Leverage Advanced Technologies for Enhanced Border Security
with Ben Rohrbaugh (Former Director, Enforcement and Border Security, US National Security Council; CEO, Lantern Operations) and moderated by Curtis Clark (PhD – Former DM Alberta Solicitor General, ADM Alberta Correctional Services; Co-Founder, Propero Learning Systems) | Online via Microsoft Teams | 12PM PST, May 14, 2025
Borders today are shaped by more than just policy: technology, crisis response, geo-political tensions, and cross-border cooperation are redefining how they function. Join us in May for a critical conversation on the state of, and future of border management featuring two of the world’s leading experts. This in-depth Q&A-style session is your opportunity to engage with global experts, ask timely questions, and better understand the shifts reshaping the field right now.
In this dynamic discussion with Jean Peyrony, discover how digital tools—from data analytics to decision support systems—are transforming how borders are secured, managed, and modernized.
What you’ll learn:
– How new technologies are shaping border operations
– Lessons from U.S. security and interagency coordination
– Practical challenges and ethical considerations in modernization
Details:
– Date: May 14, 2025
– Time: 12:00 PM PST (19:00 UTC)
– Location: Online (Microsoft Teams)
– Cost: Free
Developing effective leadership in complex border security environments
with Jean Peyrony (Director General, Mission Opérationelle Transfrontlière) and moderated by Curtis Clark (PhD – Former DM Alberta Solicitor General, ADM Alberta Correctional Services; Co-Founder, Propero Learning Systems) | Online via Microsoft Teams | 8AM PST, May 7, 2025
Borders today are shaped by more than just policy: technology, crisis response, geo-political tensions, and cross-border cooperation are redefining how they function. Join us in May for a critical conversation around the state of, and future of border management featuring two of the world’s leading experts. This in-depth Q&A-style session is your opportunity to engage with global experts, ask timely questions, and better understand the shifts reshaping the field right now.
In this dynamic discussion with Jean Peyrony, explore how strong leadership and smart planning enable organizations to respond to complexity and crisis.
What you’ll learn:
– Crisis response and leadership in evolving environments
– Strategies for resilient, adaptive border organizations
– European models of governance and cross-border cooperation
Details:
– Date: May 7, 2025
– Time: 8:00 AM PST (15:00 UTC)
– Location: Online (Microsoft Teams)
– Cost: Free
Towards a Conceptualization of Borders, (Un)civil Society, and Contentious Politics
April 7–8, 2025 | University of Victoria
Members of the Borders in Globalization Lab (BIG_Lab) team will be hosting a workshop event in April 2025 bringing scholars from across the world together to discuss issues of populism, civil society contention, and border politics. The workshop will feature panel presentations by emerging and established scholars working on topics including the discursive making of borders, the politics of resistance in border regions, the imperial and colonial dimensions of borders, and the role of populism and ‘post-truth’ in border contention. Dr. Jeff Corntassel, the lead of BIG_Lab’s Pillar 1 on Indigenous Internationalisms, will give the opening keynote address, along with BIG_Lab team members Dr. Emma Swan, Dr. Maria Sigridur Finnsdottir, and Jules Soupault.
The workshop will also offer the team members an opportunity to present their novel theoretical framework – ‘Constellation of Truths’ (CoT). The CoT framework is rooted in two assumptions: first, that truths and narratives play a crucial role in the (re)production and contestation of borders, bordered subjects, and border identities. Second, that hegemonic truth is in crisis in current political climate, as evidenced in rise of populist and authoritarian politics. Rather than understanding this era as being one of ‘post-truth’ – which presupposes a prior era where truth was important in politics – we contend that truth was also been contested, resisted, and produced through interaction. We argue that as (un)civil society actors in the borderlands are invested in intervening, attempting to construct alternative political imaginaries or producing knowledge in the borderlands, their struggles are generative of a constellation of truths. Within this constellation, diverse voices, narratives, and truth claims all interact with differing degrees of power to construct and broaden the realm of political imaginaries.
See the program below for more details.
