Impact
At NOVA School of Law, we go beyond the academic education we provide to our school community. We certainly contribute to rigorous, comprehensive and multidisciplinary knowledge, combined with the ability to analyse and communicate competently, innovatively and passionately on current political and social issues. But our role as an institution of excellence is also measured by the impact we have on society.
Through teaching and research, we translate knowledge into action, contributing to sustainable development in a range of sectors, including industry, commerce and services, thus making a direct impact on public policy, the promotion of human rights, legislative innovation and the development of solutions to contemporary social challenges.
By tackling key issues such as data protection, environmental law or equality issues, we help to shape a fairer and more inclusive society and empower legal professionals to act as real agents of change in building a more conscious future.
Here are some examples of our commitment to work that has made an impact on the communities in which we operate.
Public policy and jurisprudence
NOVA School of Law, through its Centre for Research & Development on Law and Society – CEDIS, and through the work of its researchers, has actively contributed to directly influencing global, European and national public policies and legislative processes.
Within the framework of the Centre’s activities, various specialised studies and policy reports have been produced for governments, NGOs as well as for European institutions (European Commission and European Parliament), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Portuguese National Contact Point on Responsible Business Conduct, civil society organisations and NGOs such as Oxfam, IMVF, Caminhos de Infância, etc.
- In 2023, NOVA BHRE members notably drafted 2 important reports: a report for the UN Development Agency, analysing the human rights risks linked to business activities in Mozambique; and a report for the Portuguese Government to inform the drafting of the first National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights.
- In 2022, the European Commission published a Draft Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence, also known as the Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence Directive. This was a historic moment for the field of human rights and business, ESG and the search for sustainable and responsible businesses that respect human rights, decent work and environmental standards along the global value chain. The Directive is based on a study co-authored by Claire Bright: European Commission, Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers, Torres-Cortés, F.; Salinier, C.; Deringer, H.; Bright, Claire et al., Study on due diligence requirements through the supply chain – Final report, EU Publications, 2020, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2838/39830. This study focuses on due diligence requirements to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for human rights abuses, including children’s rights and fundamental freedoms, serious physical and health risks and environmental damage, including climate change.
- Laura Íñigo Álvarez organised a symposium that was referenced in the OECD Annual Report on the Activity of National Contact Points for Responsible Business Conduct 2021, p. 45. She also participated in the peer review process of the Portuguese National Contact Point on Responsible Business Conduct, providing several recommendations for its improvement.
In 2023, a new United Nations mechanism to search for the missing in Syria was voted on and approved by the General Assembly. This mechanism is the result of the work of Jeremy Sarkin with Syrian NGOs since 2020 and his book on the need for such a mechanism and how it could function.
The mechanism will be established soon and will help determine the fate and whereabouts of the possibly 1 million people in Syria who have been detained and disappeared since 2011.
Felipe Pathé Duarte acted as a Consultant in 2020 for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to Counter Violent Extremism in Mozambique and in 2023 for the Council of Europe on the use of digital tools for disaster risk communication. For the Secretariat of the EUR-OPA Major Risks Agreement, he wrote a report whose recommendations were adopted at the 80th meeting of the Committee of Permanent Correspondents and Directors of Specialised Centres (Joint Meeting).
Filipe Brito Bastos co-authored reports for the European Parliament on European Banking Union accountability and contributed to a study for the European Data Protection Supervisor on compliance with treaties.
Jorge Morais Carvalho coordinated two projects at the request of ERSE (Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos): a study on the legality of the general conditions of the standard contracts presented by electricity suppliers, which served as the basis for ERSE Recommendation No. 1/2019, and a draft of the common regulation on commercial relations for the electricity and natural gas sectors (which resulted in Regulation No. 1129/2020, of 30 December).
Margarida Lima Rego coordinated the project and Veronica Corcodel was part of the team behind the Multiversity Project | White Paper on Multiple and Intersectional Discrimination, which was launched in October 2022 with the aim of producing a scientifically based recommendation, based on multidisciplinary knowledge, to level and harmonise anti-discrimination protection in Portugal, taking into account sequential, additive and intersectional multiple discrimination.
The project resulted in the ‘White Paper on Multiple and Intersectional Discrimination’, presented in March 2024, which contains its main findings and recommendations, as well as a proposal for a preliminary draft of a comprehensive anti-discrimination law and the creation of a single institution to promote equality and prevent discrimination, the Equality Agency.
Other contributions
The NOVA School of Law, through its Knowledge Centres, offers legal assistance and advice in different areas, such as Equality and Discrimination Law (Antígona – Equality and Discrimination Clinic), Asylum Law (NOVA Refugee and Migration Clinic), Racism and Xenophobia (Observatory against Racism and Xenophobia), Intellectual Property in a society aiming to achieve sustainability (NOVAIPSI) or consumer conflict mediation processes (NOVA Consumer Lab).
At the same time, we organise numerous initiatives with a strong social impact, which offer participants a space for dialogue and cooperation and embody our core values of innovation, inclusion, social justice and sustainability.
This is the case with ‘Conversations on Racism and Xenophobia‘, where we invite people from different backgrounds to join us for an informal discussion on any topic relevant to the issue.
Paths of Impact
Because at NOVA School of Law we dare to go ever further to push the boundaries, we continue our commitment to the best ways and best practices that can use law to defend a better world, namely through academics who want to make a difference.
Acknowledgement
Between 2018 and 2023, teachers and researchers at CEDIS were honoured with 41 awards.
- Teresa Pizarro Beleza received the Maria Barroso Prize for Gender, Equality and Citizenship, awarded by the Municipality of Lagoa in the Algarve, in 2021.
- Soraya Nour Sckell was awarded the Wolfgang-Kaupen Prize by the German Sociological Society, Sociology of Law Section, in 2018.
- Luís Cabral de Oliveira was awarded the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation/Portuguese Academy of History Prize, in 2021, for his work on the History of Portugal’s Presence in the World.
- Nausica Palazzo was recognised as a Young Leaders Academy Fellow by the EUTOPIA Alliance of Universities, in 2023.
- Nausica Palazzo was also awarded the Fulbright 75th Anniversary Prize by the Fulbright Commission Italy, in 2023.
- Felipe Pathé-Duarte was honoured with the 2021 ASMEA Research Award for his article “Jihad, Gas and Governance – The Insurgency in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique.”
- Assunção Cristas and Armando Marques Guedes received the “Friend of the Navy” medal from the Brazilian Navy, in 2021.
- Giulia Priora won the ATRIP 2020 Essay Competition, organised by the ATRIP International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property, in 2021.