Researchar and project manager of Fojo Verify at Fojo Media Institute where I train Swedish journalists on malign information influence, fact-checking and verification.
My acacdemic title is associate professor/reader in intellectual history. In 2020, I was promoted full professor at the University of Gothenburg. Starting from research into the cultural history of the eighteenth century, I have over a decade dedicated my wotk to contemporary issues such as radicalization and conspiracy theories. My profile in media studies ranges from press history to synthetic media and their meaning-making.
´For more information, please see
Teaching
Course leader at Fojo Media Institute for courses on malign information influence operations, disinformation, factchecking and verification.
Various teaching tasks at the Department of Media and Journalism.
Supervision and examination of BA-theses in media and communcation studies and journalism.
Research
My current project is a book in Swedish summarizing my reesarch into conspiracy theories, their history of ideas, attraction and development over the last years.
My ongoing research projects
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Project: "Kidnapping our children". The Campaign against Swedish Social Services 2021–2023 in Context: Mobilization on Social Media, Medial and Civil responses A national quantitative survey study to…
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Project: Alternative Media Logic Alternative Media Logic examines the appeal and impact of alternative media on the Swedish media landscape and the conditions of democratic discourse. "Media logic"…
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Project: Public authority and media resilience: a qualitative interview study about the LVU campaign A qualitative interview study to investigate to investigate how was the LVU campaign handled and…
Publications
Article in journal (Refereed)
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Önnerfors, A. (2025). Den globala statskuppen – konspirationsteorier om näringslivet som dystopisk makt. Organisation & Samhälle.
Status: Published -
Jahrehorn önnerfors, A., Mars, A. (2025). The Dark Side of Ecomedia : Dystopian Imagination of the Sustainable Development Goals in Swedish Doom Metal. Ekphrasis : Images, Cinema, Theory, Media. 33 (1). 154-175.
Status: Published -
Önnerfors, A. (2024). Singing Theories of Conspiracy – Anti-Corona Songs as Political Protest in Denmark and Sweden. Økonomi & Politik. (2). 19-33.
Status: Published
Conference paper (Refereed)
- Ezz el din, M., Ricknell, E., Önnerfors, A. (2025). Countering the LVU Disinformation Campaign: Strategies and Responses from Swedish Media and Authorities. .
- Ezz el din, M., Ricknell, E., Önnerfors, A. (2025). Between Resilience and Emotional Mobilization : A Case Study of the Swedish LVU Disinformation Camp. .
- Holt, K., Hanscam, E., Mohammed, A.T., Milrad, M., Önnerfors, A., et al. (2025). Emotional mobilization and democratic resilience in the hybrid media landscape. . 111-112.
- Ezz el din, M., Ricknell, E., Önnerfors, A. (2024). Twitter Campaign Against the Swedish Social Services : Between Disinformation and Dystopia. Presented at the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Conference, Las Vegas, USA, April 13-16, 2024.
- Ezz el din, M., Önnerfors, A., Ricknell, E. (2023). Twitter campaign against the Swedish social services : Between activism and emotional mobilization. Book of abstracts: Media and Emotional Mobilization.
Book (Refereed)
- Önnerfors, A. (2003). Svenska Pommern : kulturmöten och identifikation 1720–1815. Lund, Lund University Open Access.
Chapter in book (Refereed)
- Önnerfors, A. (2024). Ordering the Social—Socializing the Order. : Navigating Trust between Civil Society and State in the Swedish Realm around 1800.. Cooperation and Confrontation in Nordic Civil Societies since 1800. Routledge. 59-78.
- Önnerfors, A. (2022). Folkhemmet : ‘The People’s Home’ as an expression of retrotopian longing of Sweden before the arrival of mass migration. Migration and Multiculturalism in Scandinavia. Madison, University of Wisconsin Press. 60-79.
- Önnerfors, A. (2022). Fraternal kingdom? : Freemasonry at the court of Gustav III of Sweden (1772–1792). Enlightenment at court : Patrons, philosophes, and reformers in eighteenth-century Europe. Liverpool, Liverpool University Press. 231-256.
Collection (editor) (Refereed)
- Önnerfors, A., Krouwel, A. (2021). Europe: A Continent of Conspiracies? : Conspiracy Theories in and on Europe. London, Routledge. 282.
Conference paper (Other academic)
- Ezz el din, M., Ricknell, E., Önnerfors, A. (2023). LVU, koranbränningar och påverkan : hur kan medierna hanteradesinformation om Sverige?. #SweFactCheck 2023 ”Sverigebilden: från underbarn till undergång." 15-17 November 2023, Kalmar, Sverige.
Book (Other academic)
- Önnerfors, A. (2024). Konspirationsteorier : meningsskapande berättelser i historia och nutid. Lund, Nordic Academic Press.
- Steiner, K., Önnerfors, A. (2024). Enemy images : Emergence, consequences and counteraction. London, Taylor & Francis.
Chapter in book (Other academic)
- Önnerfors, A., Hamrud, A. (2024). Digitala viskningslekar : Konspirationsteorier och det journalistiska berättandet som ett hot mot demokratin. En ifrågasatt demokrati : Forskare och praktiker i dialog. Göteborg och Stockholm, Makadam Förlag. 121-153.
Report (Other academic)
- Önnerfors, A., Ricknell, E., Ezz el din, M. (2026). Mediernas och myndigheternas motståndskraft : En kvalitativ intervjustudie om LVU-kampanjen. Kalmar, Linnaeus University Press.
- Önnerfors, A., Rapacioli, P., Holt, K. (2026). Medieskuggor och lokal demokrati : En vitbok om lokajournalistikens roll i ett hållbart digitalt samhälle. Linnaeus University. 54.
Collection (editor) (Other academic)
- Önnerfors, A., Christiansen, S., Frank, A., Haag, C., Juneström, A., et al. (2025). Fact-checking och verifikation som journalistisk metod. Kalmar, Linnaeus University Press. 215.
Article, book review (Other academic)
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Önnerfors, A. (2026). Daniel Sävborg, Händelser ur Sveriges ohistoria : En försvunnen tid (Stockholm: Dialogos 2024). 359 s.. HISTORISK TIDSKRIFT. Stockholm, Svenska Historiska Föreningen. 146 (2). 380-382.
Status: Published
Chapter in book (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
- Önnerfors, A. (2025). Conspiracy theories as vectors of foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI). Psychological Defence and Information Influence. Myndigheten för psykologiskt försvar. 117-123.
Report (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
- Önnerfors, A. (2021). Conspiracy theories and COVID-19 : the mechanisms behind a rapidly growing societal challenge. Myndigheten för Samhällsskydd och Beredskap. 87.
- Önnerfors, A. (2021). Konspirationsteorier och covid-19 : mekanismerna bakom en snabbväxande samhällsutmaning. Stockholm, Myndigheten för Samhällsskydd och Beredskap. 83.