Professor Delia Ferri was recently invited to deliver a keynote address and two invited seminars at the University of Florence, the Sant’Anna Legal Studies (STALS) research cluster hosted by Sant’Anna Scuola Superiore Pisa and the European University Institute in Florence.
On Monday, 31 March 2025, Professor Ferri was invited to give a keynote speech entitled ‘Shaping EU Disability Law: Actors, Roles and Challenges’ at the mid-term conference of the Prin project SPACE entitled ‘Parlamenti e diritto delle persone con disabilitá’ at the Department of Law of the University of Florence. The SPACE project, amongst others, focuses on comparative legal research about concepts of centre and peripheries as experienced throughout Europe and in different European institutions. In considers in particular the rights of persons with disabilities. In this context, Professor Ferri discussed how, when and in which ways various institutional and non-institutional actors contribute to the emerging field of EU Disability Law pointing to inherent and contextual challenges that can inhibit more progressive advances in the field.
Within the STALS research seminar series, Professor Ferri was invited to examine the study of Disability Law more closely in a dedicated seminar titled ‘Rethinking Disability Law: European Perspectives and Interdisciplinary Approaches’ held on Tuesday, 1 April 2025 and chaired by Professor Caterina Sganga. She expounded on the benefits and challenges of adopting supranational European perspectives as well as utilising tools and methods from other disciplines to add to legal doctrinal research to comprehensively capture and enrich the study of the development of Disability Law in Europe.
Moreover, on 2 April 2025, Professor Ferri was invited to give a seminar at the Centre for Judicial Cooperation at the European University Institute in Florence, deepening the discussion on actors in EU Disability Law by focusing specifically on the role of the European Ombudsman. In the seminar organised by Professor Federica Casarosa, Professor Ferri discussed the ‘The Role of the European Ombudsman in Protecting and Promoting Disability Rights’ by mapping and analysing the cases the European Ombudsman has handled regarding equal opportunities for persons with disabilities, accessibility and generally speaking disability rights. An overall positive impact can be discerned as the European Ombudsman has contributed to nudging EU institutions towards greater compliance with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to which the EU acceded in 2010.
Professor Delia Ferri is Professor of Law at the School of Law and Criminology of Maynooth University and Co-Director of the Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute.
