Current Position
Associate Professor of Philosophy of Law (Legal Informatics, IUS/20 – GIUR/17A) at the Department of Legal Sciences of the University of Bologna, where she teaches Legal Informatics, Digital Forensics, and Corporate Cybersecurity and Data Protection.
Director of the Master’s Program in “Trattamento dei dati personali e Data Protection Officer” at the University of Bologna.
Member of the Alma Human Artificial Intelligence Interdepartmental Research Center of the University of Bologna.
Member of the Academic Board of the PhD Program in Law, Science and Technology (LAST-JD) at the University of Bologna.
University Representative on the Management Committee of the inter-university research center CybeRights.
Member of the University Thematic Group (GTA) “Civil Security for Society”.
Coordinator of the Erasmus+ exchange program with Universidad de Zaragoza and Universidad de La Laguna (Spain).
Academic Career and Education
2022 – Qualified for the position of Full Professor in the academic sector 12/H3 Philosophy of Law.
2019–present – Associate Professor in the disciplinary sector IUS/20 Philosophy of Law at the Department of Law and CIRSFID-Alma AI.
2013 – Qualified for the position of Associate Professor, academic sector 12/H3.
2001–2019 – Permanent Researcher (RTI) in the disciplinary sector IUS/20 Philosophy of Law at the School of Law of the University of Bologna.
1998–2002 – PhD in Legal Informatics and IT Law at CIRSFID – University of Bologna, with a dissertation entitled “I Linguaggi di marcatura al servizio della produzione normativa. Aspetti teorici e applicativi” (supervisor: Prof. Sartor), which received the First National Prize “Vittorio Frosini” in 2004.
1997 – Degree in Physics, cum laude, from the University of Bologna.
Teaching Activities
Since 2004 she has continuously taught courses in legal informatics, computer forensics, cybersecurity, and technology law at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the Department of Legal Sciences of the University of Bologna.
She is currently the instructor of the courses Legal Informatics (R–Z) and Digital Forensics for the single-cycle Master’s Degree in Law, as well as Legal Informatics and Corporate Cybersecurity and Data Protection for the Bachelor’s Degree in Labour Consultancy and Corporate Relations at the University of Bologna.
She teaches in the Master’s Program “Trattamento dei dati personali e Data Protection Officer” at the University of Bologna, where she is responsible for the teaching module “Sicurezza del dato e protezione dei sistemi”, and in the Master’s Program in Law and New Technologies (now Digital Law), where she teaches the modules “Informatica forense” and “Cybersecurity”.
She supervises and co-supervises undergraduate and PhD theses.
Research
Research Areas
Her most recent research activity focuses on the intersection between cybersecurity, digital forensics, and law, with particular attention to the legal implications of emerging technologies and the protection of fundamental rights.
• Cybersecurity and Law: analysis of cybersecurity as a public good and its multi-level regulation (national and European), with attention to the relationship between security, vulnerability, and fundamental rights; study of data protection, digital resilience, and the responsibilities of public and private actors in cyber risk management; application of legal design approaches for regulatory simplification.
• Digital Forensics: study of the legal and methodological aspects of digital evidence (acquisition, preservation, evaluation) in light of European standards and best practices; analysis of digital investigative tools and their impact on procedural safeguards; examination of the role of artificial intelligence in forensic contexts, focusing on reliability, transparency, and verifiability of digital evidence.
Participation in Working Groups, Research Projects, and Research Activities
(most recent, selected)
2023–2026 – WP Leader PE07 “SEcurity and RIghts in the CyberSpace” SERICS (PNRR, Next Generation Europe) – Spoke 8 Risk Management and Governance.
2025–present – Member of the University Thematic Group (GTA) “Civil Security for Society”.
2025–present – Coordinator of the activities for the development of the “Guida al regolamento UE Cyber Resilience Act”, a practical legal design approach.
2023–2026 – Member of the Coordinating Unit, PRIN 2022 Enforcing the EPPO in Italy: An empirical study (EPPO).
2023–2026 – Member of the local unit, PRIN PNRR 2022 Towards a safe seizure and confiscation of crypto-assets in criminal proceedings (Crypto Safe).
2024–2025 – Participation in the ERC Computable Law (“CompuLaw”) project [Grant Agreement 833647], Prof. G. Sartor.
