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AEBR Annual Events 2024 in Innlandet (Norway) and Värmland (Sweden)

The AEBR Cross-Border School (CBS) is a joint activity by AEBR, Borders in Globalization_Lab (BIG_Lab), the University of Victoria (British Columbia, Canada), and the Radboud University of Nijmegen (NL). The 8th CBS took place in Karlstad (Värmland, Sweden) on Wednesday, 23 October 2024, in collaboration with the Värmland Region (SE) and the Karlstads Universitet. Venue: Eva Ericsson lecture hall, Karlstad University campus (building 21, room 21A 342).

Since 2017, the Association of European Border Regions and the Radboud University of Nijmegen (NL) have organized AEBR CB Schools before Annual Conferences. In recent years, cooperation with the University of Victoria (CA) and the BIG Lab has grown in the 21st Century Borders Project framework. The 8th CBS will open AEBR Annual Events 2024.

You can watch the raw recordings of the VIII AEBR CB School on the AEBR YouTube channel:

Morning session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0euDAn75jU&t=2214s

Afternoon session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ae9mj9bMu8&t=2464s

We are working to edit the CBS videos and include additional information, and they will be ready soon. Keep posted.

We have started to edit the videos of the Annual Conference. The videos below are ready, and the rest will be very soon. Keep posted.

Institutional Opening

Session 1: Security and Cooperation

Session 2: Cooperation and Security in Practice

 

 

    

   

 

In the afternoon, the participants will move to Trysil (Innlandet, Norway) over the Swedish-Norwegian border to attend the AEBR General Assembly on Thursday, 24 October (only for AEBR members in good standing), followed by the AEBR Annual Conference (open to the public, but prior registration is requested, though on-site registration for participants not requiring accommodation would also be possible) until Friday, 25 October.

The AEBR Annual Conference from Trysil will also be streamed on Thursday, 24 October, from 13:30 and on Friday, 25 October, from 9:00 CEST on the following link: https://youtube.com/live/CJAW0lBbc9Y?feature=share

A study visit to cross-border facilities and projects has been organised on Saturday, 26 October, before returning home.

We originally extended the registration deadline to 20 September for the CB School and/or the annual events but kept it open for a few days afterwards. In case of last-minute registrations, please contact our secretariat: info@aebr.eu.

 

(updated 26/10/2024)

Wednesday, 23 October

The VIII AEBR Cross Border School in Karlstad

The VIII AEBR CBS focused this year on three broad aspects of ‘Building Cross-Border Resilience’, the core topic of the AEBR Conference held in Trysil on 24-25 October 2024, and a priority for AEBR and the Mission Operationnelle Transfrontalière (MOT), our French partner organisation within the European Cross-Border Platform.

Both organisations launched on 4 October, with the support of the European Commission’s DG REGIO, a call for proposals for Resilient Border Regions to select 10 pilot actions to prepare cross-border crisis management plans, and 10 additional pilot actions to prepare cross-border spatial planning schemes.

The Eva Ericsson lecture hall (room 21A 342, building 21) at the Karlstad University campus hosted the VIII AEBR Cross Border School focusing on three broad topics related to ‘Building Cross Border Resilience’, which is the core topic of the AEBR Conference held in Trysil on 24-25 October 2024:

    • Energy Security
    • Cooperation & Security
      • Governance of cross-border security: coordination, cooperation, collaboration
      • Cyber security and privacy in cross-border regions
      • Cross-border regions and technology security
    • Security without Cooperation
      • Fencing, Walling and cross-border security
      • Psychological defence and defence awareness in cross-border regions

Here you can find the detailed programme with the panellists and other contributors, including those winning a travel grant and other AEBR partners:

8.00 Meeting at the Peace Monument, Karlstad city square to take bus no. 1 for those wishing to go to Karlstad Uni together, for those arriving by car: there is a parking place right outside building 21.
8.30 Registration at the Eva Eriksson lecture hall (room 21A 342), at Karlstad University, building 21
8.45-9.00 Welcome:

Erik Evestam, Chairman of the Regional Development Board; Region Värmland; Leonardo Iwaya, Karlstad University; AEBR; Prof. E. Brunet-Jailly

As President of the Regional Development Board in Värmland, Erik Evestam is responsible for infrastructure planning, energy issues and development for entrepreneurship in the region. He has convened Elkraft Värmland, a partnership with relevant actors from the region (business and electricity suppliers), to cooperate in increasing knowledge about the electricity supply, formulating Värmland’s needs and, by extension, reducing the risk of future power shortages. He previously worked as legal advisor for Swedish farmers and as a journalist.

