Dr Jussi P. Laine is an associate professor of multidisciplinary border studies at the Karelian Institute of the University of Eastern Finland, holding the title of Docent of Human Geography at the University of Oulu, Finland. He is the President-Elect (assuming the full presidency in on April 1, 2020) of the Association for Borderlands Studies and serves also on the Steering Committee of the International Geographical Union’s Commission on Political Geography. By background Dr Laine is a human geographer, yet in his approach to borders he combines influences from international relations and geopolitics, political sociology, history, anthropology, and psychology. Within border studies he seeks to explore the multiscalar production of borders and bring a critical perspective to bear on the relationship between state, territory, citizenship, and identity construction. Most recently, Dr Laine has published works on border mobility, migration reception, the ethics of borders and ontological (in)security (https://www.uef.fi/web/ktl/jussi_laine)

Dr Laine will be spending the total of two months at the Université Grenoble Alpes during the 2020, one month now from mid-February to mid-March, and another month during the fall (October). During his stay, he will be working in partnerships with both PACTE and ILCEA4laboratories under the transversal theme migrations, borders and international relations. During his stay, Dr Laine will continue his research on how migration narratives affect migration decisions and behaviours of both the potential migrants themselves and of the receiving society, including the factors that either facilitate or hinder migration. He will take active part in several events organised by the mentioned laboratories, including the “New Frontiers” seminar (ILCEA4), the HOMES seminar on “Exploring Links between Borders and Ethics”, conduct teaching, and provide a keynote for the study day on the 2020 American elections.