LIMES · The Hardening and Softening of Borders: Challenges for Europe and the World

The Hardening and Softening of Borders: Challenges for Europe and the World

The overall theme of LIMES – the hardening and softening of borders – is related to current societal challenges in Europe and the world. Borders – as reality and metaphor – exist not only on the edge of the territory of the nation-state or the European Union, but also within and beyond these geographical units, not least in the minds of people. Borders as a social construct are moveable and permeable, and may be hardened and softened over time – i.e. become more or less significant to structure the behaviour of individuals and collectives. LIMES had three main objectives: - Offer high profile PhD positions in the humanities and social sciences, - Prepare the ESRs for the job market through an up-to-date training programme covering relevant skills in academic and non-academic work environments. This included a dedicated training on engagement with traditional and new media, and tailor-made secondments to promote intersectoral mobility and the employability of graduates beyond the academic world. - Trigger interdisciplinary research across academic disciplines and faculties. The project brought together supervisors and PhD candidates from four faculties or schools of the University of Maastricht (UM): the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS), the School of Business and Economics (SBE), the University College Maastricht (UCM), and the Faculty of Law (LAW). The societal relevance of LIMES was double: firstly, it delivered highly skilled ESRs in the humanities and social sciences trained in interdisciplinary, international and intersectoral research and learning. The LIMES researchers are able to comprehensively examine problems from different perspectives and to communicate their findings to different audiences. Secondly, the different PhD projects contributed to the understanding of the dynamics of borders in a broad range of policy areas at a moment where different groups in societies push for the hardening or softening of territorial and other borders.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union