The aim of the SynBioGov project is the development of an integrative framework for the fair and responsible governance of synthetic biology. Synthetic biology refers to an emerging interdisciplinary area of science and technology that involves the application of engineering principles to biology. Far from being a homogenous area, it encompasses a wide range of fields, methodologies, and approaches, all aiming at the (re-)design and fabrication of biological components and systems that do not already exist in the natural world. Conducted in the context of international environmental law and governance, research covers both the macro-level (global institutions and multilateral environmental agreements) and the micro-level (actors involved in lab research), also addressing the institutional structures for risk management and practices for responsible research and innovation that may be used to connect them. Aiming at increasing the legitimacy of both international law developments and innovation practices, development of the governance framework is based on three work packages as following:
• an assessment of current state of international environmental law, including an analysis of regulatory gaps and normative challenges in the context of general principles of law, regarding both biosafety and equity and justice-related objectives, with a focus on the Convention on Biological Diversity and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture;
• an examination of frameworks developed in the sociological fields of risk analysis, responsible research and innovation, and science and technology studies, including gendered approaches to technological risk, and identification of linkages with the international law study; and
• development of an exploratory typology of actors involved in synthetic biology research, including their claims and motivations.
Researcher: Elissavet Tsioumani (School of International Studies, University of Trento)
Supervisor: Louisa R. Parks (School of International Studies, University of Trento)
Funding: European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101029634.
Training at the host institution
• ACDC Summer School on synthetic life (26-27 August 2021, online)
• Doctoral seminar on qualitative methods for social sciences (January – March 2021)
Other training
• Summer school on legal research methodology (14-15 July 2022, online, organized by the University of Burgos). Participation at roundtable on experiences in applying interdisciplinary methods
• Seminar/reading group on feminist and decolonial approaches (March – June 2023, hybrid): organized by the University of Leuven and the University of Uppsala
Integration in activities of the host institution
• Participation as a discussant in the Conference on “The rule of law in the European Union and the consequences of its violations” (7-8 February 2022)
• Participation in the “Women in International Affairs” series of webinars: Presentation on Wangari Maathai (28 February 2022)
• Collegio Clesio lecture on synthetic biology governance (5 April 2022)
• Lectures on biodiversity governance, smallholders’ farmers, and technology governance in L. Parks’ master course “People, Politics and the Planet”
• Participation as a discussant in the seminar “The long land war: Concepts, infrastructure and landscape” by Prof. Jo Guldi, Emory University (14 December 2023)
• Participation in the PhD Colloquium “Governance for Sustainable and Just Transitions” (8-9 February 2024) as part of GreenDeal-Net
Publications
Book chapters and journal articles
• Frison C and Tsioumani E “Access and Benefit Sharing and Digital Sequence Information: Unravelling the Knot” in Lawson C., Rourke M and Humphries F (eds) Access and Benefit Sharing of Genetic Resources, Information and Traditional Knowledge, Routledge 2022, 122-138
• Frison C, Parks L, Tsioumani E “Biocultural Community Protocols: Making Space for Indigenous and Local Cultures in Access and Benefit Sharing?” in Lawson C., Rourke M and Humphries F (eds) Access and Benefit Sharing of Genetic Resources, Information and Traditional Knowledge, Routledge 2022, 177-190
• Rabitz F, Reynolds J, Tsioumani E “Emerging technologies in biodiversity governance: gaps and opportunities for action” in Visseren-Hamakers I and Kok M (eds) Transforming Biodiversity Governance, Cambridge University Press 2022, 137-154 (open access)
• Kok M, Tsioumani E, Bliss C, Immovilli M, Keune H, Morgera E, Rüegg S, Schapper A, Vijge M, Zinngrebe Y, Visseren-Hamakers I “Enabling transformative biodiversity governance in the post-2020 era” in Visseren-Hamakers I and Kok M (eds) Transforming Biodiversity Governance, Cambridge University Press 2022, 341-360 (open access)
• Parks L and Tsioumani E “Transforming biodiversity governance? Indigenous Peoples’ participation in the Convention on Biological Diversity” Biological Conservation 280, April 2023, 109933 (open access). Part of special issue on: Ethics and practice of biodiversity science: how hidden moral assumptions impact conservation research and policy
• Tsioumani E “Interdisciplinary methodologies in international law scholarship: a lawyer’s journey from the social to the life sciences” Ragion Pratica 2023, 1, 251-266 (open access).
