European Union law and national legal systems

The PhD programme was established in 2013 following the reform of doctoral programmes and related funding arrangements. Prior to this, the Department offered three separate doctoral programmes in the field of law: one of them, fully funded by the Cariparo Foundation under a specific agreement with the University of Ferrara, was devoted exclusively to European Union law. The Foundation and the Department had agreed to focus on this area with the aim of providing advanced legal training in a field of crucial and rapidly developing importance.

In 2013, in response to the reform, the Department of Law at Ferrara decided to merge the three existing programmes into a single, unified PhD programme. Unlike the vast majority of law departments in Italy – where doctoral programmes were given broad, generic profiles, often covering all (or almost all) scientific disciplinary sectors within Area 12 – the Department of Law at Ferrara, in full agreement with the Cariparo Foundation, chose to maintain European Union law and its increasingly significant and profound impact on different areas of the national legal system at the centre of its new and unified PhD programme.

The academic board includes not only scholars of EU law, international law, constitutional law and history of law, but also specialists in those areas of Italian law most directly affected by the influence and evolution of EU primary and secondary law. These experts conduct a substantial part of their research precisely at the intersection between EU law and domestic legal systems: from substantive and procedural criminal law to civil and commercial law, labour and agri-food law, administrative and tax law.

The programme

This choice led to the establishment of a PhD programme that is entirely original and unique within the Italian academic landscape, endowed with a clear identity and well-defined objectives. The PhD offers a coherent programme, consistent in its guiding principles, teaching content and research orientation. It enables doctoral students to deepen and consolidate their institutional knowledge of EU law and, at the same time, to develop a European perspective in their research on domestic and international legal issues. In this way, students acquire the knowledge, skills and methods required of a genuinely modern European jurist. Such knowledge and competences are increasingly essential for any jurist aspiring to operate at the highest professional level, in public institutions as well as in the corporate sector and the liberal professions.

The programme is characterised by a strong interdisciplinary approach within the legal field: the specific features of European Union law make it essential to adopt a methodological approach that is not rigidly confined to the traditional boundaries of the scientific disciplinary sectors of Area 12, but open to interaction between different disciplinary sectors, allowing for a more complete and effective analysis and reconstruction of EU principles, institutions, and laws, as well as their impact on national law. A telling example is provided by the research presented in the proceedings of the doctoral programme’s annual conferences, which involve the integrated participation of almost all the disciplinary areas represented on the academic board (most recently, the November 2024 conference dedicated to the new 2024 EU Regulation on artificial intelligence). Significant and highly valuable are also the training activities on non-legal topics promoted and organised by IUSS Ferrara, in which PhD students in European Union Law actively participate.

In this way, the PhD programme aligns fully with both the strategic planning of the Department of Law (see, for example, the 2023–2025 Departmental Plan, approved in June 2023, which explicitly states on page 1 that “distinctive features of the Department include attention to the European and international dimension of legal studies” and “commitment to internationalisation,” and that identifies the PhD in European Union Law and National Legal Systems as one of the cornerstones of its educational offer, pp. 2–3) and with the University’s Strategic Plan 2024–2026.

The PhD programme aims to provide students with a comprehensive research training in European Union law, understood in its broadest sense and across all its diverse aspects. The objective is to equip students with the skills, knowledge, working methodologies, and systematic frameworks necessary to address with confidence, awareness, and maturity the increasingly complex and delicate challenges posed to today's legal professionals by EU law, which has now assumed a pivotal and decisive role in all areas of law, a role that is destined to consolidate and expand further over time. In doing so, the programme offers students a significant enhancement and valuable enrichment to their legal education. The curricula of Italian university law degree programmes – still largely shaped by a traditional approach focused primarily on national law – generally do not provide sufficient attention to the importance and impact of EU law. Law graduates typically acquire knowledge of EU law that is inadequate relative to the requirements imposed by the current stage of European integration. The PhD programme seeks to fill this gap by providing the necessary tools, knowledge, and methodologies. To tailor research and training activities to the specific features and characteristics of EU law in its various dimensions, two curricula had to be established. These pursue independent research objectives, while remaining complementary and mutually integrated.

