Since its founding as the International Boundaries Research Unit in 1989, IBRU has been the world’s leading research centre on international boundary making and dispute resolution. Today, IBRU joins work in international boundary law with the geographic study of borders and bordering in the 21st century.
Through research, consultancy, and training, IBRU facilitates enhanced understanding of border areas, contributes to the peaceful resolution of boundary disputes, and engages with broader geographic questions concerning the changing nature of sovereignty, territory, citizenship, and the political organisation of space.
IBRU is part of the Geography Department at Durham University.
Since 1996, IBRU has run over 60 professional workshops, training over 1,750 participants from over 123 countries in technical issues in boundary delimitation, recovery, research, and negotiation.
This online training course provides a contextual overview of international boundaries, covering topics including definition, delimitation and dispute resolution.
Borderlines provides an update on the activities of IBRU and information on developments in the wider boundary community around the world.
Ray Milefsky has kindly endowed upon IBRU an annual award to honour a leading border practitioner or organisation. Read about the past winners of the Award.
IBRU is a world leader in producing maps, databases, and briefing papers that explore complex and contested international boundaries. In addition to the Arctic Maps series, IBRU has published maps of South Atlantic maritime claims, a database of international river boundaries, and other studies.
IBRU: Durham University’s Centre for Borders Research has updated its Arctic Maps Series to reflect the 6 February 2023 recommendations made by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) on Russia’s extended continental shelf, as well as the revised submission that Russia filed on 14 February 2023 in response to the CLCS recommendations.
Enquiries about IBRU: Centre for Borders Research should be sent via the email link below.
IBRU Department of Geography Durham University Durham, DH1 3LE United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)191 334 1965 Fax: +44 (0)191 334 1962
