Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Internationalisation: agreement and covenant of action between the Law Departments of Unimore and the University of Seville

The Law Department of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia - Unimore signs an important inter-university agreement with the “twin” Department of the University of Seville. The agreement provides for synergetic collaboration in the development of research and training projects, the organisation of academic events, the publication of scientific material and an academic staff exchange policy, with a special focus on young male and female researchers.

As part of the strategic vision of internationalisation of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia - Unimore, the agreement provides tangible proof of the commitment of both institutions to promoting scientific research and academic exchange.

The agreement between the two departments is part of the Framework Agreement on Academic, Scientific and Cultural Cooperation that the two institutions signed in February 2022.

This agreement, valid until February 2026, laid the foundations for a series of joint activities between the two universities, and it is in this context that the current agreement is set, which defines the modalities of cooperation with particular regard to the field of law and legal informatics, artificial intelligence, and the relationship between new technologies and applied bioethics.

Within the agreement, a specific role is envisaged for the CRID - Interdepartmental Research Centre on Discrimination and Vulnerability at Unimore, founded in 2016 by Prof. Gianfrancesco Zanetti and Prof. Thomas Casadei and currently directed by the latter: this is in the light of the experience also within European and international projects on discrimination and research on the new frontiers of legal informatics and artificial intelligence.

The agreement aims to promote the joint development of research and training projects (also with a view to the third mission), the realisation of academic events of international relevance, the production of original research and the publication of high-level scientific material.

There is also a policy of exchanging lecturers, researchers and PhD students between the two institutions, which aims to make a significant contribution towards promoting academic mobility.

The fruitful exchange of ideas and expertise between the two institutions will undoubtedly provide a solid basis for future academic collaborations with a focus on the links between law and artificial intelligence, vulnerability and applied bioethics, forms of discrimination and anti-discrimination law.

The agreement will have an initial term of three years, with a possible extension for a further three years.

During this period, the two institutions undertake to closely monitor the development of the collaboration, providing regular reports on the activities carried out and the results achieved.

Professor Carmelo Elio Tavilla, Director of the Department of Law at Unimore, expressed his satisfaction: “We welcome this new phase of our collaboration with the University of Seville. The synergy resulting from this agreement will allow a significant advancement of our research and training activities, further enriching the educational and scientific offerings of both institutions. I would like to express my personal thanks to my colleague Prof. Fernando H. Llano Alonso who played a fundamental propulsive role in launching this pathway, and to the CRID for its contribution in defining and developing an initiative that we believe to be of high value and wide-ranging”.

From the University of Seville, the Dean of the law Department, Prof. Fernando H. Llano Alonso, commented: "This agreement, which marks a historic milestone in our Department's internationalisation programme, would not have been possible without the constant support and strong collaboration of Department Director Prof. Carmelo Elio Tavilla and dear colleagues Prof. Gianfrancesco Zanetti and Prof. Thomas Casadei, academics with exemplary academic careers. This agreement consolidates a fruitful scientific cooperation relationship between our respective institutions in the co-organisation of seminars and conferences on the ethics of artificial intelligence, vulnerability and discrimination, bioethics and law, and the history of legal thought, as well as in the exchange of senior lecturers and researchers in training”.

"The priority objectives of the agreement," continues Prof. Llano Alonso, "include collaboration in European research projects and networks, the regular organisation of joint seminars (in webinar and face-to-face format), the exchange of researchers and the co-publication of legal works in which our professors and researchers participate, as well as support for the internationalisation of our PhD students through the promotion of co-directorships and co-tutorials and the coordination of research stays at our respective centres”.

"This agreement - concludes Prof. Thomas Casadei, Director of the CRID, - further consolidates the collaboration with colleagues at the University of Seville led by Prof. Fernando H. Llano Alonso. Llano Alonso, and not only marks a further confirmation of the international openness of our University, but also confirms the great potential that legal studies can express in this direction, and specifically in the area of research on discrimination and vulnerability, new frontiers of legal informatics and bioethics, and last but not least artificial intelligence in relation to law”.

Among the first initiatives in the pipeline are a series of debates on topics of particular relevance in the contemporary debate within the “Modena-Seville Conversations” and a series of publications on law and digitalisation.

Categorie: International - english