Aalborg University (AAU) is one of Denmark’s leading higher education institutions and an internationally recognised university for innovation in teaching, research and societal engagement.
Founded in 1974, AAU has developed a distinctive academic identity based on interdisciplinary education, collaboration with society and a strong commitment to solving real-world problems. Today, the university hosts more than 17,000 students and approximately 3,800 staff members, offering education and conducting research across a wide range of fields, including engineering, health sciences, social sciences, humanities, communication, business, natural sciences and information technology.
AAU is widely known for its innovative Problem-Based Learning (PBL) model, which places students at the centre of the learning process and encourages them to work collaboratively on complex, real-life problems. The university describes this model as one of its defining features and is internationally recognised as a leading educational institution in problem- and project-based learning.
This approach makes AAU a particularly valuable partner in CONSPIRE – CONSPIracism and RAdicalisation Risks in Europe, an Erasmus+ KA220-HED project that aims to help university students understand conspiracy theories, misinformation and radicalisation risks through innovative educational methods, non-formal learning and civic engagement.
A university built around real-world problems
AAU’s educational model is rooted in the idea that students learn best when they work actively with problems that matter beyond the classroom.
Through the Aalborg Model for Problem-Based Learning, students are encouraged to identify relevant problems, investigate them in depth, work in groups, connect theory with practice and develop solutions through collaborative inquiry. AAU’s official PBL principles emphasise problem-oriented project work, independence, cooperation and students’ active engagement in their own learning process.
This philosophy is closely aligned with the educational ambition of CONSPIRE. The project does not treat conspiracy theories only as abstract academic objects. It asks students to examine them as real social challenges that affect public trust, democratic debate, media environments and civic life.
In this sense, AAU’s PBL tradition contributes directly to the project’s methodology. It supports an approach in which students do not simply receive information, but analyse, discuss, collaborate, produce knowledge and reflect on their role as citizens in complex information ecosystems.
A mission-driven university
AAU also defines itself as a mission-oriented university. Its current strategy, Knowledge for the World 2022–2026, emphasises the university’s commitment to creating value through new knowledge about and for the world, with education at the highest international level based on problem-based and digital learning.
This mission-driven identity is highly relevant to CONSPIRE. The project addresses a societal challenge that crosses borders: the spread of misinformation, conspiracy narratives and radicalising beliefs in contemporary Europe.
Responding to this challenge requires more than disciplinary knowledge. It requires universities to work with students, citizens, professionals, educators and public actors in order to develop critical competences and democratic resilience.
AAU’s commitment to active collaboration, problem-based learning and partnerships with society provides a strong foundation for this kind of work. The university’s profile as a problem-solving institution helps strengthen CONSPIRE’s ambition to connect higher education with real public needs.
Social sciences, humanities and communication
Within CONSPIRE, AAU contributes strong expertise in the fields of social sciences, humanities, communication and political studies through its academic environments in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities.
The university offers a highly interdisciplinary setting for studying political movements, democratic public spheres, media communication and contemporary social challenges. This perspective is particularly important for a project that investigates how conspiracy theories circulate, how they become persuasive and how they influence public debate.
AAU’s Department of Culture and Communication is anchored in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities and conducts research and education across areas such as psychology, learning, language, aesthetics, music, philosophy, organisation and IT. Its programmes are research-based and structured around AAU’s problem-based learning model, which promotes critical thinking, collaboration and innovation.
The department’s research environment is relevant to CONSPIRE because conspiracy theories are also communication phenomena. They spread through media, language, digital platforms, political narratives, visual forms and everyday conversations. Understanding them requires attention to discourse, mediated communication, public sphere dynamics and the social conditions under which certain narratives become credible.
Communication, media and technology in CONSPIRE
AAU’s specific contribution to CONSPIRE is connected to the project’s module on communication, media and technology.
This module explores how conspiracy theories circulate through media environments and how contemporary communication systems shape the production, distribution and reception of conspiratorial narratives. It addresses issues such as political communication, social media, digital publics, media trust, platform dynamics and the role of new technologies.
This focus is essential for the project. Conspiracy theories today do not circulate only through fringe spaces. They move across social media, alternative media, mainstream political debate and informal communication channels. They can be amplified by digital platforms, algorithmic visibility, affective polarisation and the rapid circulation of emotionally charged content.
AAU’s expertise helps students understand that misinformation is not only a problem of individual false beliefs. It is also connected to communication infrastructures, public sphere transformations and the changing relationship between media, politics and citizens.
Political movements and democratic public spheres
The study of political movements and democratic public spheres is another important dimension of AAU’s contribution.
Conspiracy narratives often emerge in contexts of distrust, social conflict and political mobilisation. They can be used to explain crisis, construct enemies, mobilise identity and challenge institutional legitimacy. In some cases, they may interact with radicalisation dynamics and anti-democratic forms of mobilisation.
By bringing together communication studies, political analysis and social science perspectives, AAU contributes to the project’s capacity to analyse conspiracy thinking as part of broader democratic challenges.
This approach allows students to understand how public debate is shaped, how social movements communicate, how media ecosystems influence participation, and how democratic societies can respond to polarisation and disinformation without undermining openness and pluralism.
A learning approach aligned with CONSPIRE
AAU’s PBL tradition is particularly well suited to the educational model of CONSPIRE.
The project brings non-formal education methods into formal university settings through role-playing, community organising, video-based learning, collaborative tasks and student-centred activities. These methods resonate strongly with AAU’s approach to learning, where students are expected to work actively, critically and collaboratively on problems connected to the real world.
In CONSPIRE, students are not treated as passive recipients of knowledge. They are invited to engage with conspiracy theories as complex social phenomena. They analyse media narratives, compare arguments, reflect on credibility, discuss democratic risks and take part in innovative learning experiences such as the Conspirology role-playing game.
AAU’s experience with problem-based and project-based learning strengthens this dimension of the project. It helps ensure that the training pathway is not only academically rigorous, but also active, participatory and competence-oriented.
From classroom learning to civic resilience
The contribution of AAU also supports one of CONSPIRE’s broader goals: strengthening civic resilience.
Conspiracy theories and disinformation affect democratic life because they influence trust, participation, public debate and citizens’ relationship with institutions and expertise. Responding to them requires media literacy, critical thinking, communication competences and the ability to cooperate across differences.
AAU’s academic profile helps address these challenges by connecting education with social responsibility. Its mission-driven approach and PBL model encourage students to see learning as a way to engage with society, not only as an individual academic achievement.
Within CONSPIRE, this means preparing students to understand complex information environments, recognise manipulative communication strategies and participate more consciously in democratic public life.
A strong partner for an Erasmus+ educational challenge
Aalborg University brings to CONSPIRE a distinctive combination of educational innovation, interdisciplinary research and social engagement.
Its internationally recognised Problem-Based Learning model aligns closely with the project’s use of non-formal education, experiential learning and student-centred methods. Its expertise in communication, media, politics and social sciences strengthens the project’s capacity to analyse conspiracy narratives as communicative and democratic phenomena.
In the CONSPIRE project, AAU shows how higher education can respond to contemporary challenges by combining academic knowledge with active learning, collaboration and civic responsibility.
Through its contribution, the project gains not only a strong academic partner, but also a university whose educational philosophy embodies one of CONSPIRE’s central ideas: students learn most deeply when they are invited to confront real problems, work together and connect knowledge with society.
