Research Institute On Territorial and Inter-Organizational Cooperation

The Institute's activities include conducting international research and scientific projects. At present, the Institute implements 10 research agendas concerning such issues as

transfer of the Euroregional cross-border cooperation model to the Brazilian-Argentinian borderland (in cooperation with the University of Porto Alegre, Brazil) - e.g. for the needs of the Governor's Office of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Cross-border functional areas (in cooperation with Klaipeda University) - among others for the needs of the European Commission to develop the new program INTERREG Lithuania-Poland 2020+

The role of national minorities in the development of cross-border cooperation (in cooperation with University of Southern Denmark) - e.g. for COST Action ENTAN funded from Horizon 2020

Public security across borders (in cooperation with the University of California, San Diego, USA) - e.g. for the needs of the Cieszyn Silesia Euroregion.

In addition, the Institute participates in research projects of the University of Kaliningrad, University of Ljubljana and University of Carinthia, as well as the European University Viadrina in Germany and the TEIN network consisting of a dozen or so universities operating on the border of Germany, France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

The Institute has also prepared the strategy of cross-border cooperation for the cities of Cieszyn and Český Těšín and Euroregion Těšín Silesia, the program for cultural development of Cieszyn and Český Těšín, and the report on research on cross-border functional areas in the European Union, used by the Directorate General REGIO in the European Commission.

The Institute also participates in an international research project: Territorial policies in changing scenarios. Cross-border processes and regions in the European Union and South America. The project leader is: Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and partners are: WSB Academy, Paris Sorbonne University and University of Strasbourg.

Inspired by the European Commission, the Institute has undertaken research on the creation of cross-border functional areas on the internal borders of the European Union. In 2019 and 2020, meetings and workshops were organized for partners creating such an area in the Polish-Lithuanian borderland.

The results of the conducted research were presented in 2020 in front of representatives of the European Commission, Polish and Lithuanian Ministry of Development and Joint Technical Secretariat of the INTERREG Lithuania Poland Programme in Vilnius.

The Institute is actively involved in international networks and research groups: ARAM Environmental Resources Analysis Research Group, Badajoz (Spain), VALORIZA - Research Centre for Endogenous Resource Valorization, Portalegre, (Portugal), LABOTER - Federal University of Porto Alegre, Brazil. The Institute staff are also members of the Polish Academy of Sciences - Commission for Polish-Czech and Polish-Slovak Relations.

In 2019-2021 the Institute organized three prestigious international scientific events under the patronage of the Minister of Science and Higher Education:

¾ The International Congress on Sustainable Development, Public Management and Territorial Governance, Dabrowa Gornicza 28-31 May 2019. - in collaboration with the University of Extremadura (Spain), the University of Madeira (Portugal) and the Polytechnic University of Portolegre (Portugal) and the scientific organization FISAT (Peru)

¾ International Conference on Territorial and Inter-Organizational Cooperation, Brenna 19-20 September 2020.

¾ International Conference on Territorial and Inter-Organizational Cooperation, Brenna 20-24 September 2021.

In total, in 2018-2021, the Institute faculty participated in about 30 international scientific events, produced about 50 publications in prestigious scientific journals, including those indexed in Scopus and Web of Science database, and published 4 international scientific monographs and opened 5 special issues in international scientific journals.