BIOS SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
SUSANNA CAFARO
Susanna Cafaro is Full Professor of European Union Law at University of Salento (Italy). She has been awarded in 2019 a Jean Monnet Chair on “Legal Theory of European Integration: a Supranational Democracy Model?” and in 2023 a second one on "European Supranational Democracy: a Lab for the World". She is, since 2018, the organizer of the Supranational Democracy Dialogue, an event aimed at bringing together scholars from any background, NGO leaders and political activists, businessmen and innovative thinkers to discuss together the big challenges facing humanity. She is member of the scientific committes of the journals Revue de l'Euro; Papers di Diritto europeo and of CesUE Centro Studi Formazione Comunicazione e Progettazione sull’Unione europea e la Global Governance. She is one of the directors of the online journal Athena, Critical Enquiries in Law, Philosophy and Globalization and of the Scientific Committee Susanna Cafaro has authored and edited numerous books and more than 100 scholarly journal articles and book chapters about the EU’s institutional frame, the European economic and monetary union, the EU external relations, the global economic governance and Euro-Mediterranean relations.
SAVERIO DI BENEDETTO
Associate Professor of International Law at the Law Faculty of the University of Salento, Lecce, Italy, and former Full Researcher with the same University (2006-2015), he authored three books and several academic articles in both national and international peer-reviewed journals on a wide variety of subjects, including international investment and trade law, international environmental law, and global governance. Co-editor of the Springer Book Series on ‘Legal Issues on Transdisciplinary Environmental Studies’ (since 2015) and of the ESI Book Series on ‘Legal Culture and International Flows’ (since 2018), he has extensive academic experience, which includes a recent Visiting Professorship at the Faculdade de direito da Escola Superior Dom Helder Camara in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, from September 2022 to February 2023. He took part in several conferences as a speaker and organized international events such as the Young Researcher Workshop on ‘Scientific Evidence in International and European law’, the ‘Legitimacy and Efficiency in Global Economic Governance’ Workshop and the ‘Woodlands and Forests as Frontiers of Dialogue between Law and Life Sciences’.
MARTI GRAU SEGU
Member of the Academic Team of the House of the European History, an initiative of the European Parliament. Between 2009 and 2011, he was Visiting Professor at SPEA-Indiana University. Former Member of the European Parliament, he served in the Foreign Affairs and Internal Market Committees, as well as in several parliamentary delegations for relations with foreign countries (including Canada, Japan, and the South Caucasus countries). He also was Member of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly. A graduate of SAIS-Bologna and Pompeu Fabra University, he has worked at the European Institute for the Mediterranean in Barcelona and taught European Politics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He started his career as an archaeologist and director of several archeological excavations.
CLAUDIA MORINI
Claudia Morini is Associate Professor of EU Law at University of Salento. She coordinates a Jean Monnet Module on "Protection and Promotion of Women's Rights in the European Legal Order: from Gender Equality to Active Participation in the Democratic Life of the European Union". She was Research Assistant at Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa. She was also Project Assistant in the EU financed "BEAMS Project" and Research Assistant at the International and European Union Law Department, Faculty of Law, University of Bari. In 2007 she obtained a PhD in International and EU law. In 2007 she also obtained a Masters Degree in Conflicts' Management and Resolution (University of Roma Tre). During her doctoral and postdoctoral research period, from 2003 to 2018, Dr. Morini authored independently many papers and articles in peer-reviewed law reviews and books and was invited as expert and speaker at conferences on International, EU and Human Rights Law in Italy and abroad. She has published a book on The Protection of the Rights of Religious Groups in the European context (Cacucci, 2018) and another one on Dialogue and Participation in the Governance of the European Union (Cacucci, 2020).
VALERIE SAINTOT
Valérie M. Saintot, LL.M, PhD, is a lawyer with experience in both private and public sector. She is a life-long learner and holds four postgraduates in law, psychology, and management research. She started her career at the ECJ in Luxembourg in 1994. Until April 2022, she was Head of Legislation Division, DG-Legal Services at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. Valérie currently focuses on researching and teaching. She attributes multiple benefits to visualization in particular the ability to rapidly disseminate high quality knowledge and insights. The visualization of data, information and knowledge needs to follow transparent and accountable methodologies to meet ethical standards and avoid deceptive effects on audiences. She is author of pieces promoting science communication to make knowledge accessible and support democracy and citizens in the exercise of their rights.
