PhD in Law, Science and Technology

Academic Year 2021-2022
Subject area Legal, Politological, Economic and Statistical Sciences
Cycle 37
Coordinator Prof. Monica Palmirani
Language English
Duration 3 years
Positions 6 positions. More information in the PhD Programme Table
Application deadline Jun 04, 2021 at 12:00 PM (Expired)
Enrolment period From Jul 23, 2021 to Aug 02, 2021
Doctoral programme start date Nov 01, 2021
Operating centre
Bologna
Main Department
Department of Legal Studies - DSG
Associated Departments
Alma Mater Research Institute For Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (Alma Human AI)
Associated locations (agreements)
Università degli studi di Torino (UNITO)
Mobility abroad
12 months
Research topics
  1. Human Rights and Ethical Principles in new and emerging technologies
  2. Ethics and law in Genetics
  3. Biotechnology and law
  4. Biobanks, DNA and research
  5. E-health and Privacy by Design applying AI and Big Data
  6. Privacy and eHealth information systems
  7. Ethical, Legal and Social Issues in Health
  8. Semantic Web and Legal ontologies modelling
  9. Legal Analytics and AI for Legal Sources
  10. Legal Design techniques for transparency
  11. Data Science for Law
  12. Digital Humanities and legal sources
  13. LegalXML for legal document and knowledge modelling
  14. Information Systems for eJustice, eGovernment, and eLegislation
  15. Computational models of legal and ethical reasoning
  16. Intelligent Information extraction and NLP of legal resources
  17. e-Discovery and data mining in Legal domain
  18. Legal knowledge extraction using ML
  19. Formal Models of Norms and Legal Reasoning Logic-based models of norms and legal knowledge
  20. Legal reasoning, including argumentation and reasoning
  21. Argumentation systems Game theory as applied to the law
  22. Normative Multi-Agent Systems and e-Institutions Regulatory Compliance
  23. Automotive Self-driving system and liability
  24. Regulation of Robotics and Related Ethical Issues
  25. Privacy and Security with New Technology Cybercrime and Computer Forensics
  26. Computer forensics and security
  27. e-Business and Consumer Law
  28. e-Governance and e-Democracy social modelling
  29. IPR and New Technology
  30. Protection of children online for a safer Internet
  31. Digital citizenship and vulnerability of the minor digital identity
  32. Blockchain for legal domain
  33. eDemocracy: theoretical and technical models
  34. Artificial intelligence and democracy in the data society
  35. Artificial intelligence and eJustice: legal and technical solutions
  36. Big Data governance and law regulation balancing economical and individual rights
Job opportunities and potential areas of employment
The doctoral programme offers innovative and up-to-date integrated training enabling candidates to carry out cutting-edge research in different subjects, such as bioethics and law & computer science, in topics that require a genuine interdisciplinary approach. It includes an internship in the third year offered by 14 industries, where candidates can apply their research and complement it with a professional experience. Upon completing the programme, graduates will become highly skilled researchers and professionals, meeting the requirements of the public and private sectors. They will be able qualified to seek employment, for example, in:
- law firms working on IPR, privacy, e-commerce, and patenting;
- high-tech software houses where artificial intelligence is applied;
- specialised research centres such as medical genetic centres, nanotechnology centres, and robotics laboratories;
- government offices that manage innovative ICT and eGovernment, eJustice, and eParliament projects;
- ethics committees that analyse scientific innovations and write policy documents.
Admission Board

Surname Name University / Institution Role email
Bouvry Pascal University of Luxembourg Member
Cole Mark University of Luxembourg Member
Durante Massimo  Università di Torino Member
Górriz López  Carlos  Autonoma de Barcelona (Spain) Member
Palmirani Monica Università di Bologna Member
Sartor Giovanni Università di Bologna Member
Vedder Anton  Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) Member
Ziccardi Giovanni Università di Milano Member
Artosi Alberto Università di Bologna Substitute
Baldoni Matteo Università degli Studi di Torino Substitute
Caso Roberto Università di Trento Substitute
Heinze Christian Leibniz Universität Hannover (Germany) Substitute
Omicini Andrea Università di Bologna Substitute
Van Der Torre Leon   Université du Luxembourg  Substitute
Learning outcomes
LAST-JD is an International PhD programme. The consortium is composed of 29 partners (9 beneficiaries, 2 research centers, 4 associated universities, 14 industries) with seven EU countries (Italy, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Spain, Austria, Germany, Belgium) and two non-EU countries (Australia, USA). The nine universities are: the universities of Bologna, Turin, Luxembourg (LU), the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Mykolas Romeris University, KU Leuven, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Universität Wien the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. All the said universities share framework co-tutelle agreements for the awarding of double degrees. The objective of the doctoral programme in Law, Science and Technology (LAST-JD) is to offer interdisciplinary integrated competences making it possible to deal with the new challenges the information society and the newly emerging technologies will increasingly pose in the future in the legal domain and the socio-ethical field. Upon completing of the doctoral programme, participants will be able to become legal professionals in specific ICT domains like software, databases, big data, AI, blockchain, robotics; government officials capable of managing eGovernment projects; researchers in specialised laboratories (medical genetic or nanotechnology); members of ethics committees; computer-forensics and security experts; legal-knowledge engineers. IoE technologies are viewed through the lens of the law, ethics, and human rights. Particular attention is dedicated to the Internet of Data, the Internet of Things, the Internet of Persons, the Internet of Health, the Internet of Money.
Activities to be carried out by Doctoral candidates
The first term (in UNIBO) provides the methodological instruments needed to do research, while harmonizing the educational stock of knowledge that PhD candidates bring from different backgrounds. The first semester is organized as follows:
- 12 ECTS of lecture courses
- 2 ECTS for Personal Career Development Plan (PCDP)
- 16 ECTS of research.

