About
- About Essays BEyond borders
Essays Beyond Borders (EBB) is an Erasmus + funded project dedicated to researching and disseminating the use of essayistic writing to foster civic engagement and enhance critical and creative thinking skills through the essay
Our objectives include promoting essay writing for civic engagement; strengthening critical and creative thinking; empowering voice and self-reflection; addressing climate change and other environmental matters through the essay; and advancing research on the essay. We aim to encourage individuals to use essay writing as a platform for active participation in democratic societies and to improve their ability to think critically and creatively about complex issues. The project encourages self-exploration and expression through writing, fostering self-awareness and voice in public contexts. We recognise the urgency of climate action and provide resources and perspectives to understand and address our relation to place and nature.
Our implementation strategy involves conducting essay-writing workshops across a number of countries in Europe, targeting diverse audiences including students and the general public. Essays Beyond Borders will host an intensive Easter School for scholars, writers, and postgraduate students in PISA in April 2026, and it will also disseminate research findings through open-source publications.
Essays Beyond Borders represents a commitment to scholarly excellence and social impact, offering a platform for meaningful dialogue and constructive engagement on pressing global issues. Join us in advancing the transformative potential of essayistic writing.
The organisations involved in this project are the University of Malta, University of Pisa, Ghent University, University of Groningen and the Slovenian Writers Association. Professor Mario Aquilina from the University of Malta is Academic Lead. The other partners are Professor Adrian Grima (University of Malta), Professor Jürgen Pieters (Ghent University), Professor Roberta Ferrari (Universita di Pisa), Dr Paolo Bugliani (Universita di Pisa), Prof Andrej Blatnik (Slovene Writers’ Association), and Dr Thijs Lijster (Groningen University).
- Organisations
Who is involved?
The University of Malta is participating in Essays Beyond Borders through the Department of English and Id-Dipartiment tal-Malti. Prof. Mario
The Pisan unit of EBB is composed of two members, Roberta Ferrari (Full Professor of English Literature) and Paolo Bugliani
The Ghent team (led by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Pieters) will organise a series of writing workshops in secondary schools (in
The work of Thijs Lijster from the University of Groningen in the project Essays Beyond Borders consists of developing and
The Slovene Writers’ Association (SWA) is a voluntary, independent and non-profit organisation that serves and furthers the professional, social and
- Partners
Writers, Researchers and Academics
Academic Lead
Mario Aquilina is Associate Professor in English at the University of Malta and Academic Lead of EBB. Aquilina...
Adrian Grima is an Associate Professor in the Department of Maltese at the University of Malta. Grima writes...
Jürgen Pieters is a Professor of Literary Theory in the Department of Literary Studies at Ghent University. Pieters...
Roberta Ferrari is Professor of English Literature at Pisa University. Ferrari is Head of the Department of Philology,...
Paolo Bugliani is assistant professor of English Literature at the University of Pisa. He has previously taught at...
Andrej Blatnik is an Associate Professor of Publishing Studies at the University of Ljubljana. He appeared on numerous...
Thijs Lijster is assistant professor in the philosophy of art and culture at the University of Groningen. He...
