Department of Legal and Economic Studies

The Department of Legal and Economic Studies contributes to the development of individuals and the community through the production of public goods with scientific, cultural, educational, and social content, in order to help increase the level of collective well-being. In its 'mission', the Department makes available, free of charge, legal, social, political, and economic knowledge, contributing to local and national development programs with private entities, local authorities and ministries.

In the last three years (2020, 2021 and 2022), the Department has carried out Third Mission activities mainly in four strategic areas: i) interventions benefiting the penitentiary population, ii) dissemination and training in the penal law area, iii) creation of public value and active citizenship, iv) welfare and employment initiatives. The activities surveyed are grouped in the areas of activity indicated in the following Table.

Third Mission main areas of activity

Area of activity n.
Exploitation of intellectual or industrial property	0
Academic entrepreneurship	0
Technology brokerage and transfer structures	2
Production and management of artistic and cultural heritage	1
Clinical trials and health protection initiatives	0
Life-long learning and open education	7
Public engagement	9
Production of social and educational public goods and inclusive policies	0
Innovative tools for Open Science	1
Activities related to the UN 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)	0

Source: DSGE Administrative Secretariat

 

The Third Mission activities carried out by the Department have often involved other structures of the University (this is the case, for example, of the interactive exhibition organized as part of the Beyond Senses Project - Braille as a tool for inclusion and integration (Prof. Andrea Billi), set up in the Rector's Building. Many Third Mission activities carried out by the Department have a
multidisciplinary connotation, as in the case of the aforementioned Project, or even transdisciplinary, as in the case of the Dialogues on Legality (Prof. Pasquale Bronzo).
Moreover, many Third Mission activities have benefited from funding from the University, or from external public or private bodies, or from in kind contributions. This is the case, for example, of Third Mission projects - or research projects with profiles of interest to the Third Mission - won by the Department or in which some members of the Department participate. But it is also the case of the PON project Agile Justice and of “The School of Legal-Criminal Application in Rome, between teaching and ideology (1911-1931)”. Finally, it is the case of the project “Building Citizenship: Participation, Legality, Solidarity”. 
Third Mission activities are often carried out in locations outside the Department and frequently also outside the University. The internal beneficiaries of the Department’s Third Mission activities are first and foremost the members of the Department, who find in such activities important moments of interdisciplinary reflection and aggregation of research topics, and the students, who benefit from further training and information activities on current topics of general interest. The external beneficiaries of the Department’s Third Mission activities include a wide range of individuals and legal entities. While the main strategic area of activity is focused on the penitentiary population, the numerous public engagement activities carried out by the Department are mainly aimed at the general public of mass-media users. Training activities, then, target well-identified audiences (lawyers, magistrates, etc.). Finally, the hearings produce public value in that they are intended to inform decision-makers of technical aspects concerning the rules under debate, their application, and their impacts. But these, however, are only the final beneficiaries. In its Third Mission activities, the Department encounters a vast and differentiated set of public and private organizations (i.e., the Italian Parliament, the numerous newspapers, and websites on which the Department’s Professors and Researchers write) and private social organizations (i.e., the numerous associations with which the Department dialogues). With these institutions there is an opportunity to organize and co-design shared initiatives for the years to come.

The impacts produced by the Department’s Third Mission activities are of a social and cultural nature, as well as impacts of an economic nature. With regard to impacts of a social nature, the impacts in terms of equal opportunities and inclusion (i.e., all the initiatives of strategic area 1 benefitting the prison population), civic participation (i.e., the impacts of the project “Building citizenship: Participation, legality, solidarity”), network building (the reference, here, is to the “Global Burden of Disease Italian Initiative”) and the creation of new professions (consider, in this case, the numerous training activities carried out by the Department’s members).

Considering the impacts of a cultural nature, mention should be made of the project Beyond Senses - Braille as a tool for inclusion and integration (Prof. Andrea Billi), but also of the project “The School of Legal-Criminal Application in Rome, between didactics and ideology (1911-1931)” (Prof. Valerio Aiuti), and of all the communication activities carried out by the Department’s members. Finally, considering economic impacts, we focus on the contribution of the NNRP Agile Justice Project in terms of improving the efficiency and performance of judicial offices, through technological innovation, organizational support for the computerization and telematisation of judicial offices, and the activation of change management interventions. It is also worth mentioning the impact of the GBD (Global Burden of Disease) Italian Initiative project in terms of the production of information for the development of regional prevention plans (Tuscany, Friuli, Emilia Romagna, Piedmont) and the organization of specific health services. Within the Department, the development and monitoring of Third Mission activities are ensured by the Third Mission Commission.