In the second semester PhD candidates are to research their thesis topic in depth and find a suitable destination in UNITO:
- 12 ECTS of lecture courses
- 18 ECTS of research.

In the third term candidates shall organize a training period in a site which in their assessment is best suited for an internship pertaining to the thesis domain (in UL/UAB):
- 12 ECTS of lecture courses
- 18 ECTS of research.

In the remaining semesters we have the following activities:
- 24 ECTS of research
- 2 ECTS for PCDP
- 40 ECTS for thesis writing.
Research training activities compliant with the Doctoral programme's learning outcomes
University of Bologna:
10 hours of lectures for a methodological course on doctoral research instruments; 30 hours of lectures providing an overview of the main topics, or specific courses for each type of degree background in order to fill gaps in students’ knowledge not provided by previous education; 5 hours Intellectual propriety rights; 20 hours Italian language; summer schools.

Torino University
15 hours of lectures on Informatic fundamentals; 15 hours smart cities, sensors, robotics and IoT; 15 hours AI&Law; 15 hours IT&Law; 10 hours EU project management; 20 hours Italian language.

Université du Luxembourg:
20 hours Legal reasoning e smart contracts in IoT; 20 hours Argumentation in MultiAgents Systems; 20 hours Transnational regulation of the Internet.

Universitad Automoma de Barcelona:
10 hours BioLaw; 10 hours BioEthics, 10 hours specific workshops on the research topics chosen by PhD candidates for their thesis project.
Internationalization features
Three mobility periods, for a total of 12 months, are required to ensure that all students follow courses in an integrated way and can benefit from the specific expertise available at partners universities, providing in particular an opportunity to experience research activity in departments of different kinds and to familiarize with local languages and the different legal systems of the EU. The 9 partner universities provide a coordinated training offer, in terms of experts, workshops, conferences, research topics, tutors, all boosting the internationalization features of the PhD programme. Associated partners procide multiple training opportunities (ITTIG-CNR, Data61- CSIRO, Univ. del Piemonte Orientale, Univ. di Pittsburgh, Univ. La Trobe, Observatorio de Bioética y Derecho UB).
Expected research results and products
By end of first semester: Literature and archival map presented to, discussed with, and approved by the Academic Board
By end of second semester: Review of archival work completed and draft outline of the dissertation approved by the Academic Board.
By end of third semester: analytical table of contents presented to, and approved by, the Academic Board.
By end of fourth semester: completed chapter presented to, and approved by, the Academic Board.
By end of fifth semester: majority of chapters complete and presented in pre-final draft to Committee.
By middle of sixth semester: written text entirely completed in pre-final form; then archival checks and polishing of prose, work ready for defence.
At the end the doctoral candidate must achieve two papers published in conference proceedings or journal, and to attend at least two international or national conferences.
Doctoral programme Academic Board
Surname Name University / Institution Qualification
Artosi   Alberto   Università di Bologna   Professore Ordinario  
Baldoni   Matteo   Università  degli studi di Torino   Professore Associato confermato  
Baroglio   Cristina   Università  degli studi di Torino Professore Associato confermato  
Biasiotti   Mariangela   Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche   Ricercatori  
Boella   Guido   Università  degli studi di Torino Professore Ordinario (L. 240/10)  
Bouvry   Pascal   Université du Luxembourg Professore di Univ. Straniera  
Brighi   Raffaella   Università di Bologna Professore Associato (L. 240/10)  
Casanovas   Pompeu   La Trobe University   Professore di Univ. Straniera  
Caso   Roberto   Università di Trento   Professore Associato confermato  
Cole   Mark   Université du Luxembourg Professore di Univ. Straniera  
Contissa   Giuseppe   Università di Bologna Ricercatore a tempo determinato  
De Lecuona   Itziar   Automoma Universitat de Barcelona (Spain) Professore di Univ. Straniera  
Di Caro   Luigi   Università  degli studi di Torino  Ricercatore  a tempo determinato
Durante   Massimo   Università  degli studi di Torino   Professore Associato
Faro   Sebastiano   Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche   Dirigente di ricerca  
Finocchiaro   Giusella Dolores   Università di Bologna   Professore Ordinario  
Forgò   Nikolaus   University of Vienna   Professore di Univ. Straniera  
Górriz López   Carlos   Automoma Universitat de Barcelona (Spain) Professore di Univ. Straniera  
Heinze   Christian   Leibniz Universität Hannover   Professore di Univ. Straniera  
Kiskis   Mindauguas   Mykolas Romeris University (Lithuania)   Professore di Univ. Straniera  
Krügel   Tina   Leibniz Universität Hannover   Professore di Univ. Straniera  
Limba   Tadas   Mykolas Romeris University (Lithuania)    Professore di Univ. Straniera  
Pagallo   Ugo   Università  degli studi di Torino  Professore Ordinario  
Palmirani   Monica   Università di Bologna Professore Ordinario
Poblet   Marta   Automoma Universitat de Barcelona (Spain)   Professore di Univ. Straniera  
Rodríguez Doncel   Víctor   Universidad Politécnica de Madrid   Ricercatore di Univ. Straniera  
Roversi   Corrado   Università di Bologna   Professore Associato 
Sartor   Giovanni   Università di Bologna Professore Ordinario  
Van Der Torre   Leendert   Université du Luxembourg   Professore di Univ. Straniera  
Vedder   Anton   Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) Professore di Univ. Straniera  
Ziccardi   Giovanni   Università di Milano Statale   Professore Associato confermato  
Zullo   Silvia   Università di Bologna  Professore Associato

Notices

Final ranking list

Final ranking list