Title:

Understanding and fostering future consumers’ environmental literacy and sustainable practices

Project manager:

• Anders Kalsgaard Møller Department of Culture and Learning
• Antonia Lina Krummheuer Department of Communication and Psychology

Project partners:

• Anders Kalsgaard Møller and colleagues from Xlab (L-ILD) - Department of Culture and Learning
• Antonia Lina Krummheuer, Research Group EMPad (Exploring Methods for Participation and Dialogue) - Department of Communication and Psychology
• Prof. Matthias Rehm, HRI Lab - Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology

Description:

The purpose of this Seedfunding project is to apply for a bigger research project in 2025. The project is to explore and foster children’s and teenagers’ environmental literacy and sustainable practices. This includes fostering knowledge and competences about sustainable choices and the role of technology for sustainable consumption.

Research shows that consumers are aware of their responsibility for green transition and climate change and express their interest in doing so, however, we cannot observe a substantial change in consumption practices. Therefore, we need to get a better understanding of people’s understanding and knowledge of consumption, sustainability and real-world practices. Especially, we lack knowledge of future consumers, that is children and teenagers, who start to make their ‘first contact’ with consumption either as independent shoppers or co-shoppers when following their parents.

This knowledge will be used to design assistive technologies and teaching materials to support responsible consumption and foster the green transition of our society.

Title:

Justice, Equity and Fairness in Deep-Seabed Mining in the NORTH

Project manager:

• Sandra Cassotta, Department of Law, Aalborg University
• Trine Shultz, Head of Department of Law, Aalborg University

Project partners

• Nelson F. Coelho, Assistant Professor, Department of Planning
• Astrid Oberborbeck Andersen, Associate Professor, Department of Culture and Learning

Description:

This research project aims to develop a transdisciplinary approach to Deep Seabed Mining (DSM) - the exploration, and exploitation of minerals found on the ocean floor. This topic is highly relevant as those metals are necessary to build clean energy technologies enabling the transition from fossil fuels, and thus mitigate climate change. However, there are outstanding gaps and uncertainties as to the possible environmental impacts, and how to legally and politically carry out these activities in a just and sustainable way.

This research arrives at a unique historical juncture, as exploitation activities will not commence before 2025, even though 31 exploration licenses are currently being considered worldwide. The Arctic region, with the case of the Norway and Greenland is the latest frontier of prospection for deep seabed mining. The Arctic represents particularly sensitive and vulnerable ecosystems and, indirectly, coastal communities and Indigenous Peoples may be affected by these DSM projects. This project explores possible criteria for justice, equity and fairness that could apply in an effective regulation of DSM with Norway and Greenland as case study. It does so by integrating law, planning, and anthropology to build a transdisciplinary approach that allows the inclusion of DSM into the global energy transition challenge.

Title:

Public transport for all? Exploring the intersection of communication access and universal design in public transport

Project manager: 

• Laura Bang Lindegaard, Associate Professor, Department of Culture and Learning

Project partners:

• Ole B. Jensen, Professor, Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology.
• Martin Trandberg Jensen, Associate Professor, Department of Culture and Learning. SSH.
• Stine Christensen de Paoli. MA in Psychology, now BA-student in Department of Culture and Learning.
• Charles Musselwhite, professor in psychology, Aberystwyth University.
• Nordjyllands Trafikselskab. FynBus, DSB. Dansk handicapforbund. Ældresagen. (We hope to include also Alzheimerforeningen, Folkebevægelsen for et demensvenligt Danmark, Autismeforeningen and ADHD-foreningen)

Description:

Carbon emissions continue to rise in the transport sector. It is widely accepted that technological solutions will not be sufficient to reverse this tendency but need to be complemented by behaviour change towards more environmentally sustainable mobility, not least public transport. It is also widely accepted that public transport must be accessible in both objective and subjective terms to promote such behaviour change.

Accordingly, this project explores how we can make public transport more accessible to all people, including people with various disabilities, thus leaving no one behind in the green transition. Particularly, the project explores if and how we can increase accessibility for all in public transport through an integrated focus on both inclusive communication and universal design.

