The BiG Lab
Description:
The Borders in Globalization (BIG) Lab at the University of Victoria is an international border research network of policy actors and academics from around the globe. Together, we explore the changing world of contemporary borders with a shared goal: to advance border policy, management and research worldwide.
More than lines on a map, today’s borders do not contain the states they trace. New forms of nationalism, nationhood and self-determination challenge the boundaries of demarcation as Indigenous resurgence, the rise of cross-border cultures, and the interconnected effects of climate change are displacing and overriding the spatial limits of territory. We have only begun to document the emerging mobile logic of borders, from place and boundaries to flows and function.
Since 2013, the BIG network of cross-border organizations, policy analysts, academic researchers and graduate students have produced books, peer-reviewed articles, special issues of journals, and policy reports. We also launched our own peer-reviewed open-access journal, BIG_Review, and the BIG_Books series. You can also learn on the go with our two monthly podcasts: BIG_Podcast and Frontlines Are Everywhere.
Our research is policy-relevant and grounded in real-world issues, providing historically and geopolitically comparative analyses on the major problems affecting global borders and borderlands, including migration, trade, security, ecological issues, borderland cultures, and human mobility. BIG_Lab works with cross-border organizations, regional groups and Indigenous-led organizations to co-produce comparative and policy-relevant research about the challenges facing borders and borderlands today.
Partners and Collaborators:
BIG_Lab partners with organizations beyond the university to extend the reach and impact of our research. Together, we share knowledge through policy networks, learn with and from Indigenous communities, and build new relationships that connect research with real-world action.
We are formally partnered with eight academic institutions and eight border and cross-border organizations from around the world. In addition to policy reports and conferences, BIG works with our partners to develop and deliver Summer Institutes each year to border professionals. Through collaborative research, publications, and partnerships, we are shaping the conversation on bordering practices, border policy and borderlands around the world.
For more information about the BIG Lab and its current research, contact:
Borders in Globalization
Centre for Global Studies
University of Victoria
3800 Finnerty Road
Victoria, BC V8P 5C2
(250) 721-6490
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You can also visit the project website at:
Borders in Globalization Lab (biglobalization.ca)
Funding:
Borders in Globalization is supported by Partnership Grant funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the University of Victoria. Project No. 895-2021-1002.
We have also received funding from Erasmus+ - European Union Jean Monnet Programme Network Grant and EU Centres of Excellence. BIG_Summer Institutes are generously supported by the European Commission and BIG_Review is supported by SSHRC Aid to Scholarly Journals funding.
