He was Minister for Economic Affairs in the coalition government of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir. He served as Minister of Business Affairs from 1 February 2009 until 1 October the same year and then served as Minister of Economic Affairs until...

Berglind Ásgeirsdóttir is an Icelandic diplomat. Berglind has served as Secretary-General of the Nordic Council, Secretary-General in the Icelandic Ministry of Social Affairs, Permanent Representative of Iceland to UNESCO. From 2016 to 2020 Berglind was Iceland's Ambassador to Russia and became the first Icelandic Ambassador in Belarus in over ten years. She has also served as Ambassador to France, Italy,...

Pétur Sigurgeirsson was the Bishop of Iceland from 1981 until 1989.

Reynir F. Grétarsson is an Icelandic entrepreneur, philanthropist, Icelandic map collector and author of "About Mapping Iceland" Founder and former CEO of Creditinfo Group, a multinational credit bureau and risk management company. Reynir was selected entrepreneur of the year in Iceland in 2008.

Sigurjón Þórðarson is an Icelandic politician. He was a member of the Althing for the Liberal Party from 2003 to 2007, and returned to the Althing in the 2024 election for the People's Party.

Bergdís Ellertsdóttir is an Icelandic diplomat. She is the current ambassador of Iceland to the United States. She was a permanent representative of Iceland to the United Nations 2018–2019. Since 1991, when she joined Iceland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs, she has had a diplomatic career with assignments covering NATO, EFTA, and the European Union. She has also served as Iceland's...

Hannes Pétursson is an Icelandic poet and writer who has authored a number of books of poetry and other works and received many awards. He is amongst the most widely translated of living Icelandic poets. He is a recipient of the German Henrik Steffens Prize in 1975 and the Icelandic Literary Prize for his poetry collection Eldhylur in 1993.

Guðmundur Finnbogason was an Icelandic philosopher, the son of Guðrún Jónsdóttir and Finnbogi Finnbogason. He was one of the first Icelandic psychologists. His work "Sympathetic Understanding" inspired Jean Piaget's development stages model.

Björgvin G. Sigurðsson is an Icelandic politician, representing the Social Democratic Alliance. He became Iceland's first Minister of Business Affairs when the new ministry was split off from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce on 24 May 2007. On 25 January 2009 Björgvin announced he would be stepping down as Minister effective immediately, firing the head of the Icelandic Financial...

Ragna Árnadóttir is an Icelandic lawyer, politician and former Minister of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs of Iceland. She previously served as the acting office manager of the Prime Minister's Office from 15 January 2009.

Ólafur Skúlason was an Icelandic prelate who was Bishop of Iceland from 1989 to 1997. Since 1996 he had been accused of sexually abusing many women, including his daughter.

Helgi Hjörvar is an Icelandic politician. He served as President of the Nordic Council in 2010.

Snorri Kristjánsson is an Iceland-born writer. His family moved to Norway in 1983, where he lived for seven years. Since 2005, Snorri, has been based in The United Kingdom, and currently lives in Edinburgh with his wife, Morag Hood. Swords of Good Men, a Viking fantasy novel, is his first novel released in 2013, and the first instalment of the...

Eirikur Bergmann is an Icelandic academic and writer. He is author of ten academic books and three novels.

Ásta Ragnheiður Jóhannesdóttir is an Icelandic politician, lawmaker and a former Speaker of Alþingi, Iceland's parliament. She was Iceland's Minister of Social Affairs and Social Security from 1 February 2009 – 14 May 2009. She served as speaker of the Althing from 2009 to 2013. She has been a member of the Alþing since 1995.

Árni Þór Sigurðsson is an Icelandic diplomat and former member of the Althing. He is temporarily the Chairman of the Special Executive Committee for Grindavik Affairs, that was established to address the challenges faced by the town of Grindavík due to recent seismic activities, including earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. He is on leave from the Foreign Service and has previously...

Eygló Harðardóttir is an Icelandic politician and former cabinet member. She served as Iceland's Minister of Social Affairs and Housing from 2013 to 2017. She has a degree in art from the Stockholm University and has studied economics at the University of Iceland. She became active in local politics in 2003 for Framsóknarflokkurinn, a Nordic agrarian centre-right party. In 2008...

Björg Siv Juhlin Friðleifsdóttir, commonly known as Siv Friðleifsdóttir, is an Icelandic politician. She is half-Norwegian, having partly grown up in Norway, where she spent almost every summer next to the Oslofjord with her grandparents. She was a member of the Althing (Iceland's parliament) for the Progressive Party for the Reykjanes constituency from 1995 to 2003 and represented the Southwest...

