معرفی
Professor Iben Fonnesberg Schmidt holds the position of Professor with special responsibilities at Aalborg University's Department of Politics and Society within the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities. She currently serves as Viceinstitutleder for forskning (Research Deputy Director) at the Institute for Politics and Society since 2021, and previously led the Ph.D. program there from 2019–2021. Her research focuses on papal history during the central Middle Ages, particularly analyzing the multimedia communication strategies of the papal curia and their reception in local contexts, as well as intellectual and personnel networks within the medieval Church.
Her work explores how papal authority was communicated and contested across Europe, with special attention to the Baltic region and Denmark. She has contributed to projects like 'PapalEmotions' (2019–2021), examining emotions and authority in Innocent III's papacy, and 'Medieval networks' (2022). Her research also intersects with medieval mission strategies and the use of papal letters in legitimizing local power structures.
Recent publications include a 2023 special issue on medieval responses to papal communication in the Journal of Medieval History, and a 2025 commentary on Danish research policy in Altinget. She has held visiting fellowships at institutions such as UC Berkeley (2019) and participates actively in international conferences and research networks.
