معرفی
Vibe Nielsen is a social anthropologist and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen. She concurrently holds a Research Fellowship at Linacre College, University of Oxford, and serves as Associate Researcher at the Pitt Rivers Museum. Her work bridges museum studies, postcolonial theory, and cultural heritage across multiple international institutions including the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, National Museum of Denmark, and UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
Her research focuses on the decolonization of cultural institutions, examining colonial legacies in museums, botanical gardens, and public commemoration spaces. Key projects include the Ny Carlsberg Foundation-supported study Passion or Politics? The Art Collection of Carl Jacobsen and the Carlsberg Foundation-funded research Decolonising Museums: Changing Curatorial Practices. Her fieldwork spans Denmark, France, Italy, South Africa, the UK, and US, with particular attention to how institutions address imperial histories.
Nielsen's publication trends reveal deep engagement with colonial continuities in botanical science, museum representation, and urban memory politics. Her work consistently connects historical analysis with contemporary decolonial movements, emphasizing transnational comparisons between cities like Cape Town and Copenhagen. Recent outputs show increasing focus on Indigenous perspectives in botanical gardens and the global hierarchies of art value.
- Ny Carlsberg Foundation postdoctoral research project funding
- Carlsberg Foundation postdoctoral research project funding
- Research Fellowship at Linacre College, University of Oxford
- Junior Research Fellow position at Linacre College, University of Oxford
Nielsen has advised numerous research projects through her institutional affiliations but has no formal students listed. Her grants primarily stem from major foundations supporting decolonial research in cultural institutions. She collaborates extensively with international museums including the Pitt Rivers Museum, Quai Branly, and Zeitz MOCAA, focusing on transforming curatorial practices through critical engagement with colonial pasts.
Her work operates at the intersection of museum laboratories, decolonial collectives, and academic research teams, particularly through the Global Europe research network and Linacre College's interdisciplinary fellowship program. Current efforts center on implementing findings from her botanical garden research into museum practice at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.
