Staff Profiles

Sonia's main area of research currently is EU law and in particular Citizenship, Migration and Human Rights within the EU. She also teaches in the area.

• "I have taught the EU Law module for 12 years, including special sessions on free movement of people and EU citizenship. My research in this area has informed my teaching and helped to make it innovative. I have also re-deigned the EU law module for the LLB and GDL students. I am now in the process of re-designing the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Module for undergraduate, EU Social Policy EU Law module which is currently not running in the third year and the optional LLM modules on International Refugees and Migrants and EU law."
• "I regularly supervise undergraduate and LLM and PhD dissertations on many areas of EU Law in particular migration and asylum, fundamental rights, state aid and free movement of people, services and goods, scientific migration and intra-corporate transferees."
• I have regularly supervised legal research projects (for the Graduate Diploma in Law) on various areas of EU law."

Sonia has introduced innovations in teaching using electronic resources, inviting guest speakers and organising trips to the EU institutions in Brussels. In particular, as an ‘added value’ activity to the graduate students (mainly GDL and LLM students) she organised a visit to the European Institutions in Brussels during the academic year of 2009-2010.

Sonia acts as External Examiner for European Union Law at undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the School of Law, University of Bristol and EU and Public Law on the Graduate Diploma in Law, at the School of Law of Manchester Metropolitan University. In April 2012, she acted as external reviewer for the Foundation Course in Law at the Law School of Brunel University.

Supervision

Sonia also acts as Director of Studies to

• Lucia Brieskova, Provisional PhD Title: Rights of Migrant Workers in Europe: The Case of Intra-corporate Transferees in England and Slovakia
• Louise Borg Haviaras, Provisional PhD Title: Free Movement of Scientists within the European Research Area: An Analysis of the Cypriot and the English research markets

Sonia's research combines empirical findings with theoretical and doctrinal investigations on migration, citizenship, human rights and governance within the EU. Her research foci explore the followings:

• The relationship between European citizenship, migration and fundamental rights. More specifically, equality rights in the context of an enlarging European Union, family migration and the rights of family members and third-country nationals and their EU rights.
• Aspects of regional integration in the international scene: the EU role in shaping other regional integration projects and the EU as a role model for other regional organisations such as the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

Starting from a legal perspective, Sonia has expanded her approach from analysing case-law and legislative developments in the field of free movement of people and citizenship, towards a socio-legal approach of citizenship and migration.

She has had a full submission for the REF and is currently undertaking substantial research activity, research management responsibilities (the directorate of the Centre) and external research-related commitments (e.g. as reviewer of the European Science Foundation, the Estonian Research Council, the Italian Evaluation Agency of the Ministry of Research, the European Law Journal and the European Journal of International Law, OUP and CUP, Committee of Editors of Revista de Derecho de la Unión Europea (REDUE), migration network advisory board). Sonia has also been invited to key-note talks (see below) and the School of Law of the University of Lincoln approached her for a nomination as Visiting Professor in EU Law at their university.

Dr Morano-Foadi has significant writing commitments in terms of Special Issues, Journal articles and a book, all in the pipeline. She has been successful in securing external and internal funding. The most recent successful EU funding grant, which was secured together with colleagues from other schools, is a 295,000 Euro project on human trafficking.

Sonia is also working to maximise her research’s future impact having recently completed a final Report on fundamental rights in Europe. Internal funding was granted from the CUF for the organisation of two events: a conference held on 18 January 2013 and a dissemination event held in Strasbourg on 13 June 2014. The last event was extremely successful as the final Report of the project was presented and four discussants: a judge of the ECtHR, a policy maker from the Council of Europe, the Commission and the European Parliament have given useful insights into her work. Professor Jorg Polakiewicz from the Council of Europe has addressed concluding remarks and introduced the event.

This year Sonia has presented papers at various conferences in Tallin, Madrid, Vienna, Copenhagen, Strasbourg and Nottingham.