Other (blogposts and policy briefs)
• Allan J, Tsioumani E, Jones N, Soubry B, State of Global Environmental Governance 2021, IISD Earth Negotiations Bulletin, February 2022
• Tsioumani E, La biodiversità e la Conferenza delle Nazioni Unite: ecco cosa si è deciso e quali sono gli obiettivi a breve termine, Orizzonti Internazionali, I Dolomiti, December 2022
• Tsioumani E, The 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference: achievements and shortcomings, Eurac Research, January 2023
• Zinngrebe Y, Agapakis I, Tsioumani E, Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen S, Smallwood J, Förster J, Tröger U, Lehmann I, Valencia V, Can the new global biodiversity agenda avoid another implementation failure? The new Montreal Kunming GBF raises more questions than answers. Earth System Governance blog, February 2023
• McKenzie K, Lennan M, Eccleston-Turner M, Rourke M, Hampton A-R, Tsioumani E, Ainslie J, Titi C, Porter G, Upton H, Williams R, Sekalala S, Wenton A, Kolawole Oke E, Wenham C, Switzer S, Equity in Global Health Law: Policy Brief, July 2023.
Conference presentations
• Tsioumani E “Building an integrative framework for the fair and responsible governance of synthetic biology.” Presentation at the 2021 Earth System Governance Annual Conference (7-9 September 2021, Bratislava, Slovakia, and online)
• Tsioumani E “Technological innovation in global environmental law and governance: the case of synthetic biology”: Invited presentation at the X Anniversary Colloquium on Global Environmental Law and Governance of the University of Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance (4 May 2022, Glasgow, UK)
• Tsioumani E “In the quest for justice: agrarian movements in international law.” Presentation at the Conference on “Critical Margins. Politicizing the Crisis” co-organized by the European Sociological Association Research Network on Social Movements, the European Consortium for Political Research Standing Group on Participation and Mobilization, and the Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento (15-17 June 2022, Trento)
• Tsioumani E, two presentations at the 80th Biennial Conference of the International Law Association (19-24 June 2022, Lisbon, Portugal):
§ “Challenges and opportunities for international law in the age of synthetic biology” under the stream on “New technologies and international law”
§ “Biodiversity and health: linkages and challenges for international law and governance” invited by the Committee on Global Health Law
• Tsioumani E “Emerging technologies in global biodiversity law and governance: the case of synthetic biology.” Presentation at the 2022 Conference on Earth System Governance (21-24 October 2022, Toronto, Canada)
• Tsioumani E “Equity in the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.” Invited presentation at closed workshop on “Equity in Global Health Law – towards a critical understanding” (27 March 2023, Kings College London)
• Tsioumani E “Exploring the increasing complexities of international environmental law-making: The case of the Kunming – Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.” Presentation at the Annual Conference of the Socio-legal Studies Association (4-6 April 2023, Derry, Northern Ireland, UK and online)
• Tsioumani E “Positioning law in technoscientific futures: the case of synthetic biology.” Presentation at the STS Italia Annual Conference (28-30 June 2023, Bologna, Italy)
• Tsioumani E “Novel biotechnologies in international environmental law: Falling through the cracks?” and Tsioumani E and Parks L “Transforming biodiversity governance? Indigenous Peoples’ contributions and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.” Two presentations at the 20th Annual Colloquium of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law: Future-Proofing Law in a Time of Environmental Emergency (31 July – 4 August 2023, Joensuu, Finland, and online)
• Tsioumani E, three presentations at the Interest Groups on Social Sciences and International Law, International Health Law, and BioLaw at the Annual Conference of the European Society of International Law (30 August – 2 September 2023, Aix-en-Provence, France) on:
§ “Exploring De-legalization Trends in Global Biodiversity Law and Governance”
§ “Taking Fairness and Equity Seriously: Lessons from the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture”
§ “New genomic technologies in international environmental law: falling through the cracks?”
• Rabitz F and Tsioumani E “Regulatory disengagement and the shifting politics of biotechnology under the Convention on Biological Diversity” and Parks L and Tsioumani E “Transforming biodiversity governance? Indigenous Peoples’ contributions and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.” Presentations at the 2023 Radboud Conference on Earth System Governance (24-27 October 2023, Nijmegen, Netherlands)
• Roundtable discussion on “Governing the space commons: insights from other fields.” Invited participation in the virtual conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons: Commons in Space 2023 (15-17 November 2023)
• Tsioumani E “Farmers’ rights and local agricultural varieties: the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.” Invited presentation at the seventh scientific meeting on local and indigenous varieties in Greece (21 March 2024, Athens, Greece).
