Research projects
The CLEAR – Concept of the Rule of Law: Empirical and Analytical Research project addresses the fragility of the Rule of Law, which is often poorly understood and overshadowed by autocratic and populist rhetoric that privileges efficiency over constitutional principles. By combining legal theory and cognitive science, CLEAR studies how citizens and legal experts understand the Rule of Law, identifying the cognitive and emotional factors that influence its perception. The project aims to develop tools and recommendations for institutions and educational programmes, in order to make the Rule of Law more accessible and to foster informed public participation, without resorting to forms of manipulation. Official website: https://www.ruleoflawclear.eu/PRIN CLEAR (2023–2026)
CERV Trancityons (2023)
The Trancityons – Transitions, Cities and Democracy project studies the role of cities in democratization processes, comparing post-Second World War Italy, post-1989 Poland, and post-Yugoslav contexts. Through academic research, questionnaires, seminars, workshops, public debates, and travelling exhibitions, it analyses how urban spaces can foster democratic memory, civic participation, the protection of the Rule of Law, and the dissemination of European values, with cross-cutting attention to the gender dimension.
Official website: https://site.unibo.it/trancityons/en
RECOGNISE (2020–2023)
RECOGNISE aims to develop an interdisciplinary training curriculum on legal reasoning and cognitive science, addressing a gap in higher legal education.
The project consists of a strategic partnership among six European universities, funded by the Erasmus+ Programme. It provides researchers, students, legal professionals, and other interested stakeholders with introductory and advanced materials on topics such as heuristics and biases in judgment, the cognitive structure of legal concepts, and defeasible reasoning in law.
The materials are available in the form of an online handbook, video lectures, a summer school, and other online and in-person activities.
Official website: https://www.recognise.academy/
The project developed an experimental theory of law by studying the relationship between legal concepts and embodied cognition. In particular, it investigated whether legal institutions such as contract, property, the State, and subjective rights are connected to physical-motor schemas rooted in bodily experience. The research combined legal theory, experimental psychology, and legal design, with the practical aim of making the digital interfaces used in legally relevant contexts more intuitive.ALMA IDEA (2017): Experimental Theory of Law: Embodied Cognition and the Perception of the Legal