Birna Svanbjörnsdóttir is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Education at the University of Akureyri. She has a long teaching career in primary school and was the director for The Centre of School Development at the University 2010–2016. Birna completed a Ph.D. in Educational sciences from University of Iceland 2015. Her main emphasises in research are teacher development, mentoring and professional learning communities. She is the supervisor for the mentoring program at the University of Akureyri.