Rector of the University of Iceland since July 2025 and a Professor of International Affairs, whose research focuses on Iceland’s foreign and security policy, feminist international affairs and Arctic affairs.
Silja Bára currently co-edits Scandinavian Political Studies, and has published extensively on gender perspectives in foreign and security policy, Arctic governance, and reproductive rights. Her PhD thesis on the development of Iceland‘s National Security Policy earned recognition from the Political Studies Association of Ireland as the best PhD thesis in political science from a university in Ireland. Silja Bára has served on the board of the Institute of International Affairs, as the Chair of the Gender Equality Council, as well as President of the Icelandic Red Cross.