Research group membership

Director of the Centre for Legal Research and Policy Studies (from September 2010)

Convenor of the Migration Section of the UK Society of Legal Scholar (SLS)

Chair of the Migration and Citizenship Research Group, Oxford Brookes University

Member of the Centre for the Applied Study of Law and Religion, Oxford Brookes University

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK

Member of the Centre for European Law and Legal Studies (CELLS) University of Leeds

Steering Committee Member of the Migration and Law Network composed of UK-based academics in the field, together with a small number of legal practitioners who have taken an interest in the network

Member of the Empirical Legal Research Support Network

Research grants and awards

• European Commission (HOME/2013/ISEC/AG/THB/Targeted Call 'THB' 2013), on Trafficking of Human Beings September 2014- August 2016 awarded grant for € 295,000 (together with Professor Simonetta Manfredi).
• British Academy, Reflections on the Architecture of the European Union after the Treaty of Lisbon: The European Approach to Fundamental Rights, December 2011- November 2012.
• European Science Foundation (ESF) Exploratory Workshop Oxford Brookes University 28th-30th June 2010 entitled "In/equality for third country nationals: implementation and effects of EU directives on migration and asylum"
• ECJ/ECHtHR - Reflections on the Architecture of the European Union after the Treaty of Lisbon: The European Judicial Approach to Fundamental Rights, SSL School Strategy Fund, March 2010-September 2010
• CARICOM/EU - The law-making process within CARICOM (using the EU and the role played by the ECJ as a means of analysing and evaluating recent developments in the law - making process within CARICOM), Central Research Fund, February 2008- November 2008.
• MOBEX Mobility and Excellence in the ERA, ERSC, 2002-2003 (co-applicant).
• MOBISC Equal Pay, Career progression and the Socio-Legal Valuation of Care, European Commission (DG Employment) 2003-2005 (Italian partner).

Books

• Morano-Foadi S, Andreadakis S, Protection of Fundamental Rights in Europe: the Challenge of Integration., Springer (2020)
  ISBN: 9783030423667
  
• Morano-Foadi S, Vickers L R, Ed., A matter for two courts: the fundamental rights question for the EU, Hart Publishing (2015)
  ISBN: 9781849467070
  

Journal articles

• Morano-Foadi S, 'Solidarity and responsibility: advancing humanitarian responses to EU migratory pressures'
  European Journal of Migration and Law 19 (3) (2017) pp.223-254
  ISSN: 1388-364X eISSN: 1571-8166
  Abstract The principle of solidarity is embedded in the foundations of the European Union (EU) legal system and is integral to the very ethos that has made the Union possible. However, as Member States struggle with contemporary challenges such as high migration flows, terrorism and economic turmoil they have predominantly adopted individualist and protectionist strategies which undermine the character of the Union. Those strategies include, for instance, building walls and securitising internal borders.This contribution argues that solidarity is inextricably linked with responsibility. Solidarity gives rise to responsibility and is a desired consequence of responsibility. Thus, this work suggests that strengthening the binomial of solidarity/responsibility is the solution that will create effective practices in meeting the humanitarian needs of refugees and sharing burdens between Member States.The contribution analyses the EU’s commitment to solidarity/responsibility and calls for Member States to demonstrate their commitment. Three types of Member State solidarity/responsibility are identified: 1) towards refugees and migrants, 2) towards fellow countries and 3) towards the EU itself. The latter finds its legal foundation in the principle of ‘sincere cooperation’ as enshrined in Article 4 (3) TEU and constitutes a means of protecting collective interest and precluding unilateral Member State actions that might jeopardize the entire EU project.Website 
• Morano-Foadi S, Neller J, 'The Status of Human Rights Protection in Europe: It’s complicated'
  Birkbeck Law Review 4 (1) (2016) pp.1-14
  ISSN: 2052-1308 eISSN: 2052-1316
  Abstract The UK has voted to leave the European Union and Prime Minister Theresa May has expressed her aversion to the European Convention on Human Rights, but confusion abounds as to what the current architecture of Europe is, let alone what it might look like in the future. This article seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of the development of supranational human rights protections in Europe and the status of the current quest for greater integration. In particular, the stalled movement towards the accession of the EU to the ECHR is examined and likened to a riddle: to avoid subjecting Member States to conflicting obligations, the ECHR must be granted ultimate authority in the field of human rights, but without compromising the autonomy of EU law. The article concludes with a conversation with Dr Sonia Morano-Foadi, whose extensive research into the European human rights institutions enables her to shed some light on the likelihood of the accession riddle ever being solved and to provide a prognosis for European rights protections in the future.Website 
• Morano-Foadi S, 'Human trafficking and the position of "vulnerability" for victims in Europe'
  International Journal of Migration and Border Studies 2 (3) (2016) pp.289-307
  ISSN: 1755-2419 eISSN: 1755-2427
  Abstract In the light of the key findings of a recent EU project, this paperexamines the complex phenomenon of human trafficking in Europe. The analysis investigates the extent to which human trafficking legislation assists legal and judicial authorities in recognising and protecting victims. Following a review of the various confounding issues around victims’ identification, the
  paper promptly targets the concept of ‘vulnerability’ as a decisive tool for effective intervention in human trafficking. Finally, this paper offers interesting insights into the role of Directive 2011/36/EU and its system of enforcement towards enhanced protection for victims of human trafficking.
  Website 
• Morano-Foadi S, 'Un-nesting the “Matrioska” doll: problems and paradoxes at the intersection between citizenship, migration and human rights (2014)'
  Revista de Derecho de la Unión Europea 27 (2014) pp.301-320
  ISSN: 1695-1085
  
