The Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna - SSSA (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies) is a special statute public university institute, founded in 1987. SSSA has full membership in the European University Association, the European Consortium for Political Research and ProTon Europe. In 2020, SSSA ranked 4th according to the Times Higher Education, and 15th according to QS World University Rankings, in the global rankings of the best young universities under 50 years old. SSSA has recently entered into a federation along with the Institute for Advanced Studies of Pavia (IUSS) and Scuola Normale Superiore (SNS). It offers an excellent multi-disciplinary environment for learning and research in applied sciences and social sciences. In 2019, the SSSA delivered teaching and training activities to 730 undergraduate and graduate students, 340 Ph.D. students and 1870 postgraduate students and professionals, with an excellent student/teacher ratio of 6:1 in average. In the same year it managed more than € 18 million in research funding. In terms of international relations, SSSA has defined 119 international conventions for training and research with prestigious universities and research centres across the globe.
The Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna is articulated in six Institutes. The area covered by this project is related to the activity of the DIRPOLIS Institute of Law, Politics and Development. Its core mission is to conduct innovative research by adopting an interdisciplinary approach to offer a comprehensive and multi-faceted representation of legal, social, economic and political phenomena. Its faculty conducts innovative research directed to offer a comprehensive, multi-faceted and evidence-based analysis of key legal, social, economic and political phenomena, and to provide scientifically sound and action-oriented bases to effective decision-making processes, at both private and public levels. DIRPOLIS offers graduate and post-graduate courses (in Italian and English) built upon theoretical and applied research, organizes several advanced-level professional training events, offers consultancy services for a wide range of international, national and regional entities, and engages in international and national research projects in its main areas of expertise, e.g. comparative law and new technologies, fundamental and human rights protection, integrity, sustainability, multi-level governance, conflict management, law of non-profit organizations. Every year DIRPOLIS Institute manages three different Ph.D. Programmes with more than 300 teaching hours per year and delivers hundreds of teaching hours to the undergraduate and graduate students.
It actively disseminates the results of its research. In 2018, DIRPOLIS Institute has produced 232 scientific publications, with a research staff so divided: 10 full professors, 7 associate professors, 4 assistant professors, and 25 post-doctoral research fellows. Every year it organises more than 50 training courses, with 2.120 teaching hours and a total number of 1.204 participant among graduates and professionals.
The ‘Agricultural - AgriFood - AgriEnvironmental Law’ (AgLAW) research group operates within DIRPOLIS Institute since its foundation in 1987. AgLAW deals with the complex and dynamic set of laws, regulations, policies, and principles established under multilevel authorities (international, EU and national level), both public and private, governing the agricultural system and its intersection with food and environmental systems. The current research interests of AgLAW revolve around two key areas that investigate the sustainability of agriculture in a context of climate vulnerability and the role of key enabling technologies in achieving food security, increasing sustainable productivity and strengthening inclusive rural development. On these topics the DIRPOLIS Institute have participated in several research projects and are member of the 3CSA Center for Climate Change studies and Sustainable Actions