Ymir Vigfusson is an Icelandic hacker, computer science professor, and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CTO of Keystrike, a cybersecurity company, and Associate Professor at Emory University, where he directs the Emory Simbiosys lab.

Ásthildur Sturludóttir is the current mayor of the Icelandic city of Akureyri and has held the position since 2018.

Paweł Bartoszek is a Polish-born Icelandic politician. In 2010 he was elected in the Constitutional Assembly election. In the 2016 Icelandic parliamentary election, he was elected as a Member of the Althing, representing Viðreisn. In the 2018 Icelandic municipal elections, he was elected to the Reykjavík City Council. In the 2024 Icelandic parliamentary election, he was once again elected, representing...

Unnur Brá Konráðsdóttir is an Icelandic politician. She served as the Speaker of the Althing from the 24th of January 2017 until she failed to be re-elected in the 2017 Icelandic parliamentary election. She has also served as the chair of the Parliament's Judicial Affairs and Education Committee.

Guðmundur Steingrímsson is an Icelandic politician. He is the son and grandson of former Icelandic Prime Ministers Steingrímur Hermannsson and Hermann Jónasson, respectively.

Thóra Arnórsdóttir, is an Icelandic documentary film maker, media personality who contested the presidential election in June 2012.

Ari Trausti Guðmundsson is an Icelandic geologist, author, documentarian, broadcaster, journalist, lecturer, mountaineer and explorer. He worked as teacher, consultant and lecturer on: earth science, environmental and tourism issues. He served as a mountain guide, TV- weather reporter, media presenter and producer and has planned nature and science exhibitions in Iceland, Paris and London and authored non-fiction books, fiction and...

Karl Sigurbjörnsson was an Icelandic prelate who held the position of Bishop of Iceland of the national Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland from 1998 to 2012.

Sigríður Ásthildur Andersen is an Icelandic politician and lawyer who served as the Minister of Justice of Iceland from 2017–2019. She resigned as minister of justice in March 2019 after the European Court of Human Rights found her appointments of judges to the Icelandic court of appeals to be illegal.

Hannes Hólmsteinn Gissurarson is a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Iceland and a frequent commentator on current affairs in the Icelandic media. He is best known as a staunch spokesman for free market policies, and for neoliberalism or classical liberalism, as well as for his frequent climate change denial.

Össur Skarphéðinsson is an Icelandic politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from February 2009 to May 2013.

Sigurdur Helgason was an Icelandic mathematician whose research has been devoted to the geometry and analysis on symmetric spaces. In particular, he used new integral geometric methods to establish fundamental existence theorems for differential equations on symmetric spaces as well as some new results on the representations of their isometry groups. He also introduced a Fourier transform on these spaces...

Tryggvi Þórhallsson was prime minister of Iceland from 28 August 1927 to 3 June 1932. He served as speaker of the Althing in 1933. He was a member of the Progressive Party. He was the Minister of Finance of Iceland from 1928 to 1929 and in 1931.

Björn Bjarnason is an Icelandic politician. His father was Bjarni Benediktsson, Prime Minister of Iceland, Minister of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs and Mayor of Reykjavík.

Kristján Þór Júlíusson is an Icelandic politician, a member of Alþingi and former Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture. He completed degrees in Icelandic, literature and teaching at the University of Iceland but most of his education has been concerned with seamanship. He is a certified steersman and captain and worked in that field for several years. He is married to...

Ármann Jakobsson is an Icelandic author and scholar.

Jóhann Hafstein was elected to the Althingi for the Reykjavík constituency in 1946, which he represented until 1978, when he resigned due to ill health. Jóhann served as prime minister of Iceland from 10 July 1970 to 14 July 1971, for the Independence Party, following the death of prime minister Bjarni Benediktsson, his wife and their 4-year-old grandson, caused by...

Þorsteinn Pálsson is an Icelandic politician who served as prime minister of Iceland for the Independence Party from 8 July 1987 to 28 September 1988. Þorsteinn led the Independence Party from 1983 to 1991, when he lost an inner partial election to then vice-chairman of the party and mayor of Reykjavík, Davíð Oddsson. His coalition was dissolved in September 1988...

Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir is an Icelandic writer. She studied philosophy at the University of Iceland.

Aslaug Magnusdottir is an Icelandic businesswoman and entrepreneur. Aslaug is the founder of Katla. She is the co-founder and former chief executive officer of Moda Operandi and a co-founder of TSM Capital. She has been dubbed "fashion's fairy godmother" by Vogue and one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company.

Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson is an Icelandic writer of crime fiction. He has a B.Sc. degree in civil engineering and, in addition to having a successful career as a writer, he continues to work full-time at the Public Roads Administration in Iceland.