 

Title:

Digital consumer culture & mental health

Project manager:

• Sarah Awad, Associate Professor of Sociocultural Psychology, Department of Communication and Psychology

Project partners:

• Bolette Blaagaard, Associate Professor, Department of Communication and Psychology, AAU
• Tem Frank Andersen, Associate Professor, Department of Communication and Psychology, AAU
• Niels van Berkel, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, AAU
• Thessa Jensen, Associate Professor, Department of Communication and Psychology, AAU
• Stinne Gunder Strøm Krogager, Associate Professor, Department of Communication and Psychology, AAU
• Nicholas Carrah, Associate Professor, Director of Digital Culture & Societies, The University of Queensland, Australia
• Evronia Azer, Assistant Professor, Centre for Business in Society, Coventry University, UK
• Dabeco: Dansk Behandling for Computerspil- og Onlineafhængighed, Denmark
• Den Grønne Ungdomsbevægelse, Denmark

Description:

Excessive rapid consumption poses a threat not only to our natural environment, but also to our psychological and social environment. In this project we look at how youth engage with digital consumer cultures that promote fast fashion and micro-trend cycles. We investigate the interplay between social media use, consumer behavior, and well-being.

Through the establishment of an interdisciplinary and international research network and a mixed-method pilot study, we will investigate the influence of over-consumption and high materialistic values on psychological well-being, identity development, and sustainable behaviors among young adults.

Title:

 A Sustainable and Democratic Future

Project manager:

• Jørn Sønderholm, Professor, Department of Culture and Learning.

Project partners:

• Jens Damgaard Thaysen, assistant professor, Department of Culture and Learning, AAU
• Kristian Kongshøj, Associate Professor, Department of Politics and Society, AAU
• Troels Fage Hedegaard, Associate Professor, Department of Politics and Society, AAU
• YouGov - data collection

Kommunernes Landsforening (KL) – unit for Tværgående Strategi & Politik. KL will provide input on both parts of the project:

1. Philosophical aspect: KL will share its perspective on how short-termism hinders long-term planning in Danish politics, particularly for issues like climate change. They can provide real-world examples faced by municipalities due to short-sighted political decisions.
2. Empirical aspect: KL will assist with data collection and surveying local politicians to gauge their decision-making processes and how short-term considerations might influence them.

Description:

Elections are great, but they focus on what matters right now. Climate change, however, is a problem for our future, our kids' future, and even further down the line. This project is like tinkering with the toolbox of democracy to find ways politicians can make decisions for the long haul, especially for the environment.

Imagine if we could add super important environmental protections to the constitution, like a "guarantee for future generations." That way, politicians would have to consider the long-term impact of their decisions. We're also exploring a "cooling-off period" for powerful government officials. Basically, after they leave office, they wouldn't be allowed to immediately jump ship and lobby the industries they used to oversee. This would give them time to think about the bigger picture, not just short-term profits.

On top of that, we're investigating how much short-term thinking actually happens in politics. Some studies suggest it's a big problem, while others aren't so sure. Our goal is to get a clearer picture and find ways to make democracies work better for the long-term health of our planet.

Title:

Learning to work with stakeholders in ESG through digital inquiry methods and AI technologies

Project manager:

• Rikke Ørngreen, Professor, Department of Culture and Learning, SSH - member of the Research center for video, the research group and research lab IT and learning design (ILD), and Green Societies.

Project partners:

In this initial step we focus on the AAU team, besides the project manager, the AAU team consist of:

• Birgitte Henningsen, Assistant Professor, Department of Culture and Learning, The Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities – member of the research center for video, the research group and research lab IT and learning design (ILD), and Green Societies.
• Chiara Crovini, Associate Professor, Aalborg University Business School, The Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, member of the Accounting Research Group and Green Societies
• Marie Hvid Dille, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication and Psychology, The Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities – member of the Challenges and movements in performing digitalization, the Visual studies and learning design research center (VILD)
• Søren Lykke, Assoc. Prof. Department of Sustainability and Planning, The Technical Faculty of IT and Design – member of The Danish Centre for Environmental Assessment and Center for Design, Innovation and Sustainable Transitions

Description:

The seed money will be used towards initial investigations and formulating a project application, that have the ambition to develop an ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) framework that integrates data-driven stakeholder perspectives through digital inquiry methods and AI technologies such as Generative and Predictive AI.

