Biography
Irene Pollini is a legal scholar specialising in comparative and European constitutional law, with a particular interest in the interaction between international and EU law and domestic legal norms that reflect deeply contested moral and cultural values. Her research agenda focuses on legal questions arising from competing conceptions of the relationship between public authority and personal autonomy. A central theme in her work is the tension between dominant societal norms and the law’s ability (or failure) to protect individual rights, especially those of individuals and groups whose voices carry little weight within domestic political debates.
She holds a PhD from the University of Trento. Her thesis, “A job like any other, yet not as any other job. Sex work and human dignity from a comparative constitutional law perspective”, examined the relationship between human dignity, socio-economic constraints, and freedom of choice in the context of voluntary prostitution, with the aim of analysing how legal systems address morally contested dimensions of individual autonomy. During her doctoral training, Irene completed research stays at the Institute for European Law in Leuven (Belgium), the Hertie School in Berlin (Germany), and the Department of Gender Studies in Lund (Sweden).
Prior to her doctoral studies, she practised as a lawyer and is admitted to the Italian Bar. She also collaborated with the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, contributing to the monitoring and evaluation of regional policies addressing pathological gambling.
As a Max Weber Fellow, Irene’s current research focuses on the role of international and supranational courts in protecting the rights of marginalised and politically underrepresented groups, including sex workers, through the lens of transnational democracy and judicial legitimacy within multilevel constitutional systems.
In addition to her research activities, she contributes to the International Journal of Constitutional Law as an Assistant Editor.