Toril Aalberg

Toril Aalberg is Professor and current head of the Department of Sociology and Political Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. Previously department head from 2017-2021 and chair of COST Action IS1308: Populist Political Communication in Europe (2014-2018), she remains active in European research networks including NEPOCS and EVPOC. Currently serving as Guest Professor at Mid Sweden University (2024-2025), she maintains leadership in political communication scholarship through extensive international collaborations.

Her research centers on political communication, election campaigns, media effects on public opinion, media-politics relationships, stereotyping in politics, comparative politics, and experimental methodologies. Aalberg specializes in cross-national comparative studies examining how media environments shape political attitudes across democratic systems, with particular focus on misinformation susceptibility, crisis communication during pandemics and conflicts, and psychological mechanisms underlying media effects on citizen perceptions.

Analysis of her 2019-2025 publications reveals concentrated research on misinformation/disinformation dynamics related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from 15-20 democracies, she investigates fact-checking behaviors, selective exposure patterns, and psychological drivers of disinformation acceptance. Her work demonstrates how crisis contexts amplify media effects on political efficacy and polarization while revealing cross-national variations in misinformation resilience.

No scientific awards are specified in the provided text. While specific advisees aren't listed, her extensive co-authorship network across 30+ publications since 2019 indicates active graduate student supervision. She secured significant funding as principal investigator for COST Action IS1308, a major European research network on populist communication.

Aalberg contributes to NTNU's EVPOC (Elections, Values and Political Communication) research group and participates in NEPOCS (Network of European Political Communication Scholars). These collectives facilitate multinational comparative studies through regular workshops and joint publications, with her COST Action leadership establishing a pan-European network of over 100 scholars studying populist communication across 30+ countries.