The research programme of the Institute for Mediterranean Humanities and Social Studies focuses on research into the geographically-complex region of Primorska and Istra, its history and contemporary social processes and the area as a national, cultural and ethnic meeting point between Central Europe, the Mediterranean and the East and West of Europe, with an emphasis on Mediterranean studies. An explicitly interdisciplinary institute, it combines researchers in the fields of geography, sociology, communication, philosophy, architecture and spatial planning, as well as tourism. In the broadest sense, research activities of the Institute aim at investigating so-called contact areas, multi- and intercultural phenomena such as intercultural coexistence, intercultural contacts, etc, investigating ethnic issues as well as other cultural and social phenomena. Past project themes have included Opera Audience in Slovenia: An Anthropological Research of the Nation's Cultural Capital, Contested Spatial Practices, Spatial Meanings and Social Relations in the Protected Area in the Bovec Region, Development Opportunities of Slovene Border Areas after the Entrance of the Republic of Slovenia into the Schengen Space, and The Analysis of Shared Intercultural Values as a Factor in Democratic Governance and Decision-making.