Lucia Scaffardi graduated with honors from the University of Genoa and obtained her PhD in Constitutional Law in 1996 from the University of Bologna.
She is Full Professor of Public Comparative Law at the Department of Law, Politics and International Studies of the University of Parma, where she also teaches Italian and Comparative Constitutional Law and Global Constitutional Law in the Political Science and International Relations degree programs. Starting from the 2025/2026 academic year, she teaches the course “Novel Food Law in a Comparative Perspective” within the degree program “Global Food Law: Sustainability Challenges and Innovation.”
Lucia is member of the Academic Board of the PhD Program in Legal Sciences of the Universities of Modena and Reggio Emilia and of the University of Parma; she has also been member of the Scientific Committee of Area 12 (Legal Sciences) at the University of Parma.
She is Scientific Coordinator of the Project “Food for Future” Department of Excellence 2023-2027, awarded by the Italian Ministry for University and Research. She is also Principal Investigator of the Project of National Relevance (PRIN 2022) on Novel Foods and Agriculture 4.0 as well as Leader of the University of Parma Research Unit in the PRIN PNRR 2022 “New Sustainability Governance” and in the ONFOODS Research Project . She also founded and coordinated the BRICS Parma Research Group (www.brics.unipr.it) and was a member of the Comitato Nazionale per la Biosicurezza, le Biotecnologie e per le Scienze della Vita (National Committee for Biosafety, Biotechnology, and Life Sciences), as well as President of the Statutory Guarantee Council of the Emilia-Romagna Region.
She has served as legal consultant in Italian and Comparative Constitutional Law for the Unit for Simplification and Regulatory Quality, first at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and later for the Minister of Public Administration and Simplification.
She belongs to several academic associations, including the Associazione Italiana di Diritto Comparato (Italian Association of Comparative Law - AIDC), the Associazione di Diritto Pubblico Comparato ed Europeo (Association of Comparative and European Public Law - DPCE), and the Council of European Studies (CES), Columbia University, New York. Since 2024, she is Vice President of the Associazione Italiana dei Costituzionalisti (Italian Association of Constitutional Law Scholars – AIC).
She is the author of three monographs (L'ordinamento federale australiano. Aspetti problematici, Padua, 2000; Oltre i confini della libertà di espressione. L'istigazione all'odio razziale, Padua, 2009; Giustizia genetica e tutela della persona. Uno studio comparato sull'uso (e abuso) delle Banche dati del DNA a fini giudiziari, Padua, 2017) and numerous essays on Italian and Comparative Constitutional Law, published in Italian and international books and scientific journals (https://personale.unipr.it/it/ugovdocenti/person/17755).
She has also edited several volumes, including, most recently, "Cell-Based Meat in the European Union and Beyond. An Interdisciplinary Study" (with G. Formici and M.C. Mancini, Springer, 2025); "Novel Foods and Edible Insects in the European Union: An Interdisciplinary Approach" (with G. Formici, Springer, 2022) ; "I diritti fondamentali nell’era della Digital Mass Surveillance" (with I. Spigno, L.E. Rios Vega, Editoriale Scientifica, 2021) ; "Cibo e diritto. Una prospettiva comparata" (with V. Zeno-Zencovich, Roma TrE-Press, 2020).
She carries out extensive research activities. Among her fields of study are genetic databases for judicial purposes, Novel Foods, privacy and big data and the legal network among BRICS countries.
Among her many periods abroad, she was Visiting Professor (2018) at the University of Coimbra, Faculty of Law – Centre for Biomedical Law, where she delivered two lectures on DNA Databases for Criminal Purposes and Social Rights in Italy. She was Visiting Fellow (2015 and 2014) at the Institute of European and Comparative Law, University of Oxford, conducting research on Privacy and Forensic DNA Databases; Visiting Fellow at the Washington College of Law, American University, Washington D.C. (2013), for a research and teaching period on Legal Developments in the BRICS; and Visiting Fellow (2011) at King’s College London, Department of Medical Law and Ethics, conducting research on the use of genetic databases for judicial purposes in the UK.
She has participated as a speaker in numerous conferences in Italy and abroad.
From 2022 to 2025 Lucia has been President of the Alumni e Amici dell'Università degli Studi di Parma Association.