SILVIA SOLIDORO
Silvia Solidoro holds a Research Fellowship at the Law Faculty of the University of Salento, where she has contributed to research activities in the field of EU law, while also serving as Teaching Assistant in public and private international law, starting from 2007. Silvia obtained a PhD in Law of Economics and Markets from the Institute of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies (ISUFI), the research center of excellence of the University of Salento, in 2011 (graduated with full marks, first class honors degree). From 2009 until 2016, she consulted on corporate and antitrust matters with the Investment Climate Department of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group, in Washington, DC, USA, conducting research and analytical work to promote legal, economy-wide and sector-specific reforms aimed at fostering private sector development with a geographic focus on Africa, Latin America, and Central Asia. Prior to joining the EUI, she also acted as Independent Expert for a consulting firm based in Rome, developing an assessment of the most relevant human rights compliance procedures pertaining to multilateral development banks. After that, she acted as Research Assistant (May 2016 - May 2021) and then Research Fellow (May 2021 - September 2022) at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS) of the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy. Silvia earned her law degree (magna cum laude) in 2006; she was admitted to practice law in Italy in 2009.
FRANCESCO SPERA
Francesco Spera, is a PhD candidate in European Law and External Relations of the EU. Francesco has previously worked for European institutions in Bruxelles and Italian national public bodies in the field of EU cohesion fund, EU budget, regional decision making involvement. Francesco hold a LLM in EU Law at Maastricht University and 2 honorary Masters in Academic research and History. His main fields of research are EU external relations law, defense law, Energy law and migration. Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Europe, and Institute Guest researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International law.
ORGANIZING COMMETTEE
FRANCESCO VIGGIANI
Francesco Viggiani, Lawyer and PhD candidate in International Law. Currently Francesco is holding the position of Research Fellow in International Law, working mainly on immigration for the Court of Lecce. In 2020 he passed the advanced vocational training course in Military Criminal Law, organized by the School of Military Law and School of Legal Studies at the University of Bologna. In 2021 he attended the public and private International Law course at the Academy of International Law in the Hague, and the specialized course on European Human Rights Protection at the Forensic Union for the Protection of Human Rights. His fields of research are International Law, International Criminal Law, Human Rights Law, International Humanitarian Law, Criminal Law, International Sports Law and Immigration Law.
ELISABETTA MARZO
Elisabetta Marzo is a PhD Candidate in “Law and Sustainability” at the University of Salento in Lecce, where she collaborates with the International Law Chair. She currently holds a Research Fellowship at the Law Faculty of the University of Salento, in data protection and privacy law. She has been a Junior Visiting Fellow at the Law Faculty of Columbia University and Columbia Center on Sustainable Investments (New York) and at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Law (Heidelberg). Elisabetta previously obtained the license to practice as a lawyer and completed a training at the Criminal Court of Lecce. She holds a Master’s degree in Law from University of Salento and a degree from ISUFI Higher Institute of Interdisciplinary Advanced Studies. Her main research interests are the interactions between International Investment Law, International Environmental law and Human Rights Law; the topics of territorial sovereignty and sovereignty over natural resources, the phenomenon of land and natural resources grabbing and the rights of local communities.
ISABELLA SALSANO
Isabella Salsano, Research fellow in International Immigration and Asylum Law at the University of Salento. Isabella previously obtained her license to practice as a lawyer. She attended the public and private International Law course at the Academy of International Law in The Hague during the 2019 summer session and the 2023 winter session. Isabella holds a master's degree in law with honours and a university Diploma from ISUFI, an interdisciplinary higher education institute. The Catholic University of Louvain awarded her a mini-master in International Law and Human Rights. Public International Law, International Criminal Law, Human Rights’ protection, Humanitarian Law and Immigration Law are her main research interests.
JACOPO LILLO
Graduated in law with a thesis focused on conditionality mechanisms in the framework of EU development cooperation policies, he is currently enrolled in the second year of the PhD programme on ‘Rights and Sustainability’ at the University of Salento with the European Union Law Chair. His current research primarily focuses on the social dimension of sustainability within the corporate world, exploring how EU legal frameworks can foster responsible business practices. Committed to advancing sustainable development through legal research, Jacopo aims to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on the role of law in promoting social and environmental responsibility.
FABIANA MAGONOLO
Graduated in Law discussing a thesis focused on analyzing the regulatory and judicial processes that lead to the realization of a triple dimension of an actual human right to the environment at the international level (i. e. emphasizing the role of individuals taken into an individual perspective or into a collective one or as part of a given community), she is currently Phd student, at first year, in International law at the University of Salento. Her research, included into the programme on ‘Rights and Sustainability’, aims at studying the REDD+ (Reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) tool, designed to fight climate change, with respect to the pursuit of another international environmental protection objective, namely the protection of ecosystems and biodiversity. In particular, her purpose is to verify the role that human rights and, more specifically, biocultural rights and RES (Rights for ecosystem services) can play as legal instruments that could be functional in integrating REDD+ with the protection of biological diversity. She is ISUFI (Advanced University Institute of Interdisciplinary Training) Alumna, in Law-Economy area.