Senior Fellow of Practice – Central European Service for Cross-Border Initiatives
Teodor Gyelník
Teodor Gyelník is a scientific member of the Central European Service for Cross-Border Initiatives (CESCI) team and he is a founding member of the LUPS–CESCI Research Group on Cross-Border Cooperation. Within these frames, he primarily conducts research in the field of cross-border cooperation, border studies and sub-disciplines of contemporary border sciences. Previously, he worked as a scientific member at the European Council on Foreign Relations and at the European Stability Initiative. Teodor has also lectured at Comenius University in Bratislava, where he earned his PhD in European Studies and Political Science. Prior to that, he studied European Studies and International Relations at the master’s level and European Studies at the bachelor’s level. He regularly publishes in international journals and he takes active role in the development of the Journal of Advanced Studies on Borders, Cooperation and Development. He speaks Hungarian, English, Slovak, and Czech.
Distinguished Fellow of Practice – Transfrontier Euro-Institut Network
Anne Thevenet
Anne Thevenet (French) has been working at the Euro-Institut, an Institute for training and counselling on cross-border issues located in Kehl (Germany), since 2005. She holds a diploma in political sciences, and Masters in European studies and in management. As Deputy Director, she is in charge of human resources, contacts with funders and the development of new projects and strategies.
Her field of expertise are the coaching of stakeholders and cross-border groups / teams, the design and delivery of training courses (intercultural communication and project management / Cross-Border Cooperation) as well as the design and moderation of workshops / conferences. Moreover, she works on projects aiming at combining practical and scientific approaches on cross-border issues.
Since 2010, she has coordinated the Transfrontier Euro-Institut Network (TEIN), which brings together 20 members from 12 different European border regions as well as 2 associated members. TEIN’s objective is to build capacities in cross-border contexts to strengthen European integration.
Distinguished Fellow of Practice – Canada Border Services Agency
Richard St. Marseille
Richard St Marseille is the Director General of the Trade Programs Directorate of the Canada Border Services Agency, a federal government organization with which he has worked for over 19 years. He has held a variety of roles from the officer to management and executive levels in the Government of Canada. His work has included initiatives related to immigration, refugees, controlled substances, customs enforcement, intelligence, external review, and Cabinet, Parliamentary and Regulatory Affairs.
Richard has extensive experience working with partners and leading multidisciplinary teams to develop and design complex legislative, regulatory, and program initiatives which have significant implications for Canada and related stakeholders (domestically and abroad), including the travelling public, foreign administrations, non-governmental organizations, and private sector industries among others.
He is a graduate of the University of Victoria (Masters in Public Administration) and the University of Toronto (Honours Bachelor of Arts, Political Science). Richard has also completed the Certificate in Regulatory Leadership at the University of Ottawa, and the Certificate in Global Management at INSEAD (Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires)
#28 & #29 BIG Podcast – Hadrian’s Wall, Frontiers of the Roman Empire and Border Studies (Part One)
featuring archeologist David J. Breeze, British archaeologist and scholar of Hadrian’s Wall, the Antonine’s Wall, and the Roman army
The history of the Roman Empire is intertwined with the control of the entire Mediterranean Sea and reached at its peak 5 million km² for 60 million inhabitants. The empire was heterogeneous and expanded through conquests and was maintained through a network of frontiers and a system of friendly, allies or “client” states (reges amicique populi Romani). Due to rebellions from some tribes as the Brigantes, and after having visited the Danube and Rhine frontiers, the Roman Emperor Hadrian (reigned 117–138) came to Britannia in July 122 BC. By ordering the construction of the Wall (between 122 – and maybe before according to certain authors – and 127 AD), Hadrian put an end to the territorial expansion of the Roman Empire. In short, Hadrian adopted a policy of protecting frontiers without expansion.
What functions did the borders of the Roman Empire have? What functions did Hadrian’s Wall have? Can the frontiers of the Roman Empire be considered strict separations between the civilized (Roman) world and the world of the barbarians (“qui barbaros Romanosque Divideret”)? How is archeology an interesting and relevant discipline for Border Studies? We will discuss all this and get answers with archeologist David J. Breeze.
Listen to #28 (Part One): Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
Listen to #29 (Part Two): Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
David J. Breeze is an archaeologist, teacher, and scholar of Hadrian’s Wall, the Antonine Wall, and the Roman army. He has been Chair of the International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies and President of several archaeological societies in the UK. He was Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments for Scotland from 1989 to 2005, and subsequently led the team which successfully nominated the Antonine Wall as a World Heritage Site in 2008. David has excavated on both Hadrian’s Wall and the Antonine Wall and written several books on these frontiers, on frontiers elsewhere in the Roman Empire and on the Roman army.
