Ramses²’s priorities focus on three major theoretical themes:

1.Memories
To identify complementary differences and contrasts which are rooted in history: memories, heritage, religious roots, neighbourhood and the interplay of cultures.
The Mediterranean forms an area of contiguous and superimposed civilisations whose originality and distinctiveness lie in a combination of conflicts, convergences and cross-influences. The task before us is to study both the conflict of memories as well as memories shared in part through common religious roots, by analyzing both the writings and the religious practices of the three monotheisms. It also entails the study of the interplay of shifting frontiers through the heritage of the various empires that have dominated the Mediterranean region, and of the subsequent construction of national identities, as the basis for an analysis of trans-national frontier exchanges in relation to the European Union.

2.Conflicts
The Mediterranean has today become one of the main theatres of tension on a global scale, crossed by various fault lines, which are at once political and economic, but also social, cultural and religious.
Ramses²’s aim is a comparative analysis of the Mediterranean policies of state and non-state actors in both the countries of the European Union, and the countries to the south and east of the Mediterranean. This involves paying particular attention to the role of women in urban areas, the study of the role of the mass media in the construction of collective identities, and finally the study of the convergences and differences between the various political systems in the Mediterranean, in particular within the context of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership and current difficulties related to democracy, governance and political liberties.

3.Exchanges
Since antiquity, the Mediterranean has been not only a major area of material exchanges and population movements, but even more fundamentally a region where such exchanges have been based on the market and the circulation of goods. It is therefore necessary to examine the different social structures and infrastructures of commercial exchanges in the region at different levels across time and space. This would encompass the study of technology transfer across time as well as the contemporary phenomenon of the relocation of industry to other areas of the globe (with all their attendant social, economic and political problems), and the mass exodus of skilled and unskilled individuals from underdeveloped areas due to the effects of globalization.

These three scientific themes are combined with three other main priorities for the network:

1.Tools for integration
Creating a new field of research dedicated to Mediterranean Studies implies the establishment of common bibliographical and documentary tools. This is the purpose of the Bibliothèque de la Méditerranée project: a virtual library, gathering the network’s institutions and combining the partners’ documentary resources. Common databases containing texts as well as maps will be pooled among Ramses² partners. A website specifically dedicated to the Ramses² network as well as collaborative web platforms will be created in line with the website Périples, sciences humaines en Méditerranée (http://periples.mmsh.univ-aix.fr).

2.Training
One of the goals of the Ramses² project is to encourage the mobility of researchers belonging to the Network, and more specifically of young researchers and post-doctoral students, thus linking the scientific institutions that constitute the Network. A scheme for the awarding of Research Grants is thus envisaged.
Summer Schools will also be organized in order to promote the training of young researchers on the different research themes developed by Ramses².
The Network also aims towards the establishment of a European PhD based on Mediterranean Studies. This should be launched in the second phase of the Ramses² Network of Excellence, after the first eighteen months period of its operation.

3.Disseminating research
The publishing and translation section has been established to facilitate broad  dissemination of the results of the research. It is co-ordinated by the National Book Centre of Greece (EKEBI) and will be joined by several European and Mediterranean publishers who will meet annualy at the Thessaloniki Book Fair.
A number of public conferences entitled Thoughts on the Mediterranean will be organised with Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
A number of more specific conferences addressed to decision-makers and non-governmental organisations will be planned by the Institut Français des Relations Internationales (IFRI) and by the Freie Universität Berlin (FUB).

Further information: http://ramses2.mmsh.univ-aix.fr/