The purpose of the project was to design and develop the research of the eastern border and eastern regions of the European Union and to improve the application of the research results in practical border cooperation and development of new models for cross-border cooperation. Th e main goal of the project was to strengthen the status of Joensuu and Petrozavodsk as centres of European border research and know-how. In order to reach its goal, the project aimed to tighten the mutual cooperation of the border-research units in Petrozavodsk and to start joint research projects on the Interreg-area and the border between the EU and Russia. Th e project would also compare the European models of Euregio-type areas and the possibilities for cross-border cooperation brought about by the changes in the regional structure of Russia. Th e primary purpose of the project was, however, to make the results of the research and specialist cooperation on borders and border areas fully available for the use of the cooperation in the Interreg Karelia area, particularly Euregio Karelia. Achievements: The project implemented three pilot projects in Petrozavodsk, which examined the role of the border areas and border cooperation and the changes in municipal and central administration as well as the main angles of discussion about border cooperation in the Russian press. Various project meetings and workshops were organised during the project, which presented the results and progress of the pilot projects in Petrozavodsk. The project was included in the organisation of two seminars as part of a series of seminars called Koli Border Forum. The researchers of the project also made presentations on subjects related to the borders and border areas of the EU in various seminars and meeting between researchers. To profile Joensuu and Petrozavodsk as centres of European border research, the project did cooperation and created a joint research programme with border research units and border cooperation centres in St Petersburg, Tartu and Kaliningrad. The foundation for a more extensive Russian network of border research were the connections created in the international conferences of border researchers and preparation of joint research initiatives: the project researchers participated in the preparation of new project finance applications and actively worked in various research projects (e.g. the EXLINEA project and the Russia programme of the Academy of Finland). The project also organised a research group and sought finance for a joint international research on the border regions of the EU, the applicant countries of the EU and Russia. A report based on press material was implemented during the project, which analysed the problems of border politics of the EU and Finland on the border with Russia, and several other publications were also produced for the use of the teachers of Joensuu University and other educators in the fi eld. The project also compiled a book on articles about Euregio Karelia and the European border area cooperation. The final publication of the project dealt extensively with the issues of border politics in North Karelia, Finland and the EU. The project worked closely with the project of the border know-how centre NEBEX.