Education and academic profile
After a master's degree in Law summa cum laude at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Serena Vantin achieved a PhD in Political Sciences summa cum laude at the University of Pisa.
During her academic career, she received the "Ex Allievi" award from L.A. Muratori High School in Modena and four academic merit awards for the highest university GPA, granted by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. Her doctoral dissertation won the award for the best PhD thesis in Sector 6 – "Legal, Economic, and Statistical Sciences, Political and Social Sciences" at the University of Pisa.
In 2013, she spent a six-month study and research period at the University of Antwerp, as part of which she followed the work of the International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
In 2014, she attended the Postgraduate Course on "European Protection of Human Rights" at the Forensic Union for the European Protection of Human Rights in Venice.
From November 2016 to January 2017, she was Visiting Fellow at the Centre for the Study of the History of Political Thought at the Queen Mary University of London.
From 2016 to 2021, she worked at CRID - Interdepartmental Research Centre on Discrimination and vulnerabilities of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
From June to September 2017, she was Visiting Fellow at the Cambridge University Library.
In January 2018, she was Visiting Fellow at the Instituto de Derechos Humanos “Bartolomé de las Casas” [now Instituto de Derechos Humanos “Gregorio Peces-Barba”] of the Carlos III University of Madrid.
From January 2019 to December 2021, she was Research Fellow (assegnista di ricerca) in Philosophy of Law at the Law Department of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
In 2019, she was awarded a certificate of national and international scientific merit by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
For the 2019/2020 academic year, she was awarded funding through a competitive call for a period as a Visiting Fellow at the Universidad Externado de Colombia in Bogotá. [Although it was not possible to undertake the mobility period abroad due to COVID-19 containment measures, part of the activities was carried out remotely.]
In 2020, she achieved the national scientific qualification as Associate Professor (ASN) in Philosophy of Law.
From December 2021 to December 2024, she was Senior Researcher at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Bologna.
In August 2023, she spent a research period at the British Library in London.
Since December 2024, she has been Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Bologna.
Teaching activities
Since the academic year 2015/2016, she carried out teaching and integrative teaching activities at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, the University of Milan, the University of Pisa (Jean Monnet Module ELAN – “European Law and Gender”), the Universidad Internacional de Andalucía (Curso de verano “Inteligencia Artificial, Justicia Digital: la Sociedad Contemporánea ante los Retos de la Revolución Tecnológica 4.0”).
From 2016 to 2020, she held the Legal Translation Workshop at the University of Bologna, Forlì campus.
Since December 2021, she has taught and regularly teaches the courses of “Applied Ethics, Bioethics and Ethics of Professions”, “History of the Philosophy of Law”, “Philosophy of Law”, “Bioethics”, “Theories and Practices of Rights”, "Philosophy Laboratory" at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Bologna.
From the academic year 2021/2022 to the academic year 2023/2024, she participated as a teacher in the Winter School “Ethics and Life Sciences” at the University of Bologna.
Since 2024, she has been the Tutor for students doing their curricular internship at “dianoia. Rivista di filosofia”.
She has held lessons in the context of Doctoral Courses at the Polytechnic of Milan, the University of Pisa, the Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, the School of Advanced Studies of the San Carlo Foundation in Modena.
Scientific activities
She participated in several scientific conferences and seminars in Italy and abroad, e.g., at the Sarah Lawrence College in New York, the King's College of London, the Instituto de Derechos Humanos “Bartolomé de Las Casas” of the University Carlos III in Madrid, the XXIX IVR World Congress in Lucerne, the University Externado de Colombia in Bogotà, the 116th Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association in San Francisco, the University of Siville, the University of Trujillo, the University of São Paulo, the University Jaume I in Castellón de la Plana, the University of Graz.
She participated in several national and international research projects, e.g.:
- Project Horizon 2020 EQUAL-IST: “Gender Equality Plans for Information Sciences and Technology Research Institutions” (2016-2019);
- Project FAMI “ReAcT ER Rete Antidiscriminazione Territoriale Emilia-Romagna” (2017);
- Project Erasmus+ 2015 “Abused No More. Safeguarding Youth and Empowering Professionals” (2017);
- Project Erasmus+ 2015 “Youth Empowerment and Innovation Project” (2017);
- FAR Project – Fondo Ateneo per la Ricerca Unimore 2017 “Il futuro dei veicoli a guida autonoma: soluzioni tecnologiche e profili etico-normativi per garantire resilienza a errori umani e attacchi cyber” (2017-2018).
- Project PRIN 2015 “Soggetto di diritto e vulnerabilità: modelli istituzionali e concetti giuridici in trasformazione” (2018-2020);
- Jean Monnet Module “ELAN - European Law and Gender” (2019-2022).
- Project COPID “Comunidades de Práctica para impulsar la Igualdad en el entorno Digital” (2025).
