The network plans to organise 5 focus group/research seminars and a comparative seminar bringing together young researchers from the network in Border Studies and European Studies. The seminars are prepared by each network partner according to the themes and issues specific to each border studied. Each seminar lasts two days and contains two distinct parts from a methodological point of view and in relation to the target audience: one day is dedicated to the focus group involving representatives of civil society (cross-border project leaders and citizen associations); the other one consists of a one-day interdisciplinary research seminar involving specialized researchers and actors from the border area.

Each partner will issue a call for papers to solicit interdisciplinary scientific contributions. During the seminar, senior and junior researchers present their work and then the focus is on an interdisciplinary discussion on the border management model, which will be commented on by the members of the network steering committee. The meetings between researchers and doctoral students from the border region and the members of the steering committee lead to a territorialised analysis of the given border model and stimulate a comparative approach with other cross-border regions. The papers will be published in the research booklet of the 5 border case studies (Peter Lang).

Focus Groups

Each focus group brings together about 20 people representing citizen associations and cross-border actors from both sides of the border. On the basis of a questionnaire established in common but adapted to each case study, a group discussion is initiated during which the participants are invited to express their perceptions of the border and their opinions on how it should be managed.

A film crew films part of the discussions and conducts interviews that are used to develop the interactive online platform. Following this day, each steering committee draws up a report on the citizens’ perception of the different border models in Europe. These reports feed the reflexion for the toolkit on EU border management models and the comparative book (Comparative approach: Borders in Motion: Which models for the EU, Peter Lang, editors Birte Wassenberg, Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly, Oliver Schmidtke).