Attendance of intergovernmental negotiations
• Ninth session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) (19-24 September 2022, New Delhi, India)
• 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference: 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and associated meetings of the protocols (7-19 December 2022, Montreal, Canada)
• Tenth meeting of the ITPGRFA Working Group to Enhance the Functioning of the Multilateral System (12-14 July 2023, Rome, Italy)
• Tenth session of the ITPGRFA Governing Body (20-24 November 2023, Rome).
Impact on policy-makers
• Pre-COP26 Knowledge-Exchange Dialogue: “Multi-level Joint Action for Climate, Nature and People: Bridging knowledge, policy and practice” (20-21 October 2021, online, organized by the University of York, Toronto, Canada): Invited speaker on linkages regarding biodiversity and climate governance
• Side-event at the ninth session of the ITPGRFA Governing Body (22 September 2022, New Delhi): “Access and Benefit-sharing and Digital Sequence Information: Unravelling the knot.” Co-organized with Christine Frison (Université de Louvain)
• Seminar and Q&A session on the outcomes of the 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference, organized by the Scottish Parliament (26 January 2023, online): Invited expert
• Biodiversa+ workshop on “Transformative change for biodiversity and public policy” (22 June 2023, online, organized by the French Ministry of Ecological Transition): Invited speaker
• Side-event at the tenth session of the ITPGRFA Governing Body (22 November 2023): “DSI in international negotiations: an overview on recent developments at the CBD, ITPGRFA, IGC and PIP Framework/Pandemic Treaty”. Organized by Université de Louvain. Presentation on: “Is ABS addressing the real problem? Insights from negotiations on DSI across international processes”.
Collaboration and outreach activities
• European Researchers’ Night (24 September 2021, Trento)
• World Food Forum – Youth Action (16-20 October 2023): academic delegate
• Moderation of webinar on: “The Global Seed Commons and the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, organized by the University of Eastern Finland and presented by Christine Frison (Université de Louvain)
• Collaboration with the Transdisciplinary Institute for Environmental and Social Studies (Thessaloniki, Greece) in a series of seminars and events in the context of a Jean Monnet project on the interlinkages between human rights and the environment.
For further information see the project website and blog.
This project aims to explore whether and (if so) how individuals affected by climate change experience and perceive empowerment through digital crowdsourcing campaigns provided by organisational actors. Unequal inclusion in climate change debates and decision-making processes remains a significant global problem, perpetuating local and global structural inequalities in experiencing and addressing climate change. In response to this issue, various international non-governmental civil society and governmental organisations have initiated crowdsourcing campaigns to involve citizens around the globe. Such campaigns provide open calls through digital platforms with varying aims around participation, ranging from individual submissions of climate change data (e.g. photo evidence or disaster tracking) to group submissions of innovative solutions to specific environmental problems. As such, these campaigns aim to provide more participatory processes. They should therefore, in theory, empower individuals through more participatory digitally-enabled processes, a notion and hypothesis this project aims to test through the lens of climate justice. It will do so through qualitative research including short-term ethnographic fieldwork, long-term digital observation of crowdsourcing initiatives, and focus groups with users of these platforms.
Resercher: Suay Ozkula (School of International Studies, University of Trento)
Supervisor: Louisa R. Parks (School of International Studies, University of Trento)
Funding: European Commission Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship Scheme.
Projects synopsis
Secessionist pressure has considerably grown in intensity and number of cases in the last decade across established democracies of Western Europe. Since 2012, separatist forces in Catalonia have tried to find a way to hold a binding referendum on independence from Spain. Most notably, in September 2014, a formal and binding referendum on Scotland’s independence from the UK was held, with the secessionist camp winning almost 45 per cent of votes. All these instances of secession fall within the political project of ‘Independence in Europe’, which envisages the creation of a new independent state that then becomes a new member of the EU. However, the actual feasibility of this project is far from being certain. EU treaties are rather elusive on the possibility for a region to achieve independence and join the EU as a new member-state. In order to evaluate the feasibility of the ‘Independence in Europe’ projects, it is therefore crucial to see if there are consolidated attitudes towards this general idea, whether these attitudes are positive or negative, whether there are important differences across EU institutions and within them – crucially across member-states represented in the European Council and the Council of the EU, or across groups of the European Parliament (EP) or across Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) of different nationalities. It is also important to understand if the attitudes of the various institutions (and actors) change depending on the specific conditions that characterize the individual instances of independence and why. To the best of my knowledge, no study has ever been conducted to try and answer these questions. This original project would, therefore, provide new and important insights concerning the politics of independence in Europe by investigating the perspective of EU institutions and elites. The first objective of the research is to find out whether there are (or not) settled attitudes towards the general idea of ‘Independence in Europe’. In case there are, whether they are positive or negative and why. In addition, the research aims to find out if there are important differences of attitudes across EU institutions or within them (e.g. across member states represented in the European Council or the Council of the EU, or between Groups in European Parliament or between MEPs from different member-states). The second objective is to find out if (and why) there are differences in the attitudes towards the project of ‘independence in Europe’ across the cases of Catalonia and Scotland.
