Aalborg University
Aalborg University (AAU) is the lead partner of the project.
Despite being a young university, with just 50 years of history, AAU is renowned for its problem-based and project-oriented teaching method – the Aalborg Model (PBL) – and its strong focus on collaboration with the surrounding society. The university boasts 2300 faculty members and educates around 3000 bachelors, 3400 candidates, and 220 PhDs annually across a wide range of disciplines, including social sciences, humanities, engineering, health, and natural sciences.
As the coordinator of the CROCUS project, AAU also leads Work Package 7, focused on developing policy scenarios for sustainable cultural tourism across EU macro-regions. As part of this, AAU will establish a Living Lab in the Sønderjylland-Schleswig area to explore innovative approaches to sustainable cultural tourism in this border region.
The CROCUS team at AAU includes Henrik Halkier, Laura James, Anette Therkelsen, and Anna Luna Lind, all based at the Institute for Culture and Learning. The Institute is home to the Tourism MA program, where students delve into topics such as destination analysis, tourism policy, innovation, and rural and nature-based tourism.
AAU tourism researchers are part of several sustainability-focused networks, including #RECAST (Researching sociocultural aspects of sustainability and green transitions) and #GreenSocieties, contributing significantly to research on the green transition in tourism.
Henrik Halkier
Team
Henrik Halkier, professor, tourism and regional studies.
Coordinator of CROCUS. Writes about destination development, governance, innovation, sustainability and policy. Extensive engagement with development practitioners. Recurring leadership roles since the 1990s.
Laura James, associate professor, tourism and regional study.
Co-coordinator, leader of work package on policy scenarios. Writes about destination development, sustainability, governance and policy. Ongoing engagement with development practitioners. Directs Tourism Master study programme at Aalborg University.
Anette Therkelsen, associate professor, tourism branding and consumer studies.
Contributres to work package on cross-border collaboration in cultural and creative tourism. Writes about sustainable tourism, experience innovation, and tourist dynamics. Vice-dean for External Relations, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities.
Anna Luna Lind, PhD student, MA in Tourism from Aalborg University. Studies innovation systems in cultural tourism through case studies in the Danish-German border region. Main contributions to CROCUS in workpackages designing and conducting cross-border living labs.
Anne Rommerdahl Bock, project manager, AAU Fundraising and Projects.
Katherine Brooke Quinteros, project manager, AAU Fundraising and Projects.
Denmark