Dr. James Wesley Scott

James Wesley Scott is Professor of Geography at the Karelian Institute at the University of Joensuu (Finland) and Research Fellow at the Leibniz-Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning in Erkner (Germany). Prof. Scott ob­tained his Habilitation (2006), PhD (1990) and MA (1986) at the Free University of Berlin and his B.Sc. at the University of California Berkeley (1979).

Among his research interests are: urban and regional development policy, geopolitics, border studies, trans­boundary regionalism in Europe and North America Changes and the spatial implications of Eastern and Central European transformation processes. Recently, he has coordinated European research projects on crossborder cooperation within the EU’s Fifth and Sixth Framework Programmes.


Dr. Hans-Joachim Bürkner

Social and economic geographer, senior researcher at the Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning in Erkner (IRS, near Berlin) and Professor of Economic and Social Geography at the University of Potsdam (Dept. of Human Geography).
Recent fields of research:

Urban studies, Migration studies, Social milieus and socio-spatial disparities, Regional development with focus on Central European border areas, Knowledge economy and creative industries, Metropolitan regions in Latin America

Dr. Iwona Sagan

Iwona Sagan is Professor and Head of Department of Geography at the University of Gdansk, Poland. She is a recognised expert in urban and regional studies and has focused much of her research attention on the problems of post-socialist transformation. Since 2002, her Department has co-ordinated the Research and Education Centre for Urban Socio-Economic Development (RECOURSE), funded by the European Union.

Dr. Henk van Houtum

Henk van Houtum is Associate Professor of Geopolitics and Political Geography at the Radboud University Nijmegen and Head of the Nijmegen Centre for Border Research. He is co-editor of the Journal of Borderlands Studies. He publishes extensively on the ontology and (in)justice of borders, on migration, international relations, national identity, cities and cartography. He is a columnist and commentator for various media.