Museology is a broad, cross-disciplinary field of study comprising research into theoretical and practical questions about cultural heritage, natural heritage and art and their institutions, particularly museums and their significance and role in society.

The museological research environment at Aarhus University explores processes of musealisation, which means the way in which a society selects, exhibits, interprets and administers the tangible and intangible products of culture with a view to preserving them for posterity.

The combination of museological practice and theory is the prerequisite for any museological research environment. As a result, the affiliated researchers all have practical experience of museums and theoretical insight into a broad range of research areas.

Research environment:

The study of museology at Aarhus University is structured around five perspectives:

• a historical-institutional perspective, including research into the history, collections, exhibitions and artefact concepts of Danish museums
• a didactic perspective, focusing on young people and communication at museums among other things
• a communicative perspective, with a strong profile with regard to strategic communication in the museum world
• a social-economic perspective, including research into museum economy and cultural heritage as policy
• a technological perspective, with years of research into digital museology

The staff have well established, formal collaborations with external partners such as the museums in Aarhus, the Centre for Corporate Communication (BSS), the Danish Centre for Museum Research and the Association of Danish Museums. These collaborations are linked both to the museological degree programmes that are conducted here, and to research in the form of PhD projects which are co-financed by museums. Staff are also involved in Nordic Museology, which is a Scandinavian peer-reviewed journal.

New Danish publication about cybermuseology - Read more (in Danish)