Alice Lacchei

I am currently a research fellow within the ACCESS project – Gatekeepers to International Refugee Law? – The Role of Courts in Shaping Access to Asylum. I am responsible for data analysis and collection in Italy and Greece, through document analysis of decisions, desk research, and conducting and analyzing semi-structured interviews. Within the research team, I coordinate research for the European Union jurisdictions included in the project.

In 2024, I obtained my PhD with a thesis entitled: “Frontline judges in Italy and France: unveiling discretion in asylum appeals through the lens of Street-Level Bureaucracy.” Through ethnographic research in the courts, with observation, shadowing, and interviews with asylum judges, the thesis studies the daily practices and strategies of these actors, showing how a combination of institutional, organizational, and individual factors contribute to influencing them. Finally, the thesis reflects on the consequences of these practices in the process of implementing asylum policy.


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