Publications
- Monograph
Massetti, E. (2023) L’Unione Europea e le sfide secessioniste: Prospettive e limiti del progetto di ‘Indipendenza in Europa’. Bologna: Il Mulino
- Research articles
Massetti, E. (2022) “The European Union and the challenge of ‘independence in Europe’: Straddling between (formal) neutrality and (actual) support for member-states’ territorial integrity, Regional and Federal Studies, 32(3): 307-330
Massetti, E. and Schakel, A. H. (2021) “From staunch supporters to critical observers: Explaining the turn towards Euroscepticism among regionalist parties”, European Union Politics, 22(3): 424-445.
- Book Chapter
Massetti, E. (2020) “Let down by Europe? Secessionist regionalist parties and the EU’s reactions vis-à-vis attempts to achieve ‘Independence in Europe’”, in Ferreira Antunes, S. (Ed) Self-Determination in a Context of Shared Sovereignty. Brussels: Coppieters Foundation. Pp. 68-81.
Massetti, E. and Schakel, A. (2020) “Regionalist Parties and the European Union”, in Finn Laursen (Ed) Encyclopedia of European Union Politics. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1983.
Science, Technology and International Relations (STERI) project webstite
Research Team: Paolo Foradori, Stefano Schiavo; Post-doc Fellow: Georgios Glouftsios
The Project's aims
Three are the major lines of research. 1) Technological Politics and European Security: this Work Package explores the complex interrelatedness and feedback loops between, on the one hand, techno-scientific innovations and, on the other hand, transnational security dynamics, especially in Europe. 2) Combating the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: this research analyses the threat of weapons of mass destruction, understood as the whole of chemical, biological, nuclear and cyber weapons. 3) Climate change and food security: this line of research looks at the relationship between climate change and food security at a global level. The broad research question is whether international trade in agricultural and food products can help mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.
Research Team: Andrea Fracasso (PI), Mauro Caselli, Stefano Schiavo; Post-doc Fellows: Jasmine Mondolo, Silvio Traverso
The Project's aims
The project has two main objectives. The first is to document the evolution of market power of Italian firms and see how this relates to the above-mentioned imbalances. The second is to explore the effects of robotisation on the labour market. The value added of this project is the possibility of joining forces with local partners to address these issues from a national and regional perspective.
Research Team: Carlo Ruzza; Post-doc Fellows: Carlo Berti, Paolo Cossarini
The Project's aims
The goal of the research project is to examine the political-sociological aspects of populist and anti-populist parties and groups in Europe. The research focuses on the analysis of empirical and theoretical aspects of the populist phenomenon in recent years.
Research Team: Marco Pertile, Antonino Alì, Andrea Fracasso; Post-doc Fellows: Sondra Faccio, Vito Todeschini
The Project's aims
The project aims at investigating the process of formation of the EU trade policy in cases of contested sovereignty, based on the scrutiny of the practice of the relevant actors, and at assessing the consistency of the EU trade policy in light of the rules of international and EU law.
Anti-establishment voting and economic integration project website
Research Team: Mauro Caselli, Andrea Fracasso, Carlo Ruzza, Stefano Schiavo; Post-doc Fellow: Silvio Traverso
The Project's aims
The aim of the project is to examine empirically the potential link between the rise of anti-establishment parties and the increase in economic integration, with both European and non-European countries. It will study if anti-establishment parties have obtained relatively more votes across national Parliamentary elections in Italy and other European countries with available data within those regions most affected by economic integration and the recent crisis.
BeneLex - Benefit sharing for an equitable transition to the green economy project website
Research Team: Elisa Morgera (PI), Louisa R. Parks
The Project's aims
The project aims to investigate the conceptual and practical dimensions of fair and equitable benefit-sharing, including its role and limitations in ensuring fairness and equity in the identification and allocation among different stakeholders of the advantages arising from environmental protection, the sustainable use of natural resources, and the production of knowledge. The project seeks to better understand the progressive development of fair and equitable benefit-sharing obligations and modalities in different areas of international environmental law and their intersection with international human rights law.
