Organization of Departmental Research

DEPARTMENT COUNCIL, DIRECTOR, EXECUTIVE COUNCIL, DELEGATES FOR KNOWLEDGE ENHANCEMENT AND SOCIAL IMPACT, RESEARCH AND EVALUATION PROCESSES, INTERNATIONALIZATION

The Board of the Department of Law is the “sovereign” body with general deliberative competencies in research matters. According to article 30 of the University Statute, the Board has the power to decide upon the Department research strategy, upon the planning of research activities, upon the approval of the annual report on didactic and research activities, upon research quality assurance.

The Director chairs the Board and takes care of the Department efficient operating, according to the planning approved by the Board, prepares the annual report on the didactic and research activities, and supervises the quality systems of the Department.

The Board of Management, as far as research activities are concerned, supports decisions related to the granting of funding for organising conferences and seminars and for awarding the title of Visiting Professor, Visiting Researcher, Visiting Fellow.

The delegates for knowledge enhancement and social impact, research and evaluation processes, and internationalization support the Director in the above-described activities, promote initiatives directed to raise awareness in the Department colleagues that path of research of excellence must be pursued at national and international level. The Deputies, moreover, guarantee the liaison with the Table that coordinates the research and internationalisation activities of the University.

RESEARCH SERVICES AND KNOWLEDGE ENHANCEMENT OFFICE

Research Services and Knowledge Enhancement Office provides support for the design, management, and reporting of research projects funded by the University, ministries, European agencies, other international organizations, or other public or private entities.

The Office also supports:

• The establishment of international agreements with other entities (contacts, relationship management, joint initiatives, collaborations);
• The creation of departmental and interdepartmental research laboratories and centers;
• The preparation of documentation and resolutions related to research and internationalization to be submitted for approval by the Department and University governing bodies.

The Office supports the Departmental Research Committee and the Review Group on Departmental Research Policy and participates in the University’s Research and Internationalization Coordination Committee.

Email: giurisprudenza.ricerca@unimc.it

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH CONSTELLATIONS

UNIMC, through its Collaborative Research Constellations, supports basic or frontier research conducted in a collaborative mode, as studies addressing complex phenomena require contributions from multiple disciplines, diverse methodological approaches, and the integration of knowledge in an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary framework. There are five interdisciplinary research groups, also referred to as excellence projects, two of which are led by professors from the Department of Law.

1.

The new challenges to democracy in the digital ecosystem

Principal Investigator: Prof. Giovanni Di Cosimo

Project summary:

On the occasion of the latest European elections, the Commission adopted a "Democracy Defence Package" to promote free and fair elections, encourage citizen participation, and counter interference from third countries. Similar priorities are pursued by the EU regulation on transparency in political advertising, approved in February 2024. These measures reflect the changed international context and the role of the internet in political communication, highlighting the vulnerabilities of democracies to non-EU interference capable of manipulating public discourse. The research will address these challenges using an innovative method: anonymized data from online political debate will be selected by data scientists with Artificial Intelligence, based on questions formulated by social scientists. The results will be collectively analyzed to propose insights and solutions replicable at the European level. Scholars from eight international universities will participate, creating a network of researchers already individually active on the subject.

Members of the research group

2.

The phenomenon of environmental and climate migrations and their impact on economic and social dynamics in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Principal Investigator: Prof. Andrea Caligiuri

Principal Investigator Substitute: Prof. Francesca Spigarelli

Project summary:

Interest in the phenomenon of environmental/climate migrants officially emerged with the 1990 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which highlighted the link between climate change and migratory flows. UniMc's research will focus on analyzing environmental/climate migrations affecting the Euro-Mediterranean region, characterized by a high population density along the coasts, progressive urbanization of coastal areas, rising sea levels and coastal erosion, as well as increasingly frequent droughts and water scarcity. Various international organizations are carrying out initiatives to support coastal countries in developing common yet diversified strategies to manage the impacts of this phenomenon on their societies. However, no study seems to analyze the phenomenon from a more nuanced and complex perspective.

To help fill this gap, UniMc's research will be developed along four main axes:
a) Environmental/climate migrations from a historical and historical-legal perspective;
b) The influence of environmental/climate migrations on the redefinition of economic policies in the Euro-Mediterranean region;
c) The redefinition of political, legal, and social models in light of the cultural contributions stemming from environmental/climate migrations in host societies;
d) Environmental sustainability as a means of mitigating migratory phenomena.

Members of the research group