Hrefna Sigurjónsdóttir (born 24 October 1950) is ónsdóa biologist and a professor at the University of Iceland.
Professional career
Hrefna completed the national standard lower secondary school examination from Kvennaskólinn í Reykjavík (Reykjavik Women's Gymnasium) in 1966 and a matriculation examination from the Mathematics Department of Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík (Reykjavik Junior College) in the spring of 1970. She graduated from the University of Iceland (UI) with a BS (90e) in biology in the spring of 1973. Her final project was on the ecology of insects. A year later, she finished a graduate program from the same department (BS 120e), emphasising insects and other land arthropods. She investigated their abundance and distribution on the south side and top of Mt. Esja. She pursued studies in ecology at University College of North Wales, Bangor, (1975-1976) and completed a master's there. The research project was on competition for food between closely related freshwater flatworms. She worked under the supervision of Prof. T. Reynoldson. Hrefna started a doctoral programme in 1977 in the Zoology Department of the University of Liverpool in England and completed it in 1980. Her supervisor there was Professor G.A. Parker who was a pioneer in evolutionary studies emphasising reproductive behaviour and evolution of differences between the sexes and had worked a great deal on the yellow dung fly. Hrefna's doctoral project was in this field, where the emphasis is to interpret animals' behaviour, in the light of ecology and evolution (behaviour ecology/sociobiology). The title of the dissertation is Evolutionary Aaspects of Sexual Dimorphism in Size: Studies on Dung Flies and Three Groups of Birds. She was the first woman in Iceland to complete a doctorate in animal ethology. After returning home, she completed teacher certification at the University of Iceland (1982).
During her years of study, she worked one summer at the Icelandic Fisheries Laboratories (1971). In 1973 and 1974 she assisted Prof. Arnþór Garðarson (UI) with research on the vegetation in the Þjórsá River Wetlands. In the summers of 1975 and 1977, she worked for Prof. Agnar Ingólfsson (UI) doing research on the distribution of coastal invertebrates in Iceland. She assisted with practical teaching in ecology and zoology with her studies in winter 1974–1975. After finishing her doctoral programme, she taught part-time at the Biology Department of the University of Iceland and Hamrahlíð Junior College (two years). In the fall of 1982, she was hired as assistant professor in biology at Iceland University of Education (KHI) and was promoted to associate professor in 1987 and then to professor in 1999. With the merger of Iceland University of Education and the University of Iceland in 2008, she became professor at UI's School of Education. Her students at the School of Education have been pre-service teachers selecting biology/natural science as their major and in-service teachers who have been doing continuing education courses in biology, environmental education and outdoor education. At the University of Iceland, she was the principal teacher in ethology (animal behaviour) first in spring 1981 and then, usually, every other year – last in 2018. She has supervised students (Icelandic and French) in master's studies in ethology, in addition to many teacher education students in their final projects for B.Ed. and M.Ed. degrees. She has also taught a course on the ethology of horses at Hólar University College, Iceland (2011-2013).
Research
Hrefna's research in biology has focused on ethology (behavioural ecology). For example, she has worked on the reproductive behaviour of dung flies and arctic char. Since 1996, she has worked with many experts and students on the (social) behaviour of the Icelandic horse, focusing on dominance orders, what determines an individual horse's positioning, and friendship patterns, how their behaviour (aggression, mutual grooming) is affected by group composition in pastures, their behaviour and time budget in the wintertime and with French colleagues on the natural weaning of foals. Her research has received support from the Icelandic Centre for Research, UI's Research Fund and other parties. In addition, the research has been presented at many conferences and meetings in many parts of the world and published in peer reviewed journals.