‘The spirit of Eupen’ – that is how Anne Thevenet would sum up these wonderful days at the Heidberg Monastery in Eupen. The event kicked off on Thursday with a research seminar on resilience and intercultural cooperation, which Anne Thevenet helped to organise as part of the German-French Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence in Strasbourg.

The numerous contributions and discussions emphasised how important it is to take the intercultural dimension into account at every stage of cooperation, for example in order to involve citizens and improve the skills of students and practitioners. It also became clear that diversity management is increasingly becoming a must.

The second day of the event was devoted to brainstorming on the future of research within the framework of the Transfrontier Euro-Institut Network (TEIN). The discussions highlighted the considerable need for research in the field of cross-border cooperation with the aim of strengthening European integration and the quality of life of citizens in border regions. Policy makers undoubtedly need sound insights in order to make good decisions, and this is a task to which TEIN members are deeply committed.

Anne Thevenet is extremely grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this task and to have such excellent partners at her side. She would like to thank Anthony Soares, Iztok Rakar, Pim Mertens, Martin Unfried, Martin Guillermo, Ramirez Gyula Ocskay, Zsuzsanna Fejes, Birte Wassenberg, Frédérique Berrod, Fabienne Schimek, Fabienne Leloup, Peter Ulrich and Viola Mathein. Thanks also go to Karl-Heinz Lambertz for the invitation and support, and to Oliver Paasch for the very successful exchange.