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• The end of August marks the deadline of the B-SHAPES first reporting period (April 2023 – June 2024) and yes – we do have much to report!

  The first fifteen months of the project have been full of introductory work that has already started to bring the first results. All consortium members have worked hard to communicate B-SHAPES to their networks and beyond, and some work packages have already started organizing events and creating policy briefs. We have the theoretical framework done, and soon our first official research paper will be published! The Editorial Advisory Board and the Gender Equality Committee have been established to smooth out our internal work, and the B-SHAPES website is filled with useful information on the projects. Click here to learn more about the borderlands we research. The B-SHAPES consortium is made up of seven work packages (WPs) that focus on different areas of expertise. WP1 focuses on the bump-free running of the project, manages other WPs and is the administrative force behind B-SHAPES. Thanks to this WP, the consortium has met a few times both online and onsite in Sønderborg and Budapest, knows what to do when, and informs other WPs about all deadlines B-SHAPES needs to meet. WP2 developed a coherent theoretical framework that provides a solid background for the empirical research, creating two reports: Study report on borders as factors shaping borderlanders’ perceptions of Europe and Progress report on borderlanders’ perceptions of Europe discussing theoretical concepts, outlining the need for further empirical research. Within WP3, a media analysis of borders was carried out to trace processes of bordering before, during, and after the SARS-CoV-2 crisis. Within WP4, a report ‘Comparative report on border discourses in minority media’ was written, based on the case study reports submitted by other partners. This comparative report investigates minority media narratives on perceptions of borders and how these relate to the wider European Union project, and current political processes in minority regions in Europe (Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, and Slovakia). To study people’s relations to landscape, WP5 has conducted desk work, including a state-of- the-art review of the border regions with a focus on tourism material, heritage and planning material and educational material. The analysis shows that borders are a key factor forming perceptions and that there is not just one narrative of a border landscape, but parallel and overlapping ones. WP6 has initiated the work on policy briefs, and the consortium members have been investigating existing regional and local heritage. The research on the heritage management policies from the different border regions B-SHAPES is engaged with is being done, and the future months will be spent on creating the policy briefs. WP7 focuses on the communication and dissemination of the project, and all consortium members are involved in spreading the word on B-SHAPES to their networks, stakeholders, audiences via conferences, social media, websites, personal connections. The WP has created the Dissemination, Exploitation and Communication Plan that manages the work done. Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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• Helsingør and Helsingborg Border Walk for B - SHAPES!

  🚢🌍 On the 14th of May 2024, the University of Halmstad had an incredible experience with high school students of Helsingborg as part of our B-SHAPES Borders shape project! We completed an exciting ferry tour between Helsingør and Helsingborg, exploring the Sweden - Denmark border's rich history and cultural significance. Led by our esteemed professors Sara Svensson and Tomas Nilson from Halmstad University, the students actively participated in discussions about our shared heritage, the impact of borders, and the unique landscape of the Öresund region. Their insights and enthusiasm were truly inspiring, and it was a fantastic opportunity to connect academic research with real-world experiences. If you are interested in learning more about B-shapes, please follow this link: https://www.sdu.dk/en/forskning/forskningsenheder/samf/b-shapes We are excited about more border walks to come!

• StoryMap workshops with the local youth at the FI-SE border

  From June 7th to June 9th, Fredriika Jakola and Eeva-Kaisa Prokkola @unioulu finished the border walks and StoryMap workshops with the local youth at the FI-SE border. Such interesting stories and views on border landscape! These will be published as open digital StoryMaps in 2025 #BSHAPES

• First fieldwork in the Slovak-Hungarian borderland

  On May 24, our member Péter Balogh (ELTE) successfully conducted the first field study in the Slovak-Hungarian borderland on behalf of B-Shapes. The site is a truly exciting part of Europe where two neighbouring towns – Štúrovo and Esztergom – have been reconnected by a bridge over the mighty Danube River only since 2001, triggering cross-border flows unprecedented since WWII. Interviews with municipal representatives have been conducted on both sides of the border. Stay tuned for more!