Today, organizations encounter challenges when effectively integrating ESG data into their strategic decision-making processes. Additionally, they often find themselves lacking the necessary knowledge to meaningfully incorporate nuanced perspectives from partners, customers, and the surrounding community.

The goal is to enhance the understanding and utilization of ESG data, and over time reach products and services that are greener and more sustainable.

Title:

Symbiosis of CCUS Technologies and Infrastructure for Global Impact (STIGI)

Project manager:

• Yimei Hu, Associate Professor, AAUBS, yimei@business.aau.dk
• Louise Kringelum, Associate Professor (co-lead), AAUB, kringelum@business.aau.dk

Project partners:

AAU Partners:

• Jonas Eduardsen, Associate Professor, AAUBS, jse@business.aau.dk
• Anders Horsbøl, Associate Professor, Department of Communication and Psychology, horsboel@ikp.aau.dk
• Meng Yuan, Assistant Professor, Department of Sustainability and Planning, mengy@plan.aau.dk
• Lucia Mortensen, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Sustainability and Planning, lucia@plan.aau.dk

 

External non-academic partners：

• Port of Aalborg (PoA)
  Contact: Lucia Mortensen， lum@portofaalborg.com
• Hjørring Kommune
  Contact: Thomas Jensen, thomas.jensen@hjoerring.dk

Description:

The Symbiosis of CCUS Technologies and Infrastructure for Global Impact (STIGI) project integrates Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) technologies with existing infrastructure to advance global carbon neutrality.

This seed funding will help address climate change and promote sustainable energy solutions by overcoming economic and institutional barriers. Filling a gap in business management and social science research, STIGI aligns with Innovation Fund Denmark’s Innomission roadmap for achieving CO2 neutrality.

The project will develop initial understandings and two business cases: one with Hjørring Municipality on Power-to-X usage in district heating and another with Port of Aalborg for a CCUS demonstration site. With the initial findings, STIGI sets the foundation for future sustainable development and international best practices.

Title:

Creating Climate Consciousness through Board Game Redesign: Exploring how board game redesign can stimulate climate awareness among upper-grade students and local communities

Project manager:

• Birgitte Sølbeck Henningsen, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Culture and Learning, Aalborg University campus Copenhagen

Project partners:

• Thorkild Hanghøj, Professor, Dept. of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University campus Copenhagen
• Michael Søgaard Jørgensen, Associate Professor, Dept. of Sustainability and Planning, Aalborg University campus Copenhagen

The Board Game Collective:

• Peter Bukovica Gundersen at University College Absalon
• Vici Daphne Händel at University College Copenhagen (KP)
• Anders Simmelkiær Laraignou at Danish School of Education (DPU), Aarhus University.
• Heidi Hautopp, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Culture and Learning, Aalborg University campus Copenhagen
• Erik Ottar, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University campus Copenhagen

And:

• Birgitte Sølbeck Henningsen, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Culture and Learning, Aalborg University campus Copenhagen
• Thorkild Hanghøj, Professor, Dept. of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University campus Copenhagen

The Board Game Bureau (https://braetspilsbureauet.dk/)

Description:

We are developing a design-based research project to explore how redesigning board games can support climate education for 7th and 8th graders in natural science and engage local communities.

As climate-related topics are increasingly integrated into education, as reflected in principles of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), there is a need to contextualize and unfold these principles.

To address this, we aim to explore and develop a methodological approach to design- and game-based teaching. The project thereby potentially contributes to educational research by proposing methodologies aligned with ESD-principles, emphasizing participation, interdependence, critical thinking, and local relevance.