Árni Páll Árnason is Vice-President and a member of the College of the EFTA Surveillance Authority, responsible for Competition, Energy, Environment, Transport, Food Safety, Free movement of goods, Public undertakings and Monopolies and Public procurement. He took up his duties on 1 January 2022.

Gerður Kristný is an Icelandic writer who is best known for her poetry and books for children.

Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson is an Icelandic politician for the Centre Party.

Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir is an Icelandic politician from the Social Democratic Alliance who has served as Minister for Foreign Affairs (2007–2009) and leader of the Alliance (2005–2009). She served as representative of UN Women in Afghanistan from 2012 to 2014 and later in Turkey as designated Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia.

Kristín Marja Baldursdóttir is an Icelandic writer.

Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson is an Icelandic politician who served as Minister for the Environment, Energy and Climate from 2021 to 2024 and previously minister of foreign affairs from 2017 to 2021.

Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir is an Icelandic lawyer and politician who has been a member of the Althing (Iceland's parliament) for the Reykjavík South constituency since 2016. She also served as the Secretary of the Independence Party from 2015 to 2019. In September 2019, she was named the Minister of Justice. In November 2021, she was named the Minister of Higher...

Þórunn Egilsdóttir was an Icelandic politician who was a member of the Althing (Iceland's parliament) for the Northeast Constituency from 2013 until her death, and she also served as chairman of the parliamentary group of the Progressive Party since 2016.

Einar Kárason is an Icelandic writer and poet.

Þórunn Sveinbjarnardóttir is an Icelandic politician who has served as Speaker of the Althing since 2025.

Jón Magnússon was an Icelandic politician, and was prime minister of Iceland on two occasions. He served his first term, as a member of the Home Rule Party (Heimastjórnarflokkurinn), from 4 January 1917 to 7 March 1922. He served his second term, as a member of the Conservative Party (Íhaldsflokkurinn, a forerunner of the Independence Party), from 22 March 1924...

Þórarinn Eldjárn is an Icelandic writer, particularly well known in Iceland for his humorous poetry books for children.

Inga Sæland is an Icelandic politician. She is the founder and current leader of the People's Party, and has served as a member of the Althing since her election in 2017. Inga has served as the Minister of Social Affairs and Housing in the cabinet of Kristrún Frostadóttir since 2024.

Einar Már Guðmundsson is an Icelandic author of novels, short stories, and poetry. His books have been translated into several languages.

Smári McCarthy is an Icelandic-Irish politician, innovator and information activist known for his work relating to direct democracy, transparency and privacy.

Guðbergur Bergsson was an Icelandic writer born in Grindavík. He attended the University of Iceland for his Teaching degree and then studied literature at the University of Barcelona. He was one of the leading translators of Spanish works in Iceland. In Barcelona, he met and engaged with the publisher and writer Jaime Salinas Bonmatí.

Svandís Svavarsdóttir is an Icelandic politician who has been member of the Althing since 2009. In October 2024, she was elected party leader of the Left-Green Movement. She served as Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources in the government of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir. In the First cabinet of Katrín Jakobsdóttir she served as Minister of Health. She was also the...

Dagur Bergþóruson Eggertsson is an Icelandic politician who was the Mayor of Reykjavík from 2007 to 2008 and again from 2014 to 2024. He was the vice-chairman of the Social Democratic Alliance from 2009 until 2013. He was first elected to the city council of Reykjavík in a 2002 election and became the mayor on 16 October 2007. Dagur is...

Andri Snær Magnason is an Icelandic writer. He has written novels, poetry, plays, short stories, and essays. Andri is also a director and producer of three documentary films that have premiered in IDFA and CPH:DOX. His work has been published or performed in more than 40 countries.

Hermann Jónasson was an Icelandic politician of the Progressive Party who served as prime minister of Iceland from 1934 to 1942 and again from 1956 to 1958.

Richard Simcott is a British polyglot who lives in Skopje, North Macedonia. Described by HarperCollins as "One of the most multilingual people from the United Kingdom", he speaks at least 30 languages.

Róbert Ragnar Spanó is an Icelandic-Italian jurist, judge, and former president of the European Court of Human Rights. He has been a partner at the multinational law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher since the end of this tenure as president of the court in October 2022. He started his tenure as president of the court on 18 May 2020,...

Halldór Ásgrímsson was an Icelandic politician, who served as prime minister of Iceland from 15 September 2004 to 15 June 2006 and was the leader of the Progressive Party from 1994 to 2006.

Agnes Margrétardóttir Sigurðardóttir is an Icelandic prelate who was the Bishop of Iceland from 2012 to 2024. She is the first woman to be elected a Bishop of the Church of Iceland, which happened in 2012; she took office as such in the same year.

