Main researches within School of Law:

Impact of International Courts on Domestic Criminal Procedures in Mass Atrocity Cases - DOMAC

The DOMAC project is a research program funded under the Seventh Framework Programme for EU Research (FP7), which is the main financial tools through which the European Union supports research and development activities. The DOMAC project is funded under the Socio-economic sciences and Humanities Programme for the duration of three years starting 1st February 2008. Participants are Reykjavik University, University of Amsterdam, Hebrew University and University College London.

The DOMAC project focuses on the actual interaction between national and international courts involved in prosecuting individuals in mass atrocity situations. It explores what impact international procedures have on prosecution rates before national courts, their sentencing, policies, award of reparations and substantive procedural legal standards. It comprehensively examines the problems presented by the limited response of the international community to mass atrocity situations, and offers methods to improve coordination of national and international proceedings and better utilization of national courts, inter alia, through greater formal and informal avenues of cooperation, interaction and resource sharing between national and international court.

This is by far the highest grant ever allocated to an Icelandic project in the field of social science. It is also the first time an Icelandic university receives a grant for legal research from the Research Programme of the European Union.

Þórdís Ingadóttir, associate professor at RU's School of Law, supervises the project. The universities working with RU are Amsterdam University, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and University College London.

 The project will span three years, from 2008-2011.

 Book on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

 In 2007, RU's School of Law and the Icelandic Human Rights Centre held an international research conference on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The speakers at the conference an number of well respected scholars, rapproximately 160 Icelandic and foreign guests attended. A collection of academic articles by the conference lecturers will be published in 2008. The collection will be published under the title, “The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: European and Scandinavian Perspectives”, and will be edited by Oddný Mjöll Arnardóttir, professor at Reykjavik University, and Gerard Quinn, professor at the National University of Ireland. The acclaimed publishing company, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, in Holland will publish the book.

Social Security: Its Role and Interaction with Other Benefits

From 2005-2007, dr. Guðmundur Sigurðsson and dr. Ragnhildur Helgadóttir, together with students, worked on a research project named “Social Security: Its Role and Interaction with Other Benefits”. The project was supported by a grant from the Icelandic Research Fund. The project resulted in three articles on social security and related matters and a book, Almannatryggingar og félagsleg aðstoð [Social Security and Social Assistance]. They intend to continue researching the connection and interaction between various benefit programs (for example, sickness benefit funds, unions, insurance, tort law, pension funds, and social security). To this end, they have received a grant from the Nordforsk Research Board enabling them to plan further research on this point at a Nordic level.

Lögrétta Journal

Lögrétta Journal is a reviewed legal journal published by Lögrétta, the law students' organisation of RU.

 To subscribe to the journal, send an e-mail to askrift@logretta.is with your name, ID number, and address.

 The subscription cost is 3.890 ISK per year.

 Further information on the journal, publishing of articles, advertisements etc. can be gotten via e-mail at timarit@logretta.is