BIG Talk – It’s more than just the zipcode: It’s about how one’s access to reproductive services is impacted by various levels of border walls
with Dr. Andréanne Bissonnette (Postdoctoral Fellow, Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University) | Victoria, BC & Zoom | September 26, 2023
In Person: CFGS C168 (Sedgewick building, University of Victoria) or Zoom. The meeting will take place from 12:00PM to 1:30PM PST. Register in advance for this meeting here. Registration is free but required.
Along the US-Mexico border, how one perceives their access to reproductive health services is often impacted by the various levels of border walls. Women’s position along the border will impact the level of controls implemented by states, and in turn the availability of services. However, identity markers such as immigration status and ethnicity intersect with geographical positioning to impact perceptions and experiences of access to reproductive care. This presentation offers an analysis of Latinas’ perceptions and experiences of access to reproductive health services in two border states (California and Texas). Based on extensive fieldwork (observation, survey and interviews), it demonstrates how immigration status and ethnicity influences how public health policies are lived along the border.
Dr. Andréanne Bissonnette is a postdoctoral fellow at the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University, where she is part of the binational research team focused on the equity of Canada – US border measures during the pandemic. Her research focuses on reproductive health access in the United States, with a focus on the intersections of ethnicity, immigration status, and geographical position. Born along the US-Canada border, her research has brought her to the US-Mexico border several times through the years, including for a research fellowship at the University of Texas at El Paso (2019). She has published her work on reproductive healthcare and health and borders in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Quebec in Montreal.
Senior Non-Resident Fellow – International Research Center for Japanese Studies
Ted Boyle
Ted Boyle is an associate professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken) in Kyoto, and the editor of Japan Review. He lectures at Kyoto and Kyushu Universities, and is a research associate at the Slavic-Eurasian Research Center, Hokkaido University.
Ted researches borders in relation to maps and representation, territoriality, infrastructures, memory, and heritage. Recent publications include Contesting Memorial Spaces of Japan’s Empire (Bloomsbury 2024) and Heritage, Contested Sites, and Borders of Memory in East Asia (Brill 2023).
Ongoing projects include research on borders of memory in Asia, funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and a team research project on Island Japan: Fluid Bodies, Senses, Imaginaries. The Japan’s Borders in Globalization program at Nichibunken organizes publication workshops (Hokkaido 2024, Nagasaki 2025) for early career researchers in collaboration with BiG and others. See www.borderthinking.com for more.
Bringing EU Human Centered Design to BC
This three year project aims to engage European and North American researchers with BC public sector organization policy makers and practitioners to build and sustain complaint system capacity in local government public sector organizations in B.C. It builds on a previous set of workshops which were co-funded by the Erasmus + Programme of the European Union through the Jean Monnet Chair in Innovative Governance (2018, Co-constructing Justice: Citizen-centered design for public service complaint systems).
Complaint System Design is about access to justice, and involves the creation of processes and systems to deal with repeated or systemic disputes: an effective complaint system inhabits a constitutionally significant space within public service organizations, making the justice journey more manageable and accessible for users. Therefore, the aim of this grant is to build on the EU advancements in human-centered, public sector complaint systems and harness EU knowledge to apply to public sector organizations in British Columbia. In this project we will study how to adapt and implement EU approaches to complaint system design, and apply these learnings to local governments in British Columbia, Canada.
Activities:
- Research: Researchers will engage and supervise graduate students to conduct pre-post evaluations of complaint system capacity building success in BC local government public sector organizations
- Outreach: 1) Training the Trainers Workshop, 2) two orientation workshops with public sector administrators and elected officials, and 3) a pilot training for 10 BC local governments. As well we will host a major international conference in Canada (Year 2)
- Teaching: an Open Online Course on complaint system design in public sector organizations
Outputs:
- 4 training workshops
- 1 international conference
- 1 open online course platform: DR509
- 20 trained practitioners in complaints system design
- Social media presence through Access to Justice: Centre for Excellence website, as well as Facebook and Twitter
UVic Team:
Tara Ney
Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly
Partners:
Chris Gill, University of Glasgow
Jane Williams, Queen Margaret’s University,
Sabine Junginger, University of Lucerne
Chris Gill, BC Office of the Ombudsperson
Local Government Management Association
Union of British Columbia Municipalities
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Robert Lapper, School of Law, University of Victoria