Title:

On Grieving the State of Our Planet: Using the Lamenting Method to Re-imagine Climate Protest”

Project manager:

• Erin Daina McClellan, IKL

Project partners:

• Jens Anderson-Ingstrup, IKP

Description:

This project aims to develop and implement an approach to public protest that centers on public performances of collective grieving, rather than public performances of collective outrage.

Rather than holding placards and yelling through megaphones, as so many public protests are seen to entail, we aim to help current climate activists learn about and implement new approaches to engaging in climate protest and support the coordinated public demonstrations of such protest as informed by the lamenting method, originally developed as an individual support resource for those coping with climate anxiety (Ahtone, 2017).

We contend that collective performances of lamenting can serve both a therapeutic purpose (Wilce, 2011) and a more compelling invitation to join in collective shows of support for green transitions.

Title:

CleanER Cooking - Trajectories to cleaner cooking in low-income households, trading centers, and mass cooking sites in Northern Uganda

Project manager:

• Iben Jensen, Associate Professor, Department of Culture and Learning, AAU.

Project partners:

• Lone Dirckinck-Holmfeld, Professor, Department of Communication and Psychology, AAU; Lars Birch Andreasen, Associate Professor, Department of Culture and Learning, AAU; Hanne Mogensen, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, KU.
• Professor Elisabeth Opiyo, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Science, Gulu Univ; Dr.Geoffrey Olok Tabo, Head of Dept., Computer Science, Gulu Univ; Dr. Doreen Chemutai; PhD fellow Judith Awacorach; Dr. John Bismarck Okumu, Gulu University, Uganda.

Description:

The high use of wood fuel (charcoal and firewood) has caused deforestation and health problems for women and children in Northern Uganda.

Clean cooking is often brought up as a desired alternative, clean referring to either clean air, or clean energy, solar power, electricity, and green charcoal and to improved stoves. However, inequity in access to clean cooking is a severe problem, which makes both affordability and availability a problem for low-income households in rural areas. 

We challenge the implicit assumption that people can simply decide to change from unclean to clean cooking. Instead, we investigate the ways in which they follow various paths toward cleanER cooking, according to what is available, affordable, and feasible in their everyday lives.

CleanER cooking practices can minimize the use of firewood and charcoal and reduce health inequity for temporarily employed low-income cooking workers.

Title:

Environmental Knowledge in the Digital Anthropocene: exploring new spaces of cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Project manager:

• Astrid Oberborbeck Andersen (Associate Professor, Dept. of Culture and Learning)
• Andreas Thyrsted Laursen (Research Assistant, Dept. of Culture and Learning).

Project partners:

Aalborg University:

• Anca-Simona Horvath, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Communication and Psychology; Rikke Becker-Jacobsen, Associate Professor, Dept. of Planning and Sustainability; Finn Arler, Professor emeritus, Dept. of Planning and Sustainability .

External partners:

• Kenneth Geipel, CEO, Robotto (Drone and AI company innovating services of wildlife and ecosystems changes tracking); Biologists from Dept. of Biology, Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Aarhus University.

Description:

Over the last decades, digital technologies such as remote satellite sensing, animal GPS tracking, and computer modelling have grown increasingly central to the ways in which ecosystems are understood and governed. As a result, in changing not only how scientists, managers, and publics come to know about the natural world, but also how the natural world is acted upon, the implementation of digital technologies is further contributing to the blurring of the boundaries between the natural and human, calling forth a hybrid world where neither the natural and technical nor the social and human sciences (SSH) alone are sufficient for understanding and responding to the challenges and changes we face. Instead, the Digital Anthropocene calls for new forms of interdisciplinarity and interdisciplinary knowledge production.

Building from this premise, this seed-funding project explores the spaces of cross-disciplinary collaboration that digital technologies employed in ecosystems science and management enable. More specifically, it brings together tech developers and researchers from biology, anthropology, planning, and architecture to develop new concepts and methods for bringing the sciences closer in questions relating to how landscapes may be architectured towards more biodiverse and resilient “natures” encompassing both human and nonhuman collectives. In so doing, the project aims to lay the conceptual and practical grounds for further efforts, building the necessary interdisciplinary tools and insights for sustainably engaging with some of the most pressing issues of our time.