Ólöf Nordal was an Icelandic politician who was the Minister of the Interior of Iceland from 4 December 2014 to 11 January 2017. She died on 8 February 2017. She was a member of the Independence Party.

Kári Stefánsson is an Icelandic neurologist and founder and CEO of Reykjavík-based biopharmaceutical company deCODE genetics. In Iceland he has pioneered the use of population-scale genetics to understand variation in the sequence of the human genome. His work has focused on how genomic diversity is generated and on the discovery of sequence variants impacting susceptibility to common diseases. This population...

Rósa Björk Brynjólfsdóttir is an Icelandic politician who is a member of the Althing (Iceland's parliament) for the Southwest Constituency since 2016 and she has also worked as a media representative of the Ministry of Finance from 2010 to 2014.

Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir is an Icelandic politician, who has been chairwoman of Viðreisn since 2017.

Gísli Örn Garðarsson is an Icelandic actor and director. He is one of the founders of Vesturport, a theatre and film company based in Reykjavík, and is also sometimes a scriptwriter and producer. Before focusing on acting, he competed internationally as a gymnast.

Jónína Leósdóttir is an Icelandic novelist, playwright, former journalist and spouse of former Prime Minister of Iceland Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir (2009–2013).

Davíð Oddsson is an Icelandic politician, and the longest-serving prime minister of Iceland, in office from 1991 to 2004. From 2004 to 2005 he served as foreign minister and as the chairman for the Independence Party from 1991 to 2005. Previously, he was Mayor of Reykjavík from 1982 to 1991, and chaired the board of governors of the Central Bank...

Steingrímur Jóhann Sigfússon is an Icelandic politician. He has been a member of the Althing (Icelandic parliament) since 1983 and was the founding chairman of the Left-Green Movement (Vinstri hreyfingin – grænt framboð) from 1999 until 2013. He was the Minister for Agriculture and Communications from 1988 to 1991. He was Minister of Finance from 2009 to 2011. In 2011,...

Arnaldur Indriðason is an Icelandic writer of crime fiction; his most popular series features the protagonist Detective Erlendur.

Heimir Hallgrímsson is an Icelandic professional football manager, former player, and dentist who is the current manager of the Republic of Ireland men's national team.

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson is an Icelandic politician who was the fifth president of Iceland, serving from 1996 to 2016. He was previously a member of the Icelandic Parliament for the People's Alliance and served as Minister of Finance from 1988 to 1991.

Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson is an Icelandic politician who was the prime minister of Iceland from May 2013 until April 2016. He was also chairman of the Progressive Party from 2009 to October 2016. He was elected to the Althing (Iceland's parliament) as the 8th member for the Reykjavík North Constituency on 25 April 2009. Taking office at 38, he was...

Bjarni Benediktsson, known colloquially as Bjarni Ben, is an Icelandic former politician who served as the prime minister of Iceland from January to November 2017 and again from April to December 2024. He was the leader of the Icelandic Independence Party from 2009 to 2025, and served as the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs from 2013 to 2017, a...

Vilborg Yrsa Sigurðardóttir is an Icelandic writer of both crime novels and children's fiction. She has been writing since 1998. Her début crime novel was translated into English by Bernard Scudder. The central character in her crime novels so far is Thóra Gudmundsdóttir (Þóra Guðmundsdóttir), a lawyer. Yrsa has also written for children, and won the 2003 Icelandic Children's Book...

Jón Kalman Stefánsson is an Icelandic author.

Magnús Örn Eyjólfsson Scheving is an Icelandic writer, television producer, entrepreneur, actor, and former athlete. He is best known as the creator of the children's television show LazyTown, on which he served as a producer and director, and portrayed the character Sportacus. A two–time European champion as well as World championship silver and bronze medalist in aerobic gymnastics, he was...

Katrín Jakobsdóttir is an Icelandic former politician who served as the prime minister of Iceland from December 2017 to April 2024 and was a member of the Althing for the Reykjavík North constituency from 2007 to 2024.

Silja Dögg Gunnarsdóttir is an Icelandic politician who is a member of the Althing (Iceland's parliament) for the South Constituency since 2013 and has also served as Chairman of the Icelandic Delegation to the Nordic Council since 2017.

Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson is an Icelandic historian and politician who served as the sixth president of Iceland from 2016 to 2024.

Ásgeir Ásgeirsson was the second president of Iceland; he served from 1952 to 1968. He also served as the prime minister of Iceland from 3 June 1932 to 28 July 1934 for the Progressive Party. Ásgeir is the only person in Iceland to date to serve both as president and prime minister. He was a Freemason and served as grand...

Jón Sigurðsson was the leader of the 19th century Icelandic independence movement.

Kristján Eldjárn was the third president of Iceland, serving from 1968 to 1980.