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Territorial dynamics in the Greater Region: A conversation with Oleksiy Kiryukhin
Oleksiy Kiryukhin, formerly Head of the Ukrainian-Francophone Academic Centre at V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, returned to the Greater Region as UniGR-CBS Fellow at Saarland University (November–December 2025). Building on his previous collaboration with the Université de Liège in 2021 with Quentin Michel and Sylvain Marbehant, as well as his subsequent…
12th Greater Region Forum: Qualifications in a cross-border context: shortages, recognition and co-construction
July 9, 2026 9.30 AM to 5.30 PM | University of Luxembourg, Belval Campus
Today's labour markets are marked by multiple tensions. Many sectors are facing labour shortages, a situation likely to intensify due to demographic imbalances.
The 12th UniGR-CBS Greater Region Forum will address the question of qualifications, particularly in cross-border regions. The forum will…
Making cross-border spatial planning tangible
An interview with Hélène Rouchet about her doctoral thesis
Cross-border spatial planning is a key area of UniGR-CBS's work. In her doctoral thesis, Hélène Rouchet (University of Liège) analyses how simulation games can be used to simulate cross-border spatial planning processes for training purposes. In this interview, she discusses the context of her…
Complexity explains nothing as long as it is merely asserted
References to so-called 'complex borders' are omnipresent in Border Studies. Although the term seems critical and contemporary, it often remains unclear. What exactly is being addressed when borders are discussed as 'complex'? What is lost when complexity remains analytically inconsequential?
This is where the podcast episode comes in. In…
UniGR-CBS Fellow: Call for applications open
The UniGR-Center for Border Studies (UniGR-CBS) is issuing a call for applications for the UniGR-CBS Fellowship. This fellowship provides an opportunity for researchers and academics to spend two months at one of the following partner universities: RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, Saarland University, University of Liège, University of Lorraine, University of Luxembourg or…
Border Realities - The Gates of the Sea: Migration and Rescue at the Edges of Europe
In this online lecture, Luna Vives examines how European border policies have reshaped sea migration governance and maritime rescue in and around Spain. Drawing on two decades of fieldwork on Spain’s maritime rescue agency Salvamento Marítimo, she shows how humanitarian principles anchored in international law are increasingly subordinated to migration control. The…
Researching the Greater Region: A conversation with a UniGR-CBS Fellow
During his UniGR-CBS Fellowship at LEPUR – University of Liège in November and December 2025, Francisco Lara-Valencia conducted a research stay focusing on the Greater Region as a cross-border socio-spatial and governance context. In an interview with the UniGR-CBS, the professor from the School of Transborder Studies at Arizona State University (USA) reflects on his…
New UniGR-CBS Working Paper: Grenzüberschreitendes Placemaking – eine konzeptuelle Annäherung mit Einblicken am Beispiel des Grenzraums Saar-Moselle
The concept of “placemaking” is well established in architectural, urban, and regional planning discourse. It refers to processes through which localities become identity-forming – through spatial design, social practices, or symbolic loading.
This working paper offers a first theoretical reflection on the transferability and further development of placemaking in cross-border contexts…