2019–2023 – Member of the EU LAST-JD-RIoE project – Law, Science and Technology Joint Doctorate: Rights of the Internet of Everything under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions European Joint Doctorates program (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2018).
2021–2025 – Participation in the international research project “Desafios actuales del Registro de la Propiedad: Blockchain y protección de datos” (PID2020-113995Gb-100), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.
2019–2020 – Participation in the Hercule III 2018 Legal Training and Studies (OLAF) project Digital forensic EVIdence: towards Common European Standards in antifraud administrative and criminal investigations.
2018–2020 – Participation in the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness project La nueva información registral: requisitos, eficacia y aplicaciones practicas (INREFAP), DER2017-83970-P.
2017–2020 – Participation in PRIN 2015 Soggetto di diritto e vulnerabilità: modelli istituzionali e concetti giuridici in trasformazione.
2016–present – Scientific coordinator and head of the CIRSFID (now CIRSFID – Alma AI) research group on Digital Forensics, University of Bologna. The group’s activities have led to editorial initiatives (including the volume Nuove questioni di informatica forense, Aracne 2022), organization of conferences and workshops, participation in research projects, numerous scientific collaborations with police forces, lawyers’ and magistrates’ associations, forensic experts, and other professionals in the sector, as well as the creation of startups in the field of digital forensics.
2013–2014 – Il paziente europeo nell'eHealth. Strumenti, diritti, regole e nuove relazioni di cura. FARB project, University of Bologna.
2013–2016 – Reti di conoscenza per l'eHealth. Modelli tecnologici, analisi informatico-giuridiche e temi di bioetica. Spinner 2013 Project, Emilia-Romagna Region.
Organization of and Participation as Speaker in Scientific Conferences
(most recent, selected)
Organizer of the seminar series “Digital forensics e Cybersecurity Law”, Department of Legal Sciences, University of Bologna. The meetings have been held annually from April to May since 2016.
Organizer of the seminar series “Keywords, le parole nuove del diritto” with S. Pietropaoli (University of Florence) and Th. Casadei (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia). The meetings have been held annually from March to May since 2022.
(2025)
Coordinator of the panel “Regolazione europea e diritto del digitale” at the conference “La visione dei giovani ricercatori sulle prospettive della cybersecurity”, concluding event of Spoke 8 PE07-SERICS, 11 December 2025, Starhotels Excelsior, Bologna.
Organizer of the international workshop “Policing with big data: Cybersecurity and the Other Risks of Data-Driven Control in Digital Societies”, 27 October 2025, CIRSFID ALMA AI Center, University of Bologna, with G. Fabini and A. Sbraccia.
Coordinator of the workshop “Tecnica, tecnologia e filosofia del diritto” at the XXXIV SIFD Congress “Diritto, Vulnerabilità, Uguaglianza”, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 11–13 September 2025.
Invited presentation “Rules for the future society. Ricerche nell’ambito del WP4 del progetto EcoCyber”, Summer School on Technology and Politics in Cybersecurity, History & Politics Summer School – 10th edition, University of Palermo, Marsala, 18 June 2025.
Invited presentation “La difficile definizione di cybersicurezza: una prospettiva tecno-giuridica”, workshop organized by the University of Milan within the EcoCyber–SERICS project, 20 June 2025.
Organizer and coordinator of the conference “Le frontiere della digital forensics alla prova dei diritti fondamentali. Dall’OSINT al sequestro di criptovalute”, University of Bologna, 10 April 2025, with Giulia Lasagni.
Organizer of the workshop “Geopolitical and International Politics Implications of Technology: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives from Cyberspace and AI”, in conjunction with the Joint National Conference on Cybersecurity (ITASEC & SERICS 2025), Bologna, 3 February 2025, with M. Colajanni, L. Martino, and G. Giacomello.
Organizer and coordinator of the workshop “Indagini e strumenti operativi per il sequestro e la confisca di criptovalute. I progetti Cryptosafe e EcoCyber-SERICS”, with Giulia Lasagni, University of Bologna, 14 January 2025.
(2024)
Organizer and coordinator of the National Conference “Cybersecurity: diritti, regolazione e strumenti per gli ecosistemi cyber-fisici” – Ecocyber-Spoke8 SERICS (Bologna, 20 June 2024), including the kick-off of the projects selected through the open calls.