Curricula

The first curriculum, ‘Sources of law, institutions and fundamental rights protection in the European Union and the European Criminal System’, is primarily devoted to the general aspects of the Europeanisation of law, linked to the institutional framework of European integration, the protection of fundamental rights, cooperation in the criminal law sector, and the historical dimension of European legal studies. The curriculum includes research and training activities focusing on the in-depth study of institutional, constitutional, international, criminal, and criminal procedure aspects of the European Union, as well as on the historical developments of those areas of law most affected by the European integration process. At its core lies the integrated national and European system, which develops across multiple levels: the European Union as an international organisation and actor in international relations; the institutions, sources of law, and EU policies; the protection of fundamental rights and judicial safeguards in the criminal sphere. From a teaching perspective, the doctoral activities focus on specific issues related to these areas, always examined from a European standpoint.
The curriculum is divided into four main research areas.
1.1. General aspects of European integration
1.2. Constitutional law, European integration, and the protection of rights
1.3. Criminal law of the European Union
1.4. Criminal procedure and European integration
1.5. The EU as an actor on the international scene

The second curriculum, ‘Policies of the European Union’, includes research and teaching activities focused on the development and in-depth study of topics related to the individual policies under the EU’s exclusive or shared competence. In exercising these competences, the Union, on the basis of the fundamental provisions set out in the founding Treaties, has adopted a multitude of legislative acts in derived law, which over the past forty years have profoundly influenced the evolution of almost all sectors of the legal systems of Italy and other Member States. Research and teaching activities focus on the formulation and content of the most significant EU policies, on the measures for the harmonisation of national legislation necessary for the establishment of the internal market and the full implementation of the four fundamental freedoms – movement of people, goods, services, and capital – on the regulations and directives adopted by EU legislative bodies, and the impact of these measures on the domestic legal systems of Member States. They also address the complex interpretative and applicative issues these measures have raised, examined both from a domestic perspective and in comparison with the legal experiences of other Member States. Particular attention is given to the adaptation of Italian domestic law to the innovations introduced by EU legislative acts, the ways in which these acts are interpreted and applied by European and domestic courts and public administrations, the analysis of legal experiences in other EU countries, and the identification and development of interpretative and applicative solutions most suitable to ensure full compliance of Italian law with EU law.

The curriculum is divided into ten main research areas.

2.1. Internal market and harmonisation of national legislation
2.2. Agriculture, fishing, and food

2.3. Consumer protection and private law governing obligations and contracts

2.4. Business and insolvency law, commercial companies, intellectual and industrial property, competition law

2.5. Law of new technologies, digital services and markets, personal data, and telecommunications

2.6. Judicial cooperation in civil matters
2.7. Tax law

2.8. Employment and social policy

2.9. Environment and energy

2.10. Public procurement and European administrative law

The main activity that doctoral students are required to carry out as part of their doctoral programme is research, mainly focused on the topics to be covered in their doctoral thesis. However, students also study and explore other topics, usually connected to the scientific disciplinary field of their tutors, as well as, of course, to European Union law and EU policies in general. The findings of these researches lead to specific publications which, while being of lesser significance and scope than the doctoral thesis, allow students to engage with different forms of legal scientific literature (commentaries, case notes, journal articles, contributions to collective works, doctrinal and jurisprudential reviews), acquiring the corresponding working methodology.

Given the characteristics of scientific production in Area 12, it is entirely normal that research outputs are directly and exclusively attributable to the individual doctoral student, whether the contribution is published independently in a journal or included in volumes containing the results of collective research outcomes. Research in the legal field is essentially an individual activity but is carried out within a research group, usually led by the doctoral student’s tutor (internal or external to the academic board).

Also due to the scale of the Department of Law at the University of Ferrara (and the availability of shared departmental spaces that encourage the creation and consolidation of personal relationships, critical discussion, and experience exchange among students and with the faculty), over the years a lively and close-knit community of doctoral students has developed. This has made it possible to create and develop scientific collaborations among the students. The process has also been facilitated by the organisation, by the academic board, of research activities and projects involving all students (e.g., research on the reconstruction of preliminary rulings brought by Italian judicial authorities before the EU Court following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty).

