Reykjavik University

Reykjavik University is a vibrant, student-centered, international university with an international faculty and students originating from all over the world. The core activities of the University are teaching and research with strong ties with industry and society, emphasizing interdisciplinary work, international context, innovation, and service excellence. Reykjavik University is ranked in 301-350th place in the Times Higher Education World University Ranking published in September 2020, making RU the highest-ranked university in Iceland. For the second consecutive year, RU ranks highest of all universities in citations, which is an estimate of universities’ research influence. The Department of Sport Science offers ambitious undergraduate and graduate studies in this ever-expanding and exciting field. What sets courses in RU´s sport science education is the cooperation with numerous national teams and associations, giving students the chance to work on practical research with athletes during their BSc and MSc studies.

Dadi Rafnsson - Coordinator

Dadi Rafnsson is the coordinator on behalf of Reykjavik University. He has received the baptism of fire in this project, as he was the first to coordinate the development of Unit 1 of developed by CoachEd6. Dadi is a Ph.D. student in sport psychology and lecturer in the sports science department at Reykjavik University. He holds a UEFA A degree and has 18 years of experience in coaching at all levels of the game. He is the head of football development at Icelandic Premier League club HK and program director of MK Dual Career academy. He was formerly head of youth for Icelandic youth development powerhouse Breidablik and assistant coach of the 2017 Chinese Women’s Cup Winners Jiangsu Suning.  Dadi has worked in coach education for the Icelandic FA since 2012 and was on the board of the Icelandic Football Coach Association for many years.

Dr. Ingi Þór Einarsson - Academic Expert

Dr. Ingi Þór Einarsson is an Assistant Professor at Reykjavik University, department of sports science. His research fields mainly focus on physical fitness and public health among children and adolescents, especially those with disabilities. He has over 15 years of experience within higher education institutions and has received funding for research over ten times from competitive research funds. He has published 12 papers with impact factor and several more without an impact and is regularly cited in other papers. He is also a leading expert in the world on high-performance swimming among athletes with a disability and is as such in an advisory group for IPC and travels all over to give lectures and advice on the matter. Dr. Einarsson is one of the academic experts within the CoachEd6 teams. He was the editor of the first intellectual output directed from Reykjavik University nator.

Dr. Jose M. Saavedra - Academic Expert

Dr Saavedra is a Professor at the Department of Sports Science and the Director of Physical Activity, Physical Education, Sport, and Health Research Centre of RU. He received his Ph.D. in Sports Science from the University of A Coruña, Spain, in 2002. He has more than 20 years of experience within higher education institutions. He has published 92 peer-reviewed papers, 62 of which are in Journal Citation reports. He is/was the Principal Investigator or researcher in 30 research projects. He has supervised six Ph.D. students and 20 MSc students. His main research area is sports science, physical activity, and health.  Dr Saavedra was a Swimming coach for more than 15 years. Dr Jose M. Saavedra is a CoachEd6 academic expert from Reykjavik University.

Sveinn Þorgeirsson - Academic Expert

Born and raised in Reykjavik, Sveinn Þorgeirsson played handball and football in at youth level, and competed in handball at amateur/semi-professional level for 15 years.

Sveinn coached handball in his local club Fjölnir for 12 years, 8 years of which he was head of coaches. Since 2011 he has taught handball, strength and conditioning and theoretical lessons for secondary sport academy school Borgarholtsskóli. In 2014 he took the responsibility of project managing the academy with about 150 students from various sports, clubs and both genders. Since 2014, he have been a staff member of the Sport Science department, teaching courses and supervising at undergraduate and graduate level in Reykjavik University. Sveinn’s research interest include handball, performance, and training and he is member of the PAPESH research center.

Sveinn is an academic expert from Reykjavik University.

Danielle Rodriguez - Field Expert

Danielle Rodriguez is the assistant coach of the Icelandic women’s basketball team and an assistant coach of the men’s top league club Stjarnan in Iceland. Danielle is from California but played basketball for the University of Utah. There she started 128 games at point guard for the team and had 44 career double-figure scoring games. She was also three times on the All-Academic team in the strong Pac-12 division and one of five NCAA D1 women’s basketball players named to the Allstate WBCA Good Works Team. Danielle has played in Iceland for four years and been consistently one of the highest performers in the major stats categories in the league. Danielle is the field expert for Reykjavik University.