Project timeline

The DisTerrMem project was launched in February 2019 and will run until January 2024.

Year 1 (2019):

Understanding the current state of the art

The first year of DisTerrMem focused on comprehensively surveying and understanding the current state of the art in managing memories of disputed territory. Researchers carried out comprehensive literature reviews (searches and evaluations of existing published research and commentary) on the role of nation states, regional organisations, civil society groups and cultural practitioners in addressing memories of disputed territory.

A first stakeholder workshop was held in October 2019 at the University of Warsaw, Poland to initiate a platform for ongoing dialogue with relevant stakeholders.

The findings of the literature reviews were assessed at a first international team conference in November 2019 at the University of Bath, UK, and were published here on the project website in January 2020. These initial findings provide a clear foundation for the project’s second phase in year 2.

Years 2-4 (2020-22):

Developing an innovative new approach

The second year of the project (subsequently extended to a third and fourth year, in view of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic) focused on the co-creation of a new transnational, interdisciplinary and multi-level approach to the problem of addressing memories of disputed territory.

A second international team conference was held in June 2022 at the University of Warsaw. Here, the project partners reviewed research-in-progress and formulated a theoretical and methodological innovation report.

A second stakeholder workshop will also take place in December 2022 to continue the project team’s dialogue with relevant stakeholders.

Year 5 (2023):

Applying the new approach to practice

In the project’s fifth and final year, the research team will identify eight existing memory projects and initiatives that will be analysed as case studies. These will concentrate on three geographical nodes: Poland, Armenia, and Pakistan.

In-depth analyses of these eight projects or initiatives will drawing on both the insights from the initial literature reviews (from year 1) and on the innovation report (from years 2-4). Analyses will focus not only on the situation in the main case study countries, but will also build contacts with stakeholders on the other side of these nations’ disputed borders.

Work in the UK will provide a further perspective on the three main case study nodes, in that it is home to a number of diasporic communities with connections to disputed territories. The team will engage with these communities and assess their memories of conflict in a transnational context.

Details and findings of the case studies will be published in relevant professional journals. Researchers will also collaborative to produce a series of policy briefings aimed at diverse stakeholders internationally.

A final international conference will be hosted by Borderland Foundation, Poland in January 2024 to discuss the project’s overall findings and next steps with a wide range of stakeholders.