In October–November 2024, the academic board also organised two seminar meetings (the first lasting a full day, the second half a day), during which doctoral candidates of the 39th and 38th cycles were invited to publicly present and discuss the topics of their research and its progress, engaging with members of the academic board and fellow doctoral candidates.

Under the supervision of their tutor, doctoral students then come into contact with national and international research groups external to the University of Ferrara. In particular, students are fully introduced, by the tutor and senior members of the relevant research group, to the academic community of the respective scientific disciplinary field and are involved in seminars, conferences, and research initiatives promoted by this community, especially those specifically aimed at PhD students (e.g., annual meetings of Italian doctoral candidates conducting theses in private law, where candidates publicly present and discuss their research progress and results with colleagues and academic tutors). Students are also involved in teaching initiatives and activities under the responsibility of their tutor and the members of the relevant research group: both those directed at students enrolled in degree programmes at the Department, those aimed at post-graduate training and/or professional development, and finally third-mission activities.

Doctoral candidates are generally involved in teaching activities carried out and organised by Department faculty members for students enrolled in various degree programmes, namely organising and delivering seminars, assisting students, serving on examination committees, and providing support and assistance in the preparation of theses. Under no circumstances are PhD students assigned full responsibility for courses or teaching modules. In general, the time and effort required for the above-mentioned activities, whether at the Rovigo or Ferrara campus, remain fully compatible with students’ primary research and academic training. Taking part in ‘regular’ teaching activities organised by faculty members often gives PhD students opportunities to grow, deepen their knowledge, and develop their teaching and communication skills.

Each doctoral candidate is assigned two tutors (who may be members of the faculty or external to it). Tutors are selected based on their expertise in the thematic area relevant to the research project the student submitted during the selection process, which was positively evaluated by the examining committee.

Regarding training activities, they are divided into ‘disciplinary’ and ‘interdisciplinary’ activities. Disciplinary activities are organised by the faculty and the student’s tutors. Interdisciplinary activities are organised by IUSS-Ferrara 1391 for all doctoral candidates at the University of Ferrara (https://iuss.unife.it/en/the-iuss/training-activities).

Regarding disciplinary training activities, these are further divided into three categories: common activities, which are mandatory for all PhD candidates (including the basic EU law course, the annual doctoral seminar, and any additional training events identified by the faculty); thematic teaching modules of 8 hours each, two of which must be attended by all PhD students (chosen in agreement with their respective tutors), while the remaining modules are optional; and additional training events, organised either within the Department of Law or externally, at other universities or research institutions in Italy or abroad, attended by the PhD candidates in agreement with their tutor. Private law of contracts and EU business law (8 hours).

The 8-hour ‘thematic’ modules cover the following macro areas: international law; EU criminal law (substantive and procedural); EU contract and business law; EU tax law; EU labour law; EU administrative law. These modules are designed to address both fundamental aspects of the relevant disciplines and more advanced topics, always with a strong focus on teaching methods suitable for doctoral training. The specific content of the lectures in these modules changes each year to ensure continuous updating for students across all cycles and to focus on the issues most relevant at the time for the development of legal sciences.

The common activities and thematic teaching modules are dedicated exclusively to PhD candidates, while the additional training events (internal or external to UNIFE) may also be exclusively for PhD students but can, depending on the case, include a broader audience (academics, professionals, university students). Training activities are conducted not only by members of the doctoral board but also by Italian and foreign academics, representatives of Italian and EU public institutions, professionals, judges, and experts on the specific topics being addressed.

Until 2024, the doctoral board did not pre-assign credits to these training activities and only verified participation to mandatory training events. Then, the annual activity report was used to ensure that each PhD student had attended a sufficient number of training events to obtain the minimum credits required for admission to the next year. Starting from 1 November 2024, a table of training activities with a corresponding credit allocation was introduced, while still maintaining the flexibility needed to avoid overly rigid structures that could negatively affect students’ educational paths.

The PhD programme website provides the annual calendar of training activities and archives calendars of activities held since 2014, the year in which the PhD programme began. Training activities organised directly by the doctoral board are held partly at the Ferrara campus and partly at the Rovigo campus of the Department of Law. Italian and foreign academics, representatives of Italian and EU public institutions, professionals, judges, and experts on the topics covered are involved as lecturers. Closely connected to the doctoral programme is the Summer School on International Labour and Business Law, which reached its fifth edition in 2023 (https://iuss.unife.it/en/the-iuss/training-activities). The School is promoted and organised in collaboration with the PhD programme of the University of Padua, with the support and sponsorship of the Cariparo Foundation.

