Last saved: 22 May 2006

The research project aimed to:

• Specify and assess factors which help and hinder informal and formal cross-border contact, and to inform future policy initiatives on issues such as cross-border partnership, questions of sustainability, potential for inter-communal reconciliation and the impact of European integration.
• Kick-start a high level of innovative research collaboration between university institutions, North and South.

The project brought a comparative, interdisciplinary perspective to bear on the study of the border, while plotting pathways to cross-border cooperation on the island. It:

• Undertook a mapping of the effects of the border;
• Assessed the impact of the border as barrier, bridge and source of material costs, benefits and symbolic identity for the peoples on the island;
• Analysed the extent of institutionalised cross-border activity that had survived or developed by the beginning of the 21st century; and
• Explored the options for promoting positive North/South contact and cooperation calculated to undermine the ill-effects of the border while acting to the mutual benefit of communities, North and South.

http://www.mappingfrontiers.ie/ [opens in new window]

2004 - 2005

All Island

General

578,236.00

Centre for Cross Border Studies, Queen's University Belfast, University College Dublin, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), Democratic Dialogue