• Morano-Foadi S, 'Fundamental Rights in Europe: constitutional dialogue between the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights'
  Sortuz : Onati Journal of Emergent Socio-Legal Studies 5 (2) (2013) pp.120-144
  ISSN: 1988-0847
  Abstract

  This paper is based on a socio-legal research which evaluates the impact of the Treaty of Lisbon on the area of fundamental rights within the EU. The project’s central core is on the relationship between the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU, as it might be termed the Luxembourg Court) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR, as it might be termed the Strasbourg Court) in the pre and post EU’s accession to theEuropean Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). The work, as informed by empirical findings, questions whether the two Courts’ dialogue in the fundamental rights spherecould be analysed using the language of constitutional pluralism, doctrine elaborated by scholars to describe the multiple claims of authority between the CJEU and thenational courts. The after accession era offers interesting features to revisit the constitutional pluralism doctrine, challenging its appropriateness when granting final authority to the Strasbourg Court in the European human rights field.

  Website 
• Morano-Foadi S, Andreadakis S, 'The convergence of the European legal system in the treatment of third country nationals in Europe: the ECJ and ECtHR jurisprudence'
  European Journal of International Law 22 (4) (2011) pp.1071-1088
  ISSN: 0938-5428
  Abstract

  This article, based on a broader project, focuses on the interaction between the two European Courts (the Court of Justice of the European Union - ECJ and the European Court of Human Rights - ECtHR) and uses the specific area of expulsion/deportation of third country nation - als (non-EU nationals) from European territory as a case study. The work examines the ECJ's and ECtHR's divergent approaches in this area of law, and it then provides some pre - liminary reflections on the potential of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the EU's accession to the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) to achieve a more harmo - nious and convergent human rights system in Europe. It finally argues that the post-Lisbon era has the potential to enhance the protection of fundamental rights within the continent

  Website 
• Morano-Foadi S, Andreadakis S, 'Reflections on the architecture of the European Union after the Treaty of Lisbon: the European judicial approach to fundamental rights'
  European Law Journal 17 (5) (2011) pp.595-610
  ISSN: 1351-5993
  Abstract

  This paper, based on an overarching project, focuses on the role of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) (also known as the Luxembourg Court) in shaping legal integration in Europe. The entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the new legally binding nature of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the future EU's accession to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) bring significant changes to the fundamental rights discourse within the European Union. These developments allow the enhancement of human rights protection within the EU. Based on empirical data collected through interviews with the Court of Justice's judges and Advocates General and recent case-law, the paper offers original insights into the post-Lisbon era of regional integration and reflects on the impact of the Charter on the CJEU jurisprudence.