Doctoral students are also actively involved in the initiatives of the Centre for European Legal Studies on Macro-Crime (Macrocrimes), the European Documentation Centre, and the Centre for Advanced Training and Consultancy for Administrations (CAFCA), all based at the Department of Law, University of Ferrara.

Funding resources available to doctoral students include:

• the minimum funding established by current PhD regulations (departmental budget and Cariparo funds);
• research funds held by the faculty member serving as tutor;
• funds provided by the University to supplement scholarships for periods abroad;
• ‘extraordinary’ funds made available by IUSS Ferrara to support specific projects or initiatives requiring special financing;
• ‘extraordinary’ funds that, upon request of the PhD board, may be made available by the Department to meet specific and unique research needs.

The PhD programme contributes to strengthening national and international scientific networks and provides PhD students with opportunities to spend time at qualified academic and/or industrial institutions or public or private research organisations in Italy or abroad, in line with their research project and for a suitable length of time. Article 11, last paragraph, of the PhD regulations states that “Doctoral students are encouraged to spend periods of study abroad, including long-term stays, at universities or other research centres with which the PhD programme maintains established scientific collaborations. In any case, over the three-year duration of the PhD, each student is expected to spend no less than three months at such research centres”. Study abroad experiences are actively encouraged and promoted, particularly given the European dimension of the research conducted within the PhD programme. Students often spend time at foreign universities or research centres that already have established scientific collaborations with the Department of Law in Ferrara, or, in other cases, at European Union institutions.

The PhD programme is part of a dense network of national and international relationships with administrations, universities, and research institutions, allowing students to enhance their knowledge and experience through research and training stays abroad, or through collaborations with institutions, businesses, and professionals. In particular, the programme has promoted agreements and various forms of collaboration for the award of joint degrees or Doctor Europaeus certifications.
Specifically, the PhD programme maintains relations with: the University of Bordeaux, the University of Seville, the University of Granada, the University of Castilla-La Mancha, the University of Saint Louis in Brussels, the Catholic University of Louvain, the Italian Authority for Children and Adolescents, the Higher School of Economics and Finance, and the Institute for Legal Research at the Sorbonne, University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.
The agreement with the University of Bordeaux governs the student exchange programme for doctoral students. In particular, it provides for: support with administrative procedures, teaching assistance, participation in seminars and other scientific activities, and joint supervision of theses.
The agreement with the University of Seville regulates the modalities for doctoral candidates to complete their thesis under a joint supervision arrangement. In particular, it provides for the involvement of two tutors from the two universities, as well as the drafting of an individual agreement detailing the teaching and research activities. Collaborative activities among members of the PhD board are also envisaged.

Research groups from the Department of Law, University of Ferrara, and the law faculties of the four campuses of the University of Castilla-La Mancha, particularly the public law and criminal law sector, have collaborated on numerous international research projects funded by the European Commission (AGIS 2003, 2004, JUST/2013/JPEN/AG – Criminal Justice) and the Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Science.
Research groups from the Department of Law, UNIFE, and the Faculty of Law of the University of Saint Louis, Brussels, particularly the public law and criminal law sector, have collaborated on numerous international research projects and are currently partners in the FIGHTER project (Fight Against International Terrorism. Discovering European Models of Rewarding Measures to Prevent Terrorism funded by the EU Commission (JUST/2017/JPEN/AG–Criminal Justice).
The research groups of the University of Ferrara and the Catholic University of Louvain have collaborated within the framework of the research project Reconciling Work and Welfare in Europe (RECWOWE), funded by the European Commission under the 6th Framework Programme. This collaboration led to the publication of the volume Quality of Employment in Europe. Legal and Normative Perspectives (PIE Peter Lang, 2012).

The agreement with the University of Granada provides for the awarding of a dual Italian-Spanish degree and, consequently, the temporary transfer of participating doctoral students to the partner university. In 2023, a joint supervision agreement was signed under this agreement for one PhD student (Dr. Zannarini).

