The Arni Magnusson Institute for Icelandic Studies is an independently funded academic research institute at the University of Iceland under direct supervision of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. Its role is to conduct research in the field of Icelandic studies and related scholarly disciplines, in particular Icelandic language and literature; to disseminate knowledge in these fields; and to preserve and augment the collections entrusted to its care.
The Institute serves the role of teaching Icelandic and providing services to university professors of Icelandic at foreign universities on behalf of the Icelandic government. The Institute is a member of the Nordic Cooperation Committee for teaching Nordic studies abroad. It also offers a popular international summer course in Icelandic. One of the Institute's main goals is safeguarding Icelandic manuscripts.
The Institute also works on practical and theoretical research on the Icelandic language, literature, history and culture. It employs a number of full-time scholars as well as guests who are provided with facilities for researching, either in the short or long term. Several doctoral students have research facilities at the Institute and work on their projects in close cooperation with the Institute's staff and guests.
The Institute provides grants to foreign writers, translators and scholars through the Snorri Sturluson Icelandic Fellowships. These are awarded to individuals who seek to reside in Iceland for a few months specifically to acquaint themselves with the Icelandic language, culture and the local way of life.
The Institute has provided a valuable service in terms of supporting scholars and those studying the Icelandic language. The Institute's website hosts a publicly accessible list of endorsed projects. Some of the research projects endorsed have led to the development of continuously usable products, such as the Icelandic Vocabulary Network, a collection of over 200,000 various Icelandic phrases.
In 2019, the Institution received 3,595,489 USD (491 million ISK) allocated from the State Treasury.