On 27 October 2023, the network organised its final conference. The 13 Limes researchers presented the main findings of their research and reached out to interested academic, political, and cultural audiences. We invited participants to engage with the findings of LIMES and to explore linkages with their own experiences. In doing so, we went beyond traditional conference formats. The conference was a playful, creative and interactive exercise.

Discussions during the day were organized around four panels that approached the topic from different angles:

- Panel A focused on crossing borders in labour markets, with a view to transnational mobility of workers, university-to-work transition, and workplace loneliness

- Panel B looked at how cultural and linguistic borders can be researched, with focus on young adults and children, and borders between participants and ethnographers

- Panel C discussed how knowledge, cultures, traditions and artistic practices travel and may both strengthen borders and challenge societies and businesses to adapt.

- Panel D focused on the EU’s normative borders and how the Union’s ‘crisis of values’ plays out both at the EU’s external borders and internally. The ‘Fortress Europe’ idea and rule of law conflicts were key points of attention.

The day was concluded by a keynote speech delivered given by Karl-Heinz Lambertz, former Chair of the EU Committee of the Regions and former Minister-President of the German-speaking Community in Belgium. Creative intermezzos transcended the borders of a traditional conference format.
 

View the full conference programme