With financial support from the Department of Law, which allocated specific funds for this purpose, some doctoral students were able to participate in courses on Transnational Organized Crime Networks held in Brisbane (2022) and Zurich (2023–2024), organised collaboratively by the Universities of Queensland (Brisbane), Zurich, Cologne, Vienna, and Ferrara. Notably, the 2024/2025 edition of this important scientific initiative will take place in Ferrara at the Department of Law.
Additionally, between late 2022 and early 2023, an agreement was signed between the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES) and L’altro Diritto (Inter-University Research Centre on Prison, Deviance, Marginalisation, and Migration Governance – ADIR, affiliated with the Department of Law) to enable exchanges between the PhD programme and similar programmes at Brazilian universities.
In recent years, doctoral students have made full use of these exchange opportunities. It should be noted that the PhD programme mandates periods of study abroad at qualified foreign universities and supranational institutions, selected either from the established partner institutions mentioned above or from other entities, according to the specific research needs of each student.
In response to requests received from members of the PhD Stakeholder Committee, the Doctoral board aims to promote and support collaborations with institutions, organisations, and companies, enabling students to gain professional experience during their doctoral studies and to apply and enhance the knowledge and skills acquired through their research.

The Department of Law provides doctoral students with dedicated spaces and the essential tools for carrying out their research.

The Ferrara campus features three rooms that are exclusively reserved for doctoral students, equipped with work tables and appropriate IT tools. In addition, students can access the large reading rooms of the library. They have free access to all library rooms in order to browse printed material and easily borrow books they are interested in.

At the Rovigo campus, PhD students can conduct their research in the main building of Palazzo Angeli or in dedicated spaces at nearby Palazzo Cezza, provided by the Cariparo Foundation, where they can use dedicated workstations and consult the library materials of the Rovigo Department.

With university credentials provided immediately upon enrolment, doctoral students can access, from anywhere, national and international online databases and journals to which the University Library Service subscribes.

Both the Ferrara and Rovigo campus buildings are equipped with Wi-Fi.

●        The Law Library of the University of Ferrara, located at the Department of Law, boasts a collection of over 130,000 printed volumes.

●        The CUR – Consorzio Universitario Rovigo Library at the Rovigo campus houses approximately 13,000 volumes, most of which are dedicated to European Union law. These are distributed between the main Department building (Palazzo Angeli) and the nearby Palazzo Cezza, made available by the Cariparo Foundation.

●        The Department of Law at the University of Ferrara also hosts the European Documentation Centre, which maintains its own library (including a comprehensive collection of EU law sources covering the entire history of the European Communities since their foundation) and offers consultation and loan services.

The University Library System subscribes to a vast number of national, European, and extra-European scientific journals (over 500). Some journals are available in both print (including valuable historical collections) and online formats. Most periodicals can only be consulted online, thanks to subscriptions activated by the University Library System to individual journals or databases. Many Italian and foreign scientific journals (notably in English, French, German, and Spanish) are specifically dedicated to EU law and its influence on the national legal systems of Member States.

The Department of Law maintains numerous databases on optical media and a rich collection of online database subscriptions (DeJure, ONE-legale, Beck-online, Hein-online, Lexis-Nexis, Infoleges-Dogi, Il Foro Italiano, Guritel, WorldTradeLaw, L’Année Philologique, Rivisteweb – Il Mulino, Oxford Scholarship Online), covering the main areas of legal research, with particular emphasis on European and comparative law resources. In addition to academic material, these databases contain a wealth of regulatory and case law material.

The interlibrary loan service of the University is particularly effective and useful, allowing doctoral students to obtain, in a short time, volumes and/or journal articles not available in the University catalogue.

Ferrara Campus (Palazzo Trotti-Mosti):

Room 119: 12 seats, 9 desktop PCs, 2 network printers

Room 119 bis: 12 seats, 8 desktop PCs, 1 network printer

Meeting room for PhD students

Rovigo Campus:

Palazzo Angeli: room with 8 seats, 2 desktop PCs, 1 network printer
Palazzo Cezza: library with 4 rooms and numerous seats for consulting the book collection, Wi-Fi network; one room equipped for meetings