  Website 
• Duina F, Morano-Foadi S, 'Introduction: the Institutionalisation of Regional Trade Agreements Worldwide: New Dynamics and Future Scenarios'
  European Law Journal 17 (2011) pp.561-567
  ISSN: 1351-5993
  Website 
• Morano-Foadi S, 'EU citizenship and religious liberty in an enlarged Europe'
  European Law Journal 16 (4) (2010) pp.417-438
  ISSN: 1351-5993
  Abstract This article intends to contribute to the theoretical debate on how EU citizenship could be regarded as a bundle of common European individual rights (and, to a lesser extent, obligations) and part of a democratic polity in which every citizen counts equally irrespectively of his/her religious belonging and faith. The EU perceives itself as a community based on shared values. Since there is no European people, nor a European polity, common values play a core role in European polity building. The question, however, is whether common values can be experienced by the EU citizens in daily life and to what extent there are common values in the EU Member States. These issues are explored using the non-discrimination principle on grounds of religion, as a litmus-test for the existence of common values within Europe.Website 
• Morano-Foadi S, 'Third country nationals versus EU citizens: discrimination based on nationality and the equality directives'
  Applied Economics (1729141) (2010) pp.1-26
  ISSN: 0003-6846
  Abstract The creation of an area of freedom, security and justice and the communitarisation of the immigration and asylum policy of the EU are important steps toward integration and fair treatment of Third Country Nationals (TCNs). And yet, EU law presents a number of loopholes in relation to the treatment of non-EU nationals who are subject to discrimination based on nationality and race. These two grounds of discrimination are closely related, and difficult to distinguish and yet important to the development of such a space. The paper discusses the non-discrimination principles on the grounds of nationality and race, respectively based on Art. 18 TFEU (ex Art. 12 EC, as amended) and on Art. 19 TFEU (ex Art. 13 EC, as amended) and their scope of application. It analyses some of the discrepancies in the treatment of TCNs as opposed to EU citizens emerging from the Racial Equality Directive (2000/43/EC) and the Framework Equality Directive (2000/78/EC) (hereafter Equality Directives). The Art., then, considers the approach used by Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) in a relatively recent case Centrum Voor Gelijkheid on racial discrimination and espouses the thesis that the limitations contained in both Directives, together with the current interpretation of Art. 18 TFEU (ex Art. 12 EC, as amended), have created a stratification of entitlements and consequently a hierarchy of people legally resident within the EU. The conclusive section reflects on the potentialities offered by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU and its recent effect, as pronounced in the Kücükdeveci case, in providing a more extensive protection to TCNs. Website 
• O'Brien D, Morano-Foadi S, 'The Caribbean Court of Justice and Legal Integration within CARICOM: Some Lessons from the European Community'
  Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals 8 (3) (2009) pp.399-429
  ISSN: 1569-1853
  Abstract

  CARICOM, established under the Treaty of Chaguaramas, in 1973, has since its inception suffered from the repeated failure of member states to implement at the national level decisions taken by the Heads of Government at the regional level. The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ,) which has been vested with a compulsory and exclusive jurisdiction to interpret and apply the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, is intended to bridge this implementation gap. This has aroused expectations that the CCJ will play a role similar to that played by the ECJ in promoting legal integration. However, it is important to recognise that the ECJ has functioned within a particular jurisdictional framework and has benefited from the contribution of a diverse range of actors within the wider European legal community. It cannot, therefore, be assumed that the CCJ will be able to replicate the role played by the ECJ. The aim of this article is, accordingly, to review the jurisdictional framework within which the CCJ will function; to explore how this is likely to affect its relationship with the wider legal community within CARICOM; and, finally, to consider how this will impact upon legal integration within the region generally.