9.00-9.40 1st session. Facilitator: Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly, BIG Lab, University of Victoria (Canada)

  • Keynote speech by Leonardo Horn Iwaya, Associate Senior Lecturer, Karlstad University (KAU): Overview of PriSec’s research activities, and Karlstad University and Australian Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre collaboration on ethical hacking of mental health apps.

Prof. Horn Iwaya works with the Privacy and Security (PriSec) and Digital Health Innovation (DHINO) research groups. His expertise in privacy engineering for health and social care systems includes impact assessments, ethical hacking, and privacy- and security-by-design. Before joining KAU, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the psychology department at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil) and the University of Adelaide (Australia) as part of the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre.

9.40-10.30
  • Presentations:
    • Neshe Tuna, Innovation Manager, Compare, Värmland: Collaboration for Cross-Border Cyber Capacity Building

Neshe Tuna is an Innovation Manager at Compare Foundation, specialising in fostering cross-border and multi-stakeholder collaborations, and ecosystem building. With a background in innovation management and stakeholder engagement, Neshe drives initiatives that promote collective problem-solving and digital transformation with focus on public-private sector interaction and innovation commons. She leads projects that strengthen cybersecurity and AI capabilities, focusing on partnerships and knowledge transfer.

    • Todd Hataley, School of Justice and Community Development, Fleming College in Kingston (Ontario, Canada): Building Resilient Borders: Advancing the Research Agenda, joint presentation with Prof. Brunet-Jailly

Prof.  Hataley is a retired member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. During his tenure as a federal police officer, he worked as an investigator in organised crime, national security, cross-border crime and extra-territorial torture. He is an adjunct associate professor at the Royal Military College of Canada and at the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security at Charles Sturt University in Canberra, Australia. His research currently focuses on the management of international boundaries, money laundering, Indigenous policing and transnational crime. He is working on the IIRG’s project on the intersection of international and traditional Indigenous boundaries.

  • Discussion
10.30-11.00 Networking coffee
11.00-11.30 2nd session. Facilitator: Martin van der Velde, Radboud University in Nijmegen (the Netherlands)

  • Keynote speech: Peder Hyllengren, Psychological Defence Agency, Sweden: Psychological defence and defence awareness in cross-border regions

Dr Hyllengren has a PhD in psychology from the University of Bergen (Norway) and is a research coordinator at the Swedish Psychological Defense Agency. In his presentation Peder will elaborate on current research priorities and challenges related to Sweden’s psychological defence and cross-border regions.

11.30-12.30
  • Papers:
    • Samuel Kehinde Okunade, Bowen University, Iwo. Nigeria. Addressing Irregular Migration in South Africa: Paradiplomatic Role of Subnational Governments in Limpopo Province

Dr Okunade is an African Border and Migration Expert at Bowen University in Iwo (Nigeria), with various additional affiliations as a fellow at CODESRIA (the College of Mentors and Mentees) in Dakar (Senegal) and the Borders in Globalization (BiG) Institute at the University of Victoria (Canada). He is also a Board Member of the Association of Borderlands Studies (ABS), based in the US.

    • Dr Lyudmila Yu. Progoniuk, National Agrarian University of Mykolayiv (Ukraine): Problems of cross-border security in the context of Russian aggression against Ukraine

Dr Progoniuk is Associate Professor at the Department of Public Administration and Administration and International Economics, Faculty of Management, Mykolayiv National Agrarian University, Mykolayiv, Ukraine

    • Dr Iryna Yaremak, Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas (IFNTUOG) (Ukraine): Enhancing energy security through cross-border cooperation between Ukraine and EU countries

Dr Yaremak is Associated Professor at the Department of Electric Power, Electrical Engineering and Electromechanics, Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas.

