Border research, building a Russian network of border know-how for EU & Russia
Funded by Euregio Karelia Neighbourhood Programme 2001-2006

Objective of the project

The main goal of the project was to strengthen the status of Joensuu and Petrozavodsk as the centres of European border research and know-how.

Main activities

• Launching of three pilot projects in Petrozavodsk to examine the role of the border areas, border cooperation, and its direction and to identify the changes in municipal and central administration, • Organisation of project meetings, workshops, and seminars; giving presentations on subjects related to the borders and border areas of the EU, • Cooperation with border research units and border cooperation centres in St. Petersburg, Tartu and Kaliningrad to profile Joensuu and Petrozavodsk as the centres of European border research, • Creating a more extensive Russian network of border research at international conferences, • Preparation of project finance applications; active participation in research projects • Publication of reports, articles, books etc. of border politics and the problems related to it.

Achievements

The project implemented three pilot projects in Petrozavodsk, which examined the role of the border areas and border cooperation and the changes in municipal and central administration as well as the main angles of discussion about border cooperation in the Russian press. Various project meetings and workshops were organised during the project, which presented the results and progress of the pilot projects in Petrozavodsk. The project was included in the organisation of two seminars as part of a series of seminars called Koli Border Forum. The researchers of the project also made presentations on subjects related to the borders and border areas of the EU in various seminars and meeting between researchers. To profile Joensuu and Petrozavodsk as centres of European border research, the project did cooperation and created a joint research programme with border research units and border cooperation centres in St Petersburg, Tartu and Kaliningrad. The foundation for a more extensive Russian network of border research were the connections created in the international conferences of border researchers and preparation of joint research initiatives: the project researchers participated in the preparation of new project finance applications and actively worked in various research projects (e.g. the EXLINEA project and the Russia programme of the Academy of Finland). The project also organised a research group and sought finance for a joint international research on the border regions of the EU, the applicant countries of the EU and Russia. A report based on press material was implemented during the project, which analysed the problems of border politics of the EU and Finland on the border with Russia, and several other publications were also produced for the use of the teachers of Joensuu University and other educators in the field. The project also compiled a book on articles about Euregio Karelia and the European border area cooperation. The final publication of the project dealt extensively with the issues of border politics in North Karelia, Finland and the EU. The project worked closely with the project of the border know-how centre NEBEX.