Third mission activities and knowledge enhancement
She has participated in a number of third mission projects for the promotion of gender equality and active citizenship, including:
- Project “Per un alfabeto della parità”, organized by the Interdepartmental Research Centre on Discrimination and vulnerabilities of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in collaboration with the Municipality of Modena and the Women's Documentation Centre of Modena (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019);
- Project “Educare alle differenze per promuovere la cittadinanza di genere”, coordinated by the Municipality of Modena (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020-2021);
- Project “I diritti della donna tra cultura, migrazione, integrazione e identità,” coordinated by the Municipality of Forlì (2017, 2018);
- Project “Senza chiedere permesso. Azioni di conciliazione vita-lavoro,” coordinated by the Municipality of Modena (2020);
- Project “ConciliaMO. Ricerca/azione per promuovere la conciliazione, il benessere e l’empowerment femminile nel mondo del lavoro attraverso il contrasto degli stereotipi e la condivisione del lavoro di cura tra donne e uomini a Modena,” coordinated by the Women's Documentation Centre of Modena (2020);
- Project “Donne e pensiero politico”, promoted by the “G. Salvemini” Institute in Turin, coordinated by Cristina Cassina (Univ. of Pisa), Giuseppe Sciara (Univ. of Bologna) and Federico Trocini (Univ. of Bergamo) (2020). In 2023, a Podcast was derived from the project;
- Unimore 2020 Public Engagement Project “Web-Communication, Innovation and Information: Linked Key-Factors To Make The Best Choices” (2020-2021);
- Unimore 2020 Public Engagement Project “Pillole di parità. Itinerari dell’eguaglianza di genere nell’ordinamento giuridico italiano dall’Unità d’Italia al Covid-19” (2020-2021);
- Project “I pericoli del gioco d’azzardo nell’era digitale. Strategie di prevenzione e azioni di contrasto,” coordinated by the CRID's Working Group on Pathological Gambling and the ‘Marco Biagi’ Foundation, in collaboration with the inter-university Game Science Research Centre (2020-2021).
Since 2023, she has been the contact person for the Department of Philosophy of the University of Bologna for the organization of events promoted on the occasion of the World Philosophy Day, in collaboration with the Municipality of Bologna and the city libraries.
On 23-05-2024, she participated in the theatrical event “Il triangolo dell’individualità: corpo, cervello, coscienza” organised by the Department of Philosophy and the DIBINEM Department of the University of Bologna, as part of the review “I Classici antichi e nuovi – I saperi dell’Alma Mater".
Institutional activities
Since 2022, she has been a member of the Quality Assurance Committee for the Review of the Courses of Study in Philosophy and in Philosophical Sciences at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Bologna.
In 2022-2023, she was a member of the Giunta.
Since 2022, she has been a member of the Third Mission Commission.
Since May 2024, she has been the Third Mission Delegate of the Department of Philosophy.
Since 2024, she has been a member of the Quality Assurance Committee for the Department of Philosophy at the University of Bologna.
In 2024-2025, she is a member of the Doctoral College in “Philosophy, Science, Cognition, and Semiotics” at the University of Bologna.
Membership in Editorial Boards
Since 2016, Member of the Editorial Board of the Class A journal “Rivista di Filosofia del diritto”.
Since 2019, Member of the Advisory Board of the series “Diritto e vulnerabilità (Giappichelli, Torino).
Since 2019, Member of the Advisory Board of the series “Prassi sociale e teoria giuridica” (Mucchi, Modena).
Since 2021, Member of the Editorial Board of the Class A journal “Ordines. Per un sapere interdisciplinare sulle istituzioni europee”.
Since 2021, Member of the Advisory Board of the series “Comp.Lex” (Wolters Kluwer, Milano).
Since 2022, Coordinator of the Editorial Board of the Class A journal “dianoia. Rivista di filosofia”.
Since 2022, Member of the Editorial Board of the journal "Women's Studies International Forum".
Since 2024, Member of the Advisory Board of the series “I ferri del mestiere. Collana di formazione e cultura giuridica” (Maggioli, Rimini).
Since 2024, Member of the Advisory Board of the Class A journal “dianoia. Rivista di filosofia”.
Affiliations
Since 2015, she has been a member of the Italian Society of Philosophy of Law (SIFD) and the Internationale Vereinigung für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie (IVR).
Since 2015, she has also been a member of the Interuniversity Working Group on Women's Political Subjectivity (Soggettività Politica delle Donne).
Since 2016, she has served as a member of the Scientific Committee of the Historical-Legal Archive "Anselmo Cassani," established by the Interdepartmental Research Center on Discrimination and Vulnerability (CRID) in collaboration with the Legal Library of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
From 2016 to 2021, she co-coordinated the Permanent Legal Translation Workshop at CRID.
From 2017 to 2021, she co-coordinated the Workshop "Law, Ethics, Technologies" at CRID.
Between 2017 and 2023, she was a regular member of the International Center for Studies and Documentation on Youth Culture in Trieste, serving as a member of its Steering Committee from 2022 to 2023.
Since 2019, she has been a member of the Working Group "Health and New Technologies" at CRID.
From 2019 to 2020, she was a member of the International Association for Women’s Philosophy and the Women’s History Network.
From 2020 to 2021, she was a member of the American Political Science Association (APSA) and its "Women and Politics" Section.
Since 2022, she has been a member of the Scientific Board of the "Knowledge and Cognition" Center within the Department of Philosophy at the University of Bologna.
Since 2022, she has been a member of the "PRI.MI - Prima i Minori" Research Group, coordinated by Professor Marina Lalatta Costerbosa.
Since 2022, she has been part of the Interuniversity Network "Runipace."
Since 2023, she has been a member of the Scientific Board of "CRIVISPE - Center for Philosophical Research on Social, Political, and Economic Violence" within the Department of Philosophy at the University of Bologna.
Since 2025, she has been a member of ASGGE - Association for Gender Legal Studies and the Mary Wollstonecraft Philosophical Society.
Since 2025, she has been a member of IRC-GLOCED - International Research Center on Global Citizenship Education at the University of Bologna.
