Centre for Border Region Studies

25/08/2026

Last week, Søren Tinning, postdoc at CBRS, participated at Klimatorium’s annual Climate Summit (Klimatopmødet).

Here, Søren presented the latest result from the Interreg project ClimatePol discussing how knowledge exchange and cooperation across the Danish-German border offers an overlooked potential for developing new and innovative solutions to the many challenges inherent to an efficient adaptation to climate change.

Check out https://vimeo.com/event/6125317 for Søren´s talk “Klimatilpasning på tværs af grænser: en overset resource.” (2:03:10) and his participation in the panel debate “Paneldialog: Hvordan får vi klimatilpasning til at ske?”(05:52:50).

12/08/2026

Publication alert!

Our colleague Dorte Jagetic Andersen has a new publication out in Geopolitics, titled “The Crisification of Europe: How Intersecting Bordering Narratives Shape the Geopolitical Imaginations of Europe in the Light of Polycrisis”

The article is written together with Elżbieta Opiłowska, Eeva-Kaisa Prokkola, Łukasz Moll, and Sara Svensson.

The article is open access: https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2026.2701751

13/07/2026

New open access publication from our team!

In the article titled "Hostile paradiplomacy amidst secession pressures: the case of Alberta", Hannah Johnston-Wheeler together with our colleague, Jaume Castan Pinos, examine the Canadian province of Alberta's international engagement through the lens of hostile paradiplomacy, defined as subnational foreign policy conducted in sustained tension with the central state.

The authors argue that Alberta represents an escalating form of hostile paradiplomacy, driven primarily by economic grievance and institutionalised policy conflict. The case suggests that hostile paradiplomacy need not be rooted in nationalist identity claims to be consequential.

Read the full article here: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/political-science/articles/10.3389/fpos.2026.1840926/full

24/06/2026

Two weeks ago, our colleague Dorte Andersen, gave an open lecture at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan.

The lecture, titled “When the Border Returned: Neo-securitisation and borderlands resilience in the Danish-German border region”, was held in connection with a workshop in our EPICUR project, n-Secbo. The project is a collaboration between University of Strasbourg, Adam Mickiewicz University, Freiburg University and the University of Southern Denmark.

22/06/2026

Last week, Søren Tinning, postdoc at CBRS, presented a paper at the Regional Studies Association’s Annual Conference, under the title "Barriers to innovative responses to cross border climate adaptation”.

The paper develops a conceptual framework consisting of 10 categories for properly identifying the multi-level and multi-dimensional landscape of barriers to climate adaptation in the Danish-German border region and beyond. Applying the framework will help scholars and actors alike to diagnose the concrete constellation of challenges to climate adaptation in need of innovative solutions in the region, and to do so in a holistic manner that reflects the complex and multifaceted character of these challenges.

The paper is authored together with a number of colleagues at SDU and the University of Kiel, Germany. It builds on the data and insights from the Interreg DK-DE 6A project, ClimatePol, Lead by the SDU Climate Cluster.

18/06/2026

Dorte Jagetic Andersen and Annika Pohl Harrisson recently hosted a second workshop on Flensburg Fjord in connection with their Coloring Borders Green Project.

The participants were from both sides of the Danish German border. The first day took place in Sønderborg and focused on cultural heritage. Participants learned about the fjord’s historical role as a transport route and connecting link in the borderland and took part in a creative workshop facilitated by Sønderjyllands Kunstskole. The second day took place at the Ostseelabor in Flensburg and focused on the marine environment. Here, participants worked with hands-on exercises on marine life and ecological challenges.

The two days opened up conversations about how Flensburg Fjord is both a shared environment, a cultural landscape and a cross-border space of cooperation and responsibility.

A warm thank you to all participants and facilitators for their engagement!

The project is funded by Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond.

28/04/2026

It is our pleasure to announce that our colleague and head of Centre, Dorte Andersen as per April 2026 has been appointed to act as member of the board for the Association for Borderlands Studies, ABS! She will serve the board during the period 2026-2029.

Read more about ABS here: https://absborderlands.org

17/04/2026

Climate change doesn’t stop at borders – so why do we?

In a new op-ed in Ingeniøren - WaterTech, two of our colleagues from CBRS, Søren Tinning and Dorte Andersen, along with colleagues from SDU Climate Cluster, highlight a key gap in climate adaptation: while Denmark and Germany share challenges, collaboration across the border remains limited.

Research from the ClimatePol project shows strong national networks but very few cross-border connections. More collaboration could unlock better and more innovative solutions and strengthen climate resilience on both sides. If climate challenges are transboundary, the solutions must be too.

Read the full op-ed here (in Danish):

En effektiv klimasikring af Danmark kræver innovativ tænkning og nye løsninger. Mange af dem kan vi finde hos vores naboer i Slesvig-Holsten. Alligevel kniber det med samarbejdet. Hvorfor er det tilfældet og hvad kan vi gøre ved det? Det er nogle af de spørgsmål, som Interreg projektet Climat...

16/03/2026

🇪🇺 Simulation of Council Negotiations at BSc European Studies

Last week, our second‑semester students taking the course 'EU Institutions and Administration' (BSc European Studies) took part in a hands‑on Simulation of Council Negotiations. The Simulation was inspired by the Council’s project and used materials developed by the General Secretariat of the Council.

Throughout the Simulation, students stepped into the roles of ministers of EU member states, deputy permanent representatives, the European Commission, and the Presidency. They negotiated a proposal for a Regulation on a Fair Fashion Label, experiencing firsthand the complexity of EU decision‑making and the challenge of finding common ground among diverse interests.

The session concluded with a structured reflection, allowing students to connect the dynamics of the game with real‑world policy processes and their own negotiation strategies.

A warm thank‑you to course lector Anna Vlasiuk Nibe for organizing the simulation, to student instructors Kateryna Khaliava and Aistis Malinauskas for their dedicated preparation, and to all participating students for their energy, insight, and engagement!

We look forward to hosting more interactive learning activities within the European Studies program at SDU.

16/03/2026

We are pleased to share a new online course developed within the B-SHAPES (Borders Shaping Perceptions of European Societies) project: Perception of Borders in European Societies. You can read more about the course here: https://www.hh.se/english/education/professional-development/perception-of-borders-in-european-societies.html

This free, fully online 7-lesson open online course (OOC) hosted by Halmstad University explores how borders and everyday life in border regions shape perceptions of European societies. The course combines short podcasts, pre-recorded lectures, and self-assessment quizzes, and participants receive a certificate of completion after finishing the course.

The course is asynchronous and can be taken at any pace. Across seven lessons, participants engage with themes such as:

• Borders and borderlanders in Europe
• Narratives and everyday bordering practices
• European integration and border regions
• Euroscepticism in borderlands
• National minorities in border regions
• Landscapes and cultural heritage
• Artistic perspectives on borders

The course has been developed as part of the B-SHAPES project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme, and brings together perspectives from research, cultural heritage, and artistic practice.

You can access the course and learn more here:
https://beyondborders.moodlecloud.com/course/view.php?id=9