Human Rights; Business and Human Rights; Sustainability Due Diligence; ESG; International and Transnational Litigation
Senior Researcher in International Law at the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and Principal Investigator of the project Corporate Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence and the Promotion of Corporate Responsibility (CO.RE.). For many years, he has conducted research on the international human rights protection system and is a recognised expert in the field of business and human rights. His research activities include, inter alia, sustainability due diligence, ESG criteria, the protection of non-financial interests in global value chains, human rights impact assessment, as well as the intersections between these issues and the development of digital technologies and artificial intelligence systems.
He has coordinated and currently coordinates numerous scientific research projects and serves as Head of a Research Unit within the PNRR project SEcurity and RIghts in the CyberSpace (SERICS) (Extended Partnership 07: Cybersecurity, new technologies and the protection of rights – PE0000014, CUP B53C22003950001, Cyberights – Spoke 1); the PRIN 2022 project Global Value Chains, Human Rights and the Law; and the PRIN 2022 PNRR project Arms, Peace and Sustainability (ArPeSu). He has also cooperated with the Research Executive Agency and with COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) in the evaluation of human rights research projects.
Over the years, he has placed his expertise at the service of policymaking processes within public and private institutions, contributing to the drafting of reports, policy papers and capacity-building tools. In 1999, he served as a Legal Officer at the European Court of Human Rights. He has acted as an independent expert for the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Justice in the fields of civil justice, fundamental rights and citizenship.
From 2020 to 2025, he was a member of the Management Board of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). He has submitted third-party opinions and amicus curiae briefs before regional and international human rights mechanisms. He collaborates with Italian national human rights bodies (including the Interministerial Committee for Human Rights – CIDU) and with NGOs engaged in the promotion of international human rights law in Italy and worldwide. He serves as a judge of the NATO Mission Appeals Tribunal (MAT).
He carries out extensive training activities, designing and delivering courses for public and private institutions in his capacity as an expert. He is the founder and co-director of the Summer School on Business and Human Rights, an advanced international training programme in the field of business and human rights.
He is a member of the Italian Society of International Law (SIDI), the International Law Association (ILA), the Global Business and Human Rights Scholars Association, and the European Law Institute. He serves on editorial and advisory boards of leading journals in international law, human rights, and European Union law, and regularly acts as a peer reviewer for national and international academic journals.
He has authored numerous books, chapters and articles in the fields of international law, European Union law, human rights and corporate responsibility, and frequently speaks at conferences and seminars on these topics. In 2024, he published the volume Business and Human Rights in International Law: Theory and Practice. In 2002, he was awarded the Marrama Prize for Research Talent.
Fluent in English and French, his regular working languages.
