The University of Coimbra, the University of Salamanca, the City Council of Guarda and the Polytechnic Institute of Guarda established a strategic partnership that enabled the creation of the Centro de Estudos Ibéricos (CEI) – Center for Iberian Studies, determined on reinforcing cultural and scientific axis organized by the cities and corresponding Universities, with the mission to promote initiatives that engage with the low density territories, particularly the peripheral and close to the border, as an active involvement in territorial cooperation.

Pursuing this mission and taking into account the importance that photography assumes in contemporary societies, the Transversalities Project uses photography as a way to promote the inclusion of territories and regional cooperation, with the following objectives:

to take advantage of the aesthetic, documental and educational value of the image to promote the inclusion of less visible areas by identifying resources, enhancing landscapes, cultures, and heritage;
to promote cooperation between people, institutions and territories, within and beyond frontiers endorsing the exchange of experiences and knowledge between places unified by the common Iberian range, spread across different countries from different continents;
to create new audiences and use new communication technologies as a privileged way to communicate, appealing to young college students and thus widen the international network of researchers that CEI has been sponsoring over the years.