• B-SHAPES Annual Consortium Meeting: 20-21 March 2024, Budapest

  The third consortium meeting of the B-SHAPES project took place in Budapest, and the date of the assembly also marked a year since the project’s beginning. The meeting was quite insightful and a great opportunity to catch up on the progress every work package has made so far. B-SHAPES is indeed starting to take shape! Every work package reported that everything is going according to the schedule – which was very satisfying to hear! The creation of the conceptual framework is in its final stages, and the partners involved in the research on euroscepticism in border regions, minorities’ perception of the project, and presenting border landscape as heritage are deep into their work. The development done in those Work Packages means that this is also the time for Work Package 6 ‘Policy and governance: integrating perceptions of borderland citizens into responsive policymaking’ to begin its activities. The second day of the assembly was focused on workshops, where the work packages could discuss their progress and plans for the future. Additionally, the general assembly discussed the ethics of the project, our data management plan, and the Gender Equality Committee has also presented their strategy. We had the opportunity to meet Zsuzsanna Simits, who will be responsible for creating a documentary film on the research and border walks that our partners plan. And it was greatly inspiring to hear about all of the art projects Lungomare is working on. Thank you to everyone involved in the project for the great work you have done so far! And thank you to the host of the meeting, one of the projects’ partners: Eötvös Loránd University International (ELTE). B-SHAPES is a Horizon Europe research and innovation action project funded by the European Union.

• Study visit to the Polish-Czech borderland

  On 11-12th January 2024, a study visit, organized by Elżbieta Opiłowska (UWR) and Hynek Böhm (TUL) took place in Cieszyn (PL) and Český Těšín (CZ). Participants included Marion Oberhofer and Angelika Burtscher from Lungomare, as well as the artist Zorka Wollny, and researcher Artur Boháč from TUL. During the visit, the team met with representatives from the foundation Člověk na hranici, z.s. (People on the border, https://www.cloveknahranici.eu), the dean and other academics from the Faculty of Arts and Educational Science of University of Silesia, in Cieszyn (https://us.edu.pl/en/w-wsne/), representatives from the Laja Foundation (https://laja.pl/o-nas/) and representatives from the Council of Poles in Czech Republic (https://www.polonica.cz/Kongres-Polakow/Struktura/Rada-Kongresu/). The visit aimed at developing collaboration with local stakeholders for academic research within WP4 and artistic intervention.

• Opole conference

  On 12th September a few members of our consortium gathered in Opole, Poland, to present their preliminary research during the “Borderlands facing a polycrisis in the 21st century” conference (co-organised by B-SHAPES work package leader, Elżbieta Opiłowska). The topic of the conference beautifully aligned with our project! During two discussion panels, we had the opportunity to discuss the media narratives in the Hungarian-Slovak, Danish-German, and Italian-Austrian-German border regions. We also talked about the cultural heritage of borderlands, as well as the Euroscepticism, so omnipresent in those regions. A lot of questions were answered, and even more was raised. The meeting in Opole was a great way to not only discuss the research, but also get to know the members of the B-SHAPES consortium better.

• B-SHAPES panel in Island

  At the 29th conference of Europeanists at the University of Iceland, held in June 2023, B-SHAPES’ PI Johanna Mitterhofer and Alice Engl from EURAC organized a B-Shapes-related panel.The panel focused on the content of B-Shapes WP4: Minorities and borders - narratives, practices, policies. It explored the complex meanings borders have for minority communities by studying border narratives and daily life on the Czech-Polish border (Ursula Obrusnik). It also investigated how minorities and their kin states strategically use re/de/bordering tactics to achieve political and economic aims through the case of Sweden-Finnish minority activists in the 1980s (Nina Carlsson and Tuire Liimatainen) and the use of transnational economic networks by kin-state policymakers in Hungary (Myra Waterbury). Finally, the panel critically explored the uneasy relationship between peripheral regions and the nation state by reflecting on the relationship between minority language politics and invasive species control in the Western Isles of Scotland (Cormac Cleary).

• WP3 visit at the Brunel University

  In June 2023, the group working on the WP3 about Euroscepticism and populism in border regions held a project meeting at B-SHAPE's associated partner Brunel University, London.

• Visit in Bulgaria in June

  On the 5-6 June 2023, B-SHAPES coordinator Martin Klatt and the team from Lungomare visited the Bulgarian partner National History Museum. The Museum will be a key actor in our field work in the Bulgarian-Greek-Turkish border region in WP4 on "Borders shaping minorities' perceptions of the European project", and WP5 on "Border landscapes as heritage".

• Inaugural meeting

  B-SHAPES held a kick-off meeting on 19-20 April 2023 in Sønderborg (DK), at the Alsion campus of University of Southern Denmark. At the meeting, representatives of the consortium, which includes eight universities, a research institution and five non-academic partners, had an opportunity to meet and lay out plans for the next months.