Call for applications: n-ost Media Conference in Lviv, Ukraine

Journalists and photographers from Eastern and Western Europe are invited to the n-ost Media Conference and engage in joint research that is to be held in September 29th – October 3rd.

Crossing B/orders: The EU's eastern frontier ten years after the enlargement

RESEARCH GROUPS (Belarus, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Ukraine): September 29th – October 3rd

MEDIA CONFERENCE: October 3rd – 6th in Lviv, Ukraine.

The European Union expanded in an unparalleled way on May 1st 2004, and again in 2007 with two additional states. Fifteen years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, the EU external border shifted to the East, creating both new affiliations and new exclusions. Toll gates were taken down in some places while new modern border facilities with infrared cameras were installed in others. In the accession states the new border created the precondition for economic growth and the rule of law, but it also separated areas with a common history. Since then local border traffic has allowed family visits, trade and shopping trips with a tolerable level of red tape. But even with its new borders, the EU remains a hard to reach fortress for refugees from across the world.

How does the border influence people’s lives? What does the border region reveal about the attractiveness of the EU in the euro crisis? Which institutions and people on both sides of the border embody the values for which the EU stands – and where are these just a façade? What strategy is the EU pursuing with its Neighbourhood Policy, and how much of it is really felt by people in the various societies?

For the ninth time, journalists and photographers from Eastern and Western Europe will meet at the n-ost Media Conference to exchange ideas and engage in joint research.

In advance of the actual Conference in Lviv, six research groups will kick things off in Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova. Here journalists and photographers will carry out independent research on a topic of their choice, together with colleagues and with the logistical support of the organisers.

Then they and the other conference participants will bring their border stories and research results to the Conference in Lviv, where the local perspectives of their research will be placed in a wider context.

The Conference language is English. Deadline to apply for the conference is July 28th! There is limited space for journalists who want to attend. Please click here for more details.

According to neweasterneurope.eu