Roar Madsen

Roar Madsen serves as a Senior Lecturer in Social Sciences (History) at the Department of Teacher Education within NTNU's Faculty of Social and Educational Sciences. He primarily teaches social studies in primary school teacher education programs and holds a permanent academic position at the institution.

His educational background includes a History degree from NTNU, supplemented by studies in International Politics (NTNU), Sociology, and Political Geography (University of Oslo). He completed teacher and guidance training through NTNU's practical pedagogical education and university pedagogy programs. During his academic development, he received a cultural agreement scholarship from the Irish Department of Education for a year-long research period at Trinity College Dublin's Department of Political Science.

Madsen's research focuses on Modern Norwegian History (party history, media history, and EEC/EU resistance), Irish History and Politics (ethnic conflict regulation), and Social Studies Education (curriculum development, historical didactics, and basic skills). His work features strong comparative dimensions examining Nordic, UK, and Irish educational frameworks. He emphasizes critical engagement with historical narratives in educational contexts through projects like the Nordic journal Nordidactica.

His recent publication pattern shows heavy concentration in encyclopedia contributions (particularly Store Norske Leksikon), reflecting expertise in Irish political history and Nordic social studies education. These reference works demonstrate consistent thematic focus on conflict resolution, national identity formation, and historical methodology. His scholarly articles reveal growing interest in newspaper history and curriculum development trends within Norwegian education.

Madsen actively supervises master's students and has secured significant research funding, including Nordic Research Council (NOS-HS) support for exploratory workshops on Nordic social studies. He maintains leadership roles in academic organizations including the International Research Association for History and Social Sciences Education (IRAHSSE), where he serves on the board since 2022.

The HIPOLS research group (Historie, politikk og samfunnsutvikling), which Madsen initiated in 2018, has grown into a substantial Nordic network with approximately 30 members. This collaborative platform connects NTNU social studies faculty with colleagues from Norwegian and Swedish teacher education institutions, plus school principals, facilitating cross-border research on historical and political education development.