  • Discussion
12.30-13.30 Lunch
13.30-14.00 3rd session: Facilitator: Martín Guillermo Ramírez, AEBR Secretary General

  • Keynote speech by Prof. Jussi Laine, University of Eastern Finland: Borders as (de)fences: Security and Border Politics in Uncertain times

Dr Laine is a professor of multidisciplinary border studies at the Karelian Institute of the University of Eastern Finland, and Docent of Human Geography at the University of Oulu (FI). President of the World Social Science Association and serves on the Steering Committee of the International Geographical Union’s Commission on Political Geography. From 2013 to 2021 he led the Association for Borderlands Studies. He is a human geographer who combines influences from international relations and geopolitics, political sociology, history, anthropology, and psychology to explore the multiscalar production of borders and bring a critical perspective to bear on the relationship between state, territory, citizenship, and identity construction. He is frequently consulted by various government bodies and regularly comments on border, migration and security matters, as well as international affairs, in both Finnish and international media.

14.00-14.15 Presentation: Dr Maciej Molak, Secretary General of the Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies, Mendel University in Brno (Czech Republic): Cross-Border Cooperation as an alternative way of providing fire protection and its effectiveness

Research methodology and results of the research on Cross-border cooperation in fire protection and crisis management, containing a case study from the Polish-Czech borderland dealing with territorial, institutional, financial and operational efficiency. Cross-border Fire Protection is framed in the context of the defining features of a cross-border public service (CPS by ESPON) and a polycentric non-hierarchical multilevel governance model. It identifies barriers to cooperation and factors affecting its effectiveness. The work also includes research on the motivation and willingness of local and regional policy-makers to engage in cross-border cooperation.

14.15-14.30 Sum-up Session & Closing: Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly, Martin van der Velde, Martín Guillermo Ramírez
14.30 Networking coffee
15.00-18.45 Departure (and transfer by bus from Karlstad to Trysil for the annual conference participants)

 

Transfer and border crossing from Karlstad (SE) to Trysil (NO)

In the afternoon, those participants attending the whole series of events transferred across the SE-NO border to the Skistar Lodge hotel in Trysil and continued the programme.

Thursday, 24 October

The AEBR Annual Conference 2024 followed the morning meetings of the AEBR Executive Committee and the General Assembly of members.

The AEBR Annual Conference from Trysil was web-streamed on the AEBR YouTube channel

You can also watch the raw recordings:

We are working to edit the videos and include additional information. The items below are ready; the rest will be ready soon. Keep posted.

Institutional Opening

Session 1: Security and Cooperation

Session 2: Cooperation and Security in Practice

 

Session 3: Nordic Border Committees – past, present and future

Session 4: Future of European Territorial Cooperation

Session 5: Building Security and Resilience

 

 

 

Program
8.00-12.00

9.00-10.00

10.00-12.30

Registration

AEBR Executive Committee meeting

AEBR General Assembly

12.30-13.30 Buffet lunch
13.30-14.45

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annual Conference

Building security and resilience in European border regions

1st Session: Security and Cooperation

Mod.: Ana Nikolov, AEBR Balkans

  • Karl-Heinz Lambertz, President of the Association of European Border Regions
  • State Secretary Sigrun Wiggen Prestbakmo, Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development of Norway
  • State Secretary Even Eriksen, Ministry of Justice and Public Security of Norway
  • Jelena Drenjanin, Chair of the Governance Committee,  Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Council of Europe

Discussion

14.45-16.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2nd Session. Cooperation and Security in Practice

Mod.: Steven Frostdahl, Ostrobotnia Regional Council (FI)

  • Secretary General Marit Egholm Jacobsen, Barents Sea Cooperation (NO/SE/FI/RU)
  • Silvia Plesca, BRCT Iasi, Romanian-Moldavian border
  • Enric Millo, Secretary General for External Affairs, Regional Government of Andalucía: the EU Mediterranean border (video presentation)
  • Cezar Grozavu, BRCT Suceava, Romanian-Ukrainian border
  • Sanda Šimić, Western Balkan borders

Discussion

16.00-16.30 Networking coffee
16.30-17.30

 

 

 

 

 

Institutional Opening of the AEBR Annual Conference 2024 «Resilient Border Regions»
Facilitator: Ana Nikolov

  • Turid Backe-Viken, Mayor, Trysil Municipality
  • Daniel Schützer, Chair, Healthcare Committee , Region Värmland
  • Hanne Alstrup Velure, Deputy Mayor,- Innlandet County Council
  • Jelena Drenjanin, Chair of the Governance Committee, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Council of Europe
  • Karl-Heinz Lambertz, President, Association of European Border Regions
19.30-22.00 Buffet dinner

 

