Frédéric DURAND holds a Phd in Geography from the University of Paris X-Nanterre (France, under the supervision of Professor Jean-Luc Piermay). The dissertation focused on the border's dynamic and the metropolitan construction of the conurbation of Katowice in Upper Silesia. His first Post-doctorate (2009) still concerned the metropolitan issue in Upper Silesia in the frame of the European program INTERACT. With an international research team, the aim was to compare the regionalization and metropolization processes as well as the economic recovery in France (Valenciennes), Poland (Katowice) and Turkey (Karabück). During 2009-2010, Frédéric DURAND made his second Post-doctorate at the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER). The research project, called CROSSPLANNING - financed by the Luxembourg Research Fund (FNR), combined three research domains: border studies, spatial planning and urban studies. Its goal was to compare the planning strategies in a cross-border metropolitan context through the study of two case studies: Luxembourg and the Greater Region and the Eurométropole Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai. In addition, Frédéric was part of a European project (METROBORDER) funded by ESPON, to analyse spatial development of border regions. Then, in 2011-2012, Frédéric DURAND was involved in the METRONET Project (FNR) whose the objective was to analyze the structure of cross-border policy networks in the field of public transport and regional marketing in Basel, Lille, Luxembourg, and Vienna-Bratislava, using social network analysis. Between 2012 and 2016, Frédéric was involved in the EUBORDERSCAPES project (FP7) to study the significance of border and integration within few cross-border metropolitan regions in Europe. During this period, he has also carried out studies on spatial planning policies within the framework of the Spatial Development Observatory or through various public calls for tenders. Today, Frédéric is involved in an INTERREG project to set up a Territorial Development Scheme at the scale of the Greater Region. He participates as well in the Jean Monnet Network on European capital of culture in border context (CECCUT project).