“Beyond Borders” supports research about borders and boundaries in past and present times. It promotes interdisciplinary exchange in the social sciences and humanities.
The Call for Applications 2020 focused on “Borders, Democracy and Security” and the call in year 2022 on “Borders, Migration and Knowledge". In the first selection round in 2020, 20 scholarships were awarded to international Ph.D. students and in the second round 2022, 17 scholarships.
Borders are an integral part of our everyday life. Political, social, virtual, intellectual and cultural borders are hotly contested, both in international contexts around issues of migration, security, trade, or global education and within nations trying to deal with increased diversity and changing notions of national culture and history. Geographical borders separate states, regions and cities. They mark the breadth and depth of territorial organization while informal symbolic and social boundaries define values and norms for social, cultural, and religious life. All types of borders can be conceived as social constructs: They may refer to cultural and historical backgrounds, result from international treaties or political negotiations or reflect public debates on controversial topics. In our increasingly globalized world in which human mobility and the constant circulation of goods, objects, ideas and practices are also an integral part of everyday life, the importance of border making and crossing is growing. Borders and cross-border regions function therefore as manifestations of social, political, economic and cultural change.