Friday, 25 October

Time Program
8.00-12.00

9.00-12.30

9.00-9.05

9.00-10.30   

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

Registration

Annual Conference

Morning Mood by Edvard Grieg, Peer Gynt Suite #1, Op. 46

3rd Session: «Nordic Border Committees – past, present and future»

Moderator: Erik Hagen, Head of Section, Innlandet County Administration: Introduction to the session

  • Hans-Peter Carlson, director of the MidtSkandia Cross-Border Committee (SE-NO): The common history of the Nordic Countries and the establishment of the Nordic Border Committees
  • Cecilia Nilsson, director of the Svinesund Cross-Border Committee (SE-NO): Working to integrate the Svinesund Cross-border area – unleashing the benefits of cross-border cooperation
  • Madelene Kutt and Kikki Lindset, advisor The Border Service Office Sweden-Norway at Morokulien: Combating persistent border obstacles hampering economic growth and an open labour market
  • Gro Svarstad, director of the Cross-Border Committee Innlandet-Dalarna (SE-NO): The future of the Nordic Cross-Border Committees

Discussion

10.30-11-00 Networking coffee
11.00-12.30 Workshops organised by AEBR Task Forces:

  • TF Cross-Border Culture and Languages. Coordinates Anthi Panagioutou, Xanthi Chamber of Commerce (GR)
  • TF External Borders, with a focus on Ukraine. Coordinates Johannes Moisio, South Karelia (FI)
12.30-13.30 Buffet lunch and family photo
13.30-15.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4th Session. The Future European Territorial Cooperation

Mod.: Martín Guillermo Ramírez, AEBR Secretary General  

  • Johannes Moisio, Challenges at EUs North-East External border (ESPON CHANEBO) 
  • n.n., DG Regio (video presentation, tbc)
  • AEBR Team, IVY consultation (video presentation)
  • Peter Hansen, Regio Sonderjylland Schleswig (DE/DK): New initiatives at German borders
  • Martin Klatt/Sara Svensson, Borders Shaping Perceptions of European Societies (B-Shapes) (video presentation, tbc)
  • Caitriona Mullan, b-solutions 3.0 – Solving Cross-Border Obstacles

Discussion

15.00-15.30 Networking coffee 
15.30-17.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Session 5. Building Security and Resilience

Mod.: Caitriona Mullan

  • Turid Backe-Viken, Mayor, Trysil municipality: Cross-border infrastructures: the Interreg Sweden-Norway SITE mobility and cross-border railway
  • Hanna Marin Söderholm, Nils Halvor Gryting, Peder Stokke, Lindholm Science AB Hospital, Innlandet: Cross-border Crisis management, Prehospital cooperation and digital support Interreg Sweden-Norway program
  • Dr Maciej Molak, Secretary General of the Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies, Mendel University in Brno. Czech Republic: Cross-Border Cooperation as an alternative way of providing fire protection and its effectiveness
  • Cinzia Dellagiacoma, AEBR: Building Resilient Borders (Crisis Management and Spatial Planning) and Cross-border Energy Communities
  • Pavel Branda, CoR Rapporteur and Chairman of the CBC Intergroup, Vice-president of the Euroregion Neisse-Nysa-Nisa and AEBR Vice-president: the CoR Opinion on Solving obstacles to CBC of emergency services

Discussion

17.00-17.15 Presentation of AEBR Annual Events 2025 and Closing
19.00-22.00 Gala dinner at the hotel

Saturday, 26 October

Venue Time Program
Trysil 5.30-8.00 breakfast
Trysil 06.00-08.30 Transfer to Oslo Airport
8.00-11.00 Study visit Scandinavian Mountain Airport – SITE region
Gammelgården Sälen 11.30-12.30 Lunch at Gammelgården
https://www.gammelgarden.se/
12.30-16.00 Transfer to Oslo Airport

 

 

Transfers: (updated information)

Wednesday, 23/10, 15.00 h – Karlstad University to Trysil

Wednesday, 23/10, 16.30 h – Oslo Airport to Trysil

Friday, 25/10, 18.00 h (after the Conference) – Trysil to Oslo Airport

Saturday, 26/10, 6.00 h – Trysil to Oslo Airport

Saturday, 26/10, 8.00 h –  Trysil for Study Visit SITE Region, return to Oslo Airport by 16:00 h at the latest

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