Research interests

• Palynology
• Paleopalynology
• Botany
• Paleobotany
• Paleophytogeography

My research interests comprise plant evolution, vegetation differentiation, and climate development in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres during the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic. I use evidence from the macrofossil record (mostly leaves) and from the record of dispersed pollen and spores to resolve the origin, diversification, and dispersal of plant lineages, to trace past distribution and biogeographic patterns of various plant groups and major plant functional groups, to reconstruct regional and large-scale vegetation changes, and, eventually, to evaluate past climate situations and possible climate changes during the past ca. 100 million years. Key areas of my research have been the Arctic and Subarctic regions and mid-latitude regions in Asia, North America and Europe. My current area of focus is Western and Central Europe, the Mediterranean region, and the African continent.

Projects

• Korreliert in-situ Pollen fossiler Blüten mit Insekten?/Flower Power: can in-situ pollen link fossil plants to floral visitors?
  FWF-Project P 34303
• Out of Africa: did plants disperse via the Gomphotherium land bridge?
  FWF-Projekt P29501-B25
  Link to this project: http://www.fridgeirgrimsson.com/fwf-p29501-b25/
• Paleogene flora of western Greenland and the Faeroes
  FWF-Projekt P24427-B25
  Link to this project: http://www.fridgeirgrimsson.com/fwf-p24427-b25/
• Mid-Miocene floristic changes and differentiation patterns
• Pliocene and Pleistocene floras of Iceland
• Miocene floras of Iceland

 Teaching

Current Courses

 Cooperations

• Department of Paleontology, University of Vienna, Austria
• Department of Paleobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm
• Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Germany
• Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
• Department of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of Zurich, Switzerland
• Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA
• Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
• Department of Plant Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
• Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
• Departments of Botany and Geology & Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA
• Naturalis Biodiversity Center, National Herbarium of the Netherlands, Leiden
• Don Harrington Discovery Center, 1200 Streit Drive, Amarillo, TX, 79106, USA

 Curriculum Vitae

Current position

• 2021– Senior Scientist, Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Austria.

Education

2015 Venia Docendi (Priv.-Doz.)/Doctor Habilitatus (Dr. habil.) in Paleontology/Paleobotany. University of Vienna, Austria. Thesis: Unravelling Upper Cretaceous and Cainozoic vegetation patterns from Northern Hemispheric palynofloras.

2007 Doctor of Philosophy (Dr. phil.) in Geology/Paleobotany. University of Iceland, Reykjavík. Thesis: The Miocene floras of Iceland: origin and evolution of fossil floras from north-west and western Iceland, 15 to 6 Ma.

2002 Master of Science (MS) in Geology/Paleobotany. University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Thesis: The Hreðavatn Member of the Hreðavatn-Stafholt Formation and its fossil flora.

1999 Bachelor of Science (BS) in Geology/Paleobotany. University of Iceland, Reykjavík. Thesis: Þrimilsdalur: an ancient flora in an aesthetic valley.

Scientific career

2018–2021 Research scientist, senior postdoctoral position, Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Austria

2013–2014 Assistant Professor, Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík

2010–2018 Research scientist, senior postdoctoral position, Department of Paleontology, University of Vienna, Austria

2007–2009 Research scientist, postdoctoral position, Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík

2002–2009 Lecturer, Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík

2002–2007 Teacher, Menntaskólinn við Sund (Secondary School, College), Reykjavík