  Website 

Book chapters

• Morano-Foadi S, Della Croce, C, Lugosi P, 'Refugees’ integration into the labour market: Discharging responsibility in the UK' in Jesse M (ed.), European societies, migration, and the law: The ‘others’ amongst ‘us’, Cambridge University Press (2021)
  ISBN: 9781108487689 eISBN: 9781108767637
  Abstract

  The State’s legal obligation towards refugees comprises granting protection and conferring post-determination rights. This chapter queries how the UK discharges its legal obligation to facilitate refugees’ engagement with work and whether it contributes towards their ‘othering’. It examines the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) as a case-study, assessing how ‘resettled’ refugees access support to labour market integration through various organisations and actors, comparing the support provided to them with the assistance available to ‘recognised’ refugees. The latter are those who have reached the UK by their own endeavours, applied for asylum, and been granted refugee status. The study has demonstrated how diverse networks of organisations and state actors facilitate or inhibit refugees’ access to the labour market, counterbalancing State actions on integration.
  

  Website 
• Morano-Foadi S, Crifò C, 'Italians Abroad – gli italiani in Inghilterra e la ricerca scientifica' in Annuario di diritto comparato (Comparative Law Yearbook), Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane (2014)
  
• Morano-Foadi S, 'Commentaries on Articles 45 – 48 TFEU' in Smit H, Herzog P (ed.), The Law of the European Union, LexisNexis Matthew Bender (2014)
  ISBN: 9780820569710
  
• Morano-Foadi S, 'The equality clauses in the EU directives on non-discrimination and migration/asylum' in Integration for third country nationals: the equality challenge, Edward Elgar Publishing (2012)
  ISBN: 9780857936813
  
• Morano-Foadi S, 'Citizenship and migration within the European research area: the Italian example' in New Europe, new world? The European Union, Europe and the challenges of the 21st century, Peter Lang (2010)
  ISBN: 9789052016047
  

Conferences

Conference papers (invited talks and seminar papers)

Sonia Morano-Foadi (with Stelios Andreadakis) (2014) ”A Reflection on the Relationship between the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights post Lisbon” published at Council of Europe's website http://www.coe.int/en/web/dlapil/news-dlapil

September 2014 Migration section’s convenor, SLS Conference “Judging in the 21st Century”, 9th-12th September University of Nottingham.

August 2014 - 17th Nordic Migration Research Conference in Copenhagen, Chair of workshop 39 (with Dr Micaela Malena) Open Europe or Fortress Europe? The paradigm of integration and equality for non-EU migrants, 13th-15th of August 2014, University of Copenhagen. Paper presented entitled “Fragmentation of statuses: Problems and Paradoxes at the intersection between Citizenship, Migration and Human rights”, 13th August 2014, University of Copenhagen.

June 2014 – “A Report on the Protection of Fundamental Rights in Europe”, 13th June, Council of Europe, Strasbourg.

April 2014 – “Judicial reflections on the interplay between human rights and migration”, 25th April, European Social Science and History Conference (ESSHC) “The Role of the Judiciary in the making of Immigration Policies”, Vienna, 23-26 April, University of Vienna.

December 2013 “Un-nesting the “Matrioska” doll: Problems and paradoxes at the intersection between citizenship, migration and human rights” 20th December 2013, UNED, Madrid.

September 2013 Chair of the Migration session at SLS Conference, 5th and 6th September 2013, University of Edimburgh.

September 2012 Chair of the Migration session at the SLS Conference and poster presentation for EU law session entitled “Reflections on the Architecture of the European Union after the Treaty of Lisbon: The European Approach to Fundamental Rights.”, University of Bristol.

June 2012 “Towards a New Legal Pluralism Theory: Fundamental Rights in Europe”, 3rdConference on the Future of European Law and Policy, Institute of European Law, Birmingham, 28-29 June.

July 2012, “Fundamental Rights in Europe: the European judicial perspective”, 9th Basque Congress of Sociology and Political Science, 16th to 18th of July 2012, Bilbao (Spain).

September 2011 “Third country nationals versus EU citizens: discrimination based on nationality and the Equality Directives” SLS Conference “Law in Politics, Politics in Law”, University of Cambridge. I have also chaired the migration session.

September 2010 “Reflections on the Architecture of the European Union after the Treaty of Lisbon: The European Judicial Approach to Fundamental Rights” SLS Conference Southampton - EU & Competition Section, 16th September 2010.

June 2010 “Third country nationals versus EU citizens: discrimination based on nationality and the Equality Directives”, ESF Workshop, