The joint research programme ‘Baltic Peripeties’, developed by researchers from the University of Greifswald together with partners from Tartu and Trondheimaims to use the term ‘peripety’ to extend ‘narration’ and ‘event’ as novel means for investigating and understanding the Baltic Sea region (B.S.R.). The IRTG research programme aims to examine the narrative constitution of the Baltic Sea region: which historically relevant peripeties determine past and current perceptions of the Baltic Sea region? What kind of social, cultural, political, ecological and economic agency do these peripeties possess (historically, currently and for the future)? Do different peripeties with distinct effects exist alongside each other? If so,do they interact, stand in competition or do they exclude one another? In addressing such questions, the IRTG will be the first to make theoretical and methodical advances in the application of the concept of peripety as a tool of enquiry in regional studies and advance the state of the art in the field of narratology.