(2023)
Organizer and coordinator of the panel “Cybersicurezza in ecosistemi cyber-fisici: sfide e prospettive della politica dell’Unione europea” at the IV Annual Conference of ICON•S Italia, Bocconi University, 13 October 2023.
(2022)
Invited speaker at the seminar “Giustizia e tecnologia: un binomio possibile?”, University of Catanzaro. Presentation entitled “Sfide e nuovi paradigmi dell'informatica forense”, 12 July 2022.
(2021)
Invited speaker at the seminar “I dati e il loro impiego in ambito forense”, University of Milan-Bicocca. Presentation entitled “L’informatica forense come scienza forense: elementi ruoli e prospettive”, 20 October 2021.
Invited speaker at the online roundtable “Algoritmi e sfide al diritto”, organized by Officina informatica “DET - Diritto Etica Tecnologie” of CRID – University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. Presentation entitled “Informatica forense, algoritmi e garanzie processuali”, 20 January 2021.
Member of the scientific and organizational committee of the seminar series on law and new technologies “Keywords – Le parole nuove del diritto” with Th. Casadei and S. Pietropaoli.
(2020)
Organizer and speaker at the conference “Digital forensic EVIdence: towards Common European Standards in antifraud administrative and criminal investigations” (DEVICES) – Final Conference (HERCULE-2018-LT-AG), University of Bologna. Presentation entitled “Digital Forensics: Best Practice and Perspectives”, 11 December 2020.
Invited speaker at the online workshop “La sicurezza cibernetica nazionale e le novità del d.l. n. 105/2019”, seminar series on “Security and Public Order” (Coord. Prof. T. Giupponi), SSSG-UNIBO. Presentation entitled “Cibersicurezza: analisi informatico giuridiche di un concetto in evoluzione”, 5 November 2020.
Invited speaker at “KEYWORDS – Le parole nuove del diritto” online seminar series. Presentation entitled “Cybersecurity. Le misura di sicurezza nel GDPR”, 22 May 2020.
(2019)
Organizer and coordinator of the workshop “Analisi forense di dati digitali: linee guida e nuove prospettive” the DEVICES Project (European Union’s HERCULE III Programme 2018 – Legal Training and Studies), University of Bologna, 22 November 2019.
Invited speaker at the seminar “Prospettive inedite per l’informatica forense: le autonomus car”, organized by Officina informatica DET – “Diritto Etica Tecnologie” of CRID – Unimore, 22 October 2019.
Organizer and participant in the workshop “La prova digitale tra standard tecnici e diritti fondamentali”, within the DEVICES Project (European Union’s HERCULE III Programme 2018), CIRSFID, University of Bologna, 27 June 2019.
Presentation entitled “Introduction to Digital Investigation Phases in International Standard” at the kick-off meeting of the DEVICES project – Digital forensic EVIdence: towards Common European Standards in antifraud administrative and criminal investigations (HERCULE-2018-LT-AG), Bologna, 31 May.
Memberships
2025–present – Scientific Committee member of the journal Diritto Artificiale. Studi sul diritto del futuro e sul futuro del diritto, directed by Professors Thomas Casadei, Tommaso Gazzolo, and Stefano Pietropaoli.
2025–present – Scientific Committee member of the online legal journal Orizzonte JUS, directed by Professors Maria Novella Campagnoli and Massimo Farina.
2021–present – Scientific Committee member of the editorial series Comp.lex - Diritto, computazione, complessità, directed by Thomas Casadei and Stefano Pietropaoli, published by Wolters Kluwer – CEDAM.
2018–present – Scientific Committee member of the series Prassi sociale e teoria giuridica, directed by Professors Thomas Casadei and Gianfrancesco Zanetti, published by Mucchi Editore.
2017–present – Scientific Committee member of I-Lex – Rivista di Scienze Giuridiche, Scienze Cognitive ed Intelligenza Artificiale, directed by Prof. F. Romeo.
2014–present – Scientific Committee member of the CIRSFID Legal Informatics Series, directed by Professors G. Sartor and M. Palmirani, published by Aracne.
2012–present – Scientific Committee member of Ciberspazio e Diritto. Rivista Internazionale di Informatica Giuridica, directed by Prof. G. Ziccardi.
2005–present – Member of the Italian Society of Philosophy of Law.
The complete CV is available in the downloadable PDF version on this page.
