Projects

Running: 2021-present 

Involved CENTMOB members: Machiel Lamers, Bas Amelung, Anisja Obermann, Daniela Cajiao 

The development of tourism in the Antarctic has seen both rapid growth and diversification. For over two decades, scholars and policymakers have raised concerns about the actual and potential risks and impacts of Antarctic tourism development. Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties (ATCPs) have struggled to find consensus on comprehensive and acceptable regulatory mechanisms on Antarctic tourism and to implement binding tourism-specific measures into the national legislatures of the signatory states. Enhancements in environmental standards and performance rely to a large extent on the goodwill and efforts of operators and other actors. The aim of the ANTARC-SHIP project is to examine to what extent, and how, environmental stewardship can be assessed, enhanced, and facilitated among the different actors and institutions involved in the operation and governance of Antarctic tourism. We will do this by operationalizing the concept of environmental stewardship in Antarctic tourism governance, with a focus on the interrelations between tourism and science operations, industry self-regulation, gateway cities and intergovernmental organizations related to shipping. We will carry out trend analyses, systematic impact assessments of both the negative and positive impacts of tourism in and beyond the Antarctic Treaty area and conduct governance and legal analyses. Funded through NWO NWA-PT-REPAIR 

Running: 2021-Present

Involved CENTMOB members: Alexandra Rijke

The Balkan Route is the most important overland informal migration corridor in Europe, taken by thousands of refugees every year. Linking Greece and Turkey to Western and Norther Europe, it passes through Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, and Croatia. Across this route, refugees forge their own trajectories through ‘the Game’, the term they use themselves for their journey.  

With a research team that is predominately based in Bologna, Italy, the aim of the project '"The Game: Counter-mapping Informal Refugee Mobilities along the Balkan Route” is to understand how informal migration corridors such as the Balkan Route work. Alexandra Rijke is involved in this project as a member of the advisory board and works towards understanding the role played by border fences on the Route. Focusing on the five borders with border fences (Bulgaria – Turkey, Greece – Turkey, North Macedonia – Greece, Serbia – North Macedonia, Hungary – Serbia), she analyses the development and functioning of these walls and their affiliated bordering practices and how people, migrants and local inhabitants, are affected by and engage with them. 

Funded through ERC Advanced Grant 2021 - see https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101054428  

For more information: https://site.unibo.it/thegame/en 

Tourism is acknowledged as a double-edged sword within marine protected areas (MPAs), as it can both contribute to stressors and provide stress-reducing strategies. The INREEF program aims to address the impact of tourism fluctuations, along with climate change, fishing, and pollution, on the ecological integrity, local livelihoods, cohesion, and governance capacities of MPAs. Through a collaborative initiative, our objective is to identify and create tools for assessing the resilience of MPAs, monitoring their status, and implementing effective governance measures to protect coral reefs in an era of varying tourism patterns and climate change. This research program is funded by INREF – Wageningen Interdisciplinary Research and Education Fund. 

For more information: INREEF

Running: 2021-present 

Involved CENTMOB members: Mylene van der Koogh, Bas Amelung, Machiel Lamers 

Antarctica hosts an increasing number of tourists, with detrimental implications for Antarctica’s environment. Antarctic tourism and tour operators are primarily governed by self-regulation. Recently, in a move to shore up regulation, the Antarctic Treaty states have started working on a “Framework for the regulation of tourism and other non-governmental activities in Antarctica”, providing opportunities for new regulatory tools and approaches. This project explores the potential application of a cap-and-trade system to regulate the growth of tourism while simultaneously producing funds for conservation and monitoring efforts. The project uses statistical methods and geo-analysis to investigate Antarctic tourism, and simulates the performance of a cap-and-trade system and other policy options using agent-based modeling. Tourism behaviors related to travel modes and site visits are monitored through fieldwork and accessible data sources. 

Running: 2025 –2029 

Involved CENTMOB members: Karolina Doughty 

This collaborative project with Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences investigates how nearby green and blue spaces can be planned and used so their therapeutic potential can be experienced throughout the year. While the restorative value of urban nature is well established, less is known about how different groups access these benefits under different circumstances. 

An interdisciplinary team is empirically exploring the everyday mobilities of newly arrived migrants and refugees in a lower-socioeconomic neighbourhood in Sweden, and how these matter for their wellbeing. The project also analyses planning practices and engages stakeholders, including urban planners, through dialogue and workshops. 

By focusing on season-inclusive use of urban green and blue spaces, the project aims to inform planning approaches that support more equitable access to therapeutic landscapes by diverse social groups year-round. 

Running: 2019-Present

Involved CENTMOB members: Meghann Ormond & Chizu Sato

This project focuses on developing innovative approaches to civic learning that move beyond passive notions of multicultural 'tolerance' toward more active, inclusive forms of citizenship. It brings together community-engaged scholarship, transdisciplinary collaboration, and participatory action research (PAR) to create transformative learning experiences grounded in real-world contexts.

At its core are three interconnected initiatives that integrate research, education, and societal impact:

• The International Migrantour Network advances experiential learning related to migration, heritage and social inclusion through co-created interactive guided walking tours, educational resources, and digital storytelling. It is supported by large-scale European collaborations across 9 countries and 20+ cities and rural areas. Included in this network is the Netherlands' first Migrantour: Migrantour Utrecht 

• Roots Guide, backed in part by the National Geographic Society, produced an alternative guidebook of the Netherlands from the perspectives of people with diverse migration backgrounds and a free downloadable educational toolkit grounded in global citizenship  education principles to foster greater empathy and critical engagement regarding themes of migration, diversity, equity and inclusion across diverse communities in the Netherlands. 

• Freedom Tours Wageningen combines arts-based methods with tour narrative co-creation processes to support local residents explore and narrate their experiences and perceptions of freedom through the lenses of gender & sexuality and disability & accessibility in the city of Wageningen. It is supported by the European Cultural Foundation, WUR and many local funders.

Involved CENTMOB members: Martina Sedlakova

Trailology is an effort to place trails at the center of scholarly inquiry, and to create spaces where research on trails can be shared and disseminated. Because trails are everywhere, they are incidental to many academic conversations, but only rarely are examined as phenomena unto themselves. When they are, they tend to be examined through narrow disciplinary lenses. Trailology views trails as an interdisciplinary field of study, creating conversations between hikers and trail developers on the one hand, and scholars from the natural and social sciences, the humanities, and the arts on the other. By approaching trails as fundamental interfaces between living things and the world, trailology views trails themselves as offering vantage points and new scholarly methods for answering the most pressing questions of our time. 

Trailology manifesto: Trailology: a Manifesto