Professor Joan DeBardeleben was an invited participant at a conference on “Studying EU-Russian Relations: Research Agenda in Russia and in the West,” sponsored by the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence at St. Petersburg State University (Russia) on June 28-29, 2016, where she spoke on cross-border cooperation and Kaliningrad. 
The conference addressed the difference in studies of EU-Russian relations in Russia and abroad, which contributed to failures in the practice of EU-Russian relations. In this period of mutual reproaches and disengagement, the idea is to look at how research communities on both sides have contributed to the crisis and what can be done in research terms to overcome it, what mistakes have to be recognized on both sides and what bridges can be built in the epistemic community.
Opening panel provided an overview of research of EU-Russian relations in the past 25 years. Participants of each section were kindly requested to evaluate what issues and in what way have been addressed in specific areas, what questions have been asked and what issues have been ignored in Russia and in the EU. The panels and final discussion also focused on how that shaped policy agenda in the EU and Russia and contributed to the current state of the relations.
The conference was a part of the research track of the Jean Monnet Centre at St. Petersburg State University. It will be followed by a publication of a special issue in an international journal.