Dr. Odinn Melsted

Biography

Odinn Melsted is an Austrian-Icelandic historian currently working as an Assistant Professor in the History Department at Maastricht University. His main research interests lie in transnational history with a focus on energy, technology, and the environment, particularly examining historical sustainability transitions. Born and raised in Iceland, he studied history (BA) and European languages with a focus on history and culture (MA) at the University of Iceland in Reykjavík. He earned his doctorate in history from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, with a dissertation titled "Icelandic Energy Regimes: Fossil Fuels, Renewables Making Low-Carbon Energy Balance, 1940-1980." In 2020, he joined Maastricht University as part of a postdoctoral NWO-funded research project led by Cyrus Mody, titled "Managing Scarcity Sustainability: Oil Industry, Environmentalism, Alternative Energy Age Scarcity." His research explores Iceland's energy history during the oil industry boom of the 1970s and includes investigations into the desulfurization of the Austrian energy system funded by the Tyrolean Science Fund from 2019 to 2020. Melsted authored the book "Með nótur í farteskinu," which narrates the history of foreign musicians in Iceland published by Sögufélag in 2016, and co-edited a manuscript on the Anglo-Danish adventurer Jörgen Jörgensen who led the Icelandic Revolution of 1809 (Historical Account Revolution, University of Iceland Press, 2016).

Research Interests

Experience