Research activities

The Institute is present into two project areas coordinated by Department of Human sciences and cultural heritage: A) "Rules and institutions of international cooperation; European integration; regionalism, federalism and autonomies "and B) " Migrations ". It is also active in the CNR's Project Area - C) "Research and Innovation" with the "Observatory on the Credit Market" and in the research area D) "Aging" of the Department of Biomedical Sciences.
The thematic area of the Institute focuses - according to its original mission - on regionalism and federalism in between EU regulation and national constitutional reforms. The constitutional reforms in progress corroborate and strengthen the already consolidated needed activity and the commitment of the Institute to the research and study of phenomena and effects related to the political and institutional changes which, in short, may be introduced into regulations.
The projects of the Institute, defined within the project Areas, represent the internal breakdown of the activities and contain information about the research objectives, timing and the human and material resources used. The projects of the first Area ("Rules and institutions of international cooperation, European integration, regionalism, federalism and autonomies"), are divided into six Areas of activity whose responsibilities are distributed among researchers and technologists as follows:

A1. MONITORING, EVALUATION AND COMPARISON OF THE REGIONAL SYSTEM, which brings together eight research themes: regional policy, regional finance, constitutional and administrative law, the regionalised State, the digital federalism, the territorial divide, cohesion policies, the comparison between Europe and other foreign countries. The process of knowledge transfer is reflected in a series of reports and periodic reports such as the Report on the Italian Regions, the Financial Observatory, on Constitutional Law, on the Administrative Law and some insights on specific research topics.

A2. TRENDS AND ISSUES OF REGIONAL LEGISLATION. The aim of the project is the elaboration of the annual report dedicated to trends and issues of regional legislation, which is part of the Annual Report on legislation by the House of Representatives. The research topics (regional sources, the quality of legislation, regional institutions, and the evolution of some public policies, such as the production activities, health, social welfare, migrants, public finance, participation in the European Union legislative process) are analysed in order to provide a concrete evaluation of the regional institutions activities, in terms of quality, innovation, efficiency and ability to overcome problematic issues such as, for example, those related to the allocation of powers between the State and the Regions.

A3. RESEARCH AND STUDY FOR THE PREPARATION OF A NEW STATUTE OF THE BASILICATA REGION, THE REGIONAL COUNCIL REGULATION AND THE ELECTORAL LAW. The aim of the project is to ensure adequate support for the drafting of the act schemes for regional Statute, the Council Regulations, the electoral law, as well as for the realization of innovative unique texts of coordination and maintenance of the regional legislation on health and on land management. A specific training activity is added for the legal-technical staff involved in the preparation of the procedural process needed to the adoption of the indicated legislations.

A4. INSTITUTIONAL REFORMS: THE PARLIAMENT, THE REGIONS, THE SYSTEM OF AUTONOMIES. The aims of the project are twofold: the preparation (both in English and Italian) of a coordinated and systematic Commentary on the new text of the Constitution, resulting as a consequence of the likely approval of the constitutional amendment law; the elaboration of a systematic study in order to identify the new boundaries of legislative matters inferred from the new list deriving from the new Constitutional text.

A5. ANALYSIS OF THE MOUNTAIN AREAS LAWS. The research project aims to build a deep and accurate knowledge of rules enacted at national and regional levels to protect, develop and exploit the mountain territory. To this end, the research consists of two main steps. The first is the collection of all the standards produced at national and regional level relating to mountain areas, according to a specific methodology, developed specifically to be used for the collection, cataloguing and classification of the legislation. The second consists in the elaboration of a report on the results obtained in the first phase.

A6. DESIGNING EXPERIENCES AND CULTURAL RESOURCES TO DEVELOP INNOVATION -- P.E.R.C.O.R.S.I.
The project, aimed at young people (16-35 years) as promoters of territorial development, is divided into three phases and aims to achieve a process of participatory planning of tourism and cultural development in the territory of La Spezia. Planning activity is carried out taking into consideration the economic, social and environmental sustainability.

Concerning the second research area (B) "Migrations", the PROJECT THE MIGRATION, INTEGRATION AND PUBLIC POLICIES.
B) Through the project, the Institute is part of the NCP ( National Contact Point) of the EMN (European Migration Network) where it acts as (together with CNR DSU) the official Italian voice as part of the Network, with reference to legislation and to policies on immigration and asylum. In particular, the Institute provides answers to ad hoc queries (Ad-hoc queries) launched by the European Commission or by the Member States NCPs; draws up the Annual Policy Report, which records all new legislation and policies adopted in the year; organizes and participates in international thematic meetings and publishes articles and books on project themes.

Concerning the CNR research "RESEARCH AND INNOVATION"
C) the PROJECT ON REGIONAL CREDIT consists of maintenance and the implementation of an Observatory of the "credit market", through which it develops a systemic and comprehensive research activity on the regional credit market and, particularly in Southern Regions of Southern Italy Regions, taking into account the role that the Constitution assigns to the credit function.
The Project consists of a series of activities such as the collection and processing of credit data at the local level, the analysis of the evolution of the regional financial system, the selection of the current legislation on credit, the monitoring of regional support measures for small and medium enterprises, with a specific focus on the Southern Regions.
The activities and results of the Project can be accessed in the web site "Regions and credit system" (www.issirfa.cnr.it/regioni_sistemacreditizio/).

The Institute's research activities also contribute to the Project Area in the Department for biomedical sciences, through participation in the STRATEGIC PROJECT AGEING.
D. The research has already investigated, over the years, the instruments of civil law in the interest of people suffering of Alzheimer or other diseases related to aging, and those of the public law as about care and assistance services; it has also analysed how such protection is expressed in the context of civil, public and criminal law. The research results in relation to civil and public law have already been published. Regarding the criminal law the research aims at evaluating the possibility of safeguarding people suffering from the listed diseases by the impairment of the personal life situations and from forms of violence or abuse, also in order to avoid the damaging of the dignity of persons in a state of great distress.