Research Team: Andrea Fracasso, Stefano Schiavo; Post-doc Fellow: Paolo Turrini
The Project's aims
The project focuses on the interactions between climate change and human activities related to water, embracing physical, social, legal and economic processes. The project studies how changes in water cycle components related to extremes affect the society and some contiguous sectors (like agriculture, tourism, and energy production), and analyses the role played by social behaviour, economic processes and legal instruments in managing the availability of freshwater.
Research Team: Luigi Bonatti, Andrea Fracasso, Paolo Rosa; Post-doc Fellow: Peng Bin
The Project's aims
This research project aims to develop some theoretical macroeconomic models to study the transition path and the long-term implications on growth of various reform scenarios, taking fully into account the delicate balance of power between the dominant social groups and the elite that governs the country. The project will also aim to address the impact of the transformation of the Chinese socio-economic model on the international relations that China maintains with the Western countries and its Asian neighbours.
Research Team: Antonino Alì, Giorgio G. Fodor, Marco Pertile; Post-doc Fellow: Chiara Sisler
The Project's aims
The overall purpose of the research project is thus to investigate the causes that led to an intergovernmental approach to crisis management by EU Member States, assess its impact on the EU legal system and discuss its possible future developments.
Research Team: Luisa Antoniolli, Matteo Borzaga, Gustavo Corni, Giorgio G. Fodor, Sara Lorenzini, Carlo Ruzza, Jens Woelk; Post-doc Fellow: Umberto Tulli
The Project's aims
The project will deal with the notion of crisis in the European Union. It will focus on the definition of crisis in the European system, as it evolved historically in its various components (institutional, political, economic, social, and moral) and discuss the outcomes of crisis. The project is multidisciplinary in nature.
Research Team: Julinda Beqiraj, Andrea Fracasso, Marco Pertile, Stefano Schiavo, Mara Tignino; Post-doc Fellows: Martina Sartori, Paolo Turrini
The Project's aims
This is a multidisciplinary project that studies the main drivers and consequences of international virtual water flows. The research activity carried out at the SIS aims at identifying the main economic and legal determinants of virtual water flows, and their impact on global water efficiency. The main objectives are two: a better understanding of the global dynamics in virtual water flows and the evaluation of the impact of such flows on food safety. We will investigate the complex relationships between climatic, agronomic and socio-economic factors that shape the evolution of the worldwide trade of virtual water.
Working Group Member at the SIS: Catherine Riley
The Project's aims
This EU funded project aims to identify ways of addressing these challenges and making the most of the opportunities to eventually produce a series of quality criteria for international programmes. The aims of the IntlUni Erasmus Academic Network are to identify the quality criteria that should characterise teaching and learning in the Multilingual and Multicultural Learning Space, to develop recommendations for how Higher Education Institutions may implement and ensure the sustainability of quality teaching and learning in the Multilingual and Multicultural Learning Space; to identify the linguistic, cultural and pedagogical/didactic challenges in the various types of HEIs in the typology.
Post-doc Fellow: Serena Tomasi
The Project's aims
The aim is to enhance intercultural dialogue and stimulate - since the first cycle of tuition - those skills required to get acknowledged with European and transnational sources of law, as well as being able to play an active citizenship, suited to the needs of the local school scenario. The project also aims at developing a tool fostering key competences in the European context of the qualifications for life-long learning, related to self-fulfilment, active citizenship and social cohesion.
Research Unit at the SIS: Catherine Riley
The Project's aims
The general aim of this two-year EU funded project is to connect the three key quality stakeholders: teacher, student and quality manager in order to share and enhance quality assurance practice in higher education and ultimately foster a quality culture. The aim of the SPEAQ project (Sharing Practice in Enhancing and Assuring Quality) is to connect three key quality circles: teacher, student and quality manager in order to share and enhance quality assurance practice in higher education.
The Structure and Growth of World Trade and the Role of Europe in the Global Economy project website
Research Team: Stefano Schiavo; Post-doc Fellow: Shamnaaz Begum Sufrauj
The Project's aims
The project aims at investigating the growing interdependency of social and economic relationships among world countries using a network approach. It proposes a simple stochastic model of network formation and evolution, to describe the structure and dynamic properties of international trade, and uses it as a benchmark against which to test the performance of each country.