It is important to consider the transport cooperation in the Barents Euro-Arctic Region not only in light of the transport problems of this specific region, but also in a wider context, including the geopolitical one.

Providing the first comprehensive account to look explicitly at the relationship between global politics and science through an account of the International Polar Years (IPYs), this volume combines both interdisciplinary and multi-theoretical approaches to engage directly with the most recent debates in international relations scholarship.

The basic funding of the Barents Institute will attain improved stability by being transferred to the regular Norwegian state budget, following a decision by the Ministry of Education and Research

Several towns at borders in central and northern Europe have joined pairs to intensify cross-border collaboration. They have also formed the City Twin Association to further their interests and to exchange ideas. Kirkenes in northern Norway and nearby Russian town of Nikel have recently signed a memorandum declaring their intention to develop their joint projects in the spirit of European twin cities.

The 2008 European Conference of the Association of Borderland Studies was held in Kirkenes 11-13th September based on a collaboration between the University of Tromsø and the Barents Institute

The Barents Institute, together with social scientists at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Oslo University and Gothenburg University, join as partners in a large Scandinavian-Baltic research consortium "Nordic Spaces: Formation of States, Societies and Regions, Cultural Encounters, and Idea and Identity Production in Northern Europe"

During the spring of 2008 Barents Institute Senior Researcher Dr. Aileen Espíritu will be conducting a field evaluation and review of the work of the Norwegian Red Cross in Northwest Russia

The University College of Finnmark in Alta and the Barents Institute have competed successfully together with a joint research proposal addressed to the University College Strategic Programme of the Research Council of Norway.