LL.B (Hons) (La Sapienza, Rome, Italy); LL.M in European Law (University of Nottingham, UK); Ph.D in EU Law (University of Nottingham, UK)

I joined Sussex Law School in September 2016. Previously I was Reader in EU Law, Deputy Director of Research and Postgraduate Research Programme Leader; Co-Chair of the Law in a Global Context Research Group at Lincoln Law School (UK). I have also held posts as Senior Lecturer and Lecturer in EU law at the University of Manchester and Liverpool (UK). 

My main area of research is in EU law and policy. I have researched and written extensively on the relationship between law, constitutionalism, human rights and experimental forms of governance, particularly in the fields of employment, migration and asylum. More recently, I have been carrying out research in the field of EU asylum law and policy examining legislative developments and the judicial activism of the European Courts with a focus on fundamental human rights. A further area of research looks at the EU's approach to human rights conditionality in its external trade relations with third countries further to the changes introduced by the 2009 Treaty of Lisbon (see my book The Role of the EU in the Promotion of Human Rights and International Labour Standards in its External Trade Relations (with contributions from Dr Martines) (Springer 2020); read the endorsements here

My present research interests are in relation to the protection of labour standards in global supply chains and the interplay between EU legislative measures, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the ILO, particularly but not exclusively in the garment sector; see my article on Labour Standards in Global Garment Supply Chains and the Proposed EU Corporate Sustainability Directive. I am also interested in exploring the relationship between climate change and migration and the challenges that it poses for law, governance and human rights protection at all levels of decision and policy-making. 

Currently I am working on a new research monograph entitled Ethics, Law and Human Rights in Climate Migration (forthcoming Ethics Press 2027). The book examines the ethical dimension of climate migration and its implications for law, governance and human rights.

As of January 2025 I am a member of the ChainGE Lab research network ("Collaboratory") as a visiting researcher of the European Research Council (ERC) research project ChainGE Lab Labour Law for a Global Value Chain Economy(2024-2029), which addresses the multi-faceted challenges of global supply chains for workers' rights and labour law. 

 
_____________

Expertise and Engagement 

As EU law and policy expert I have been invited to talk and comment on BBC Radio Sussex and BBC Radio Surrey about several aspects concerning the withdrawal of the UK from the EU including the key stumbling blocks in the EU-UK trade negotiations and the long-term implications of the post-Brexit EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement.

______________

Member of the ICONS Interest Group on Climate Change and Migration

Member of the Society of Legal Scholars
Member of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies
Member of the Sussex European Institute
Member of the Sussex Rights and Justice Research Centre 

Founder and Convenor of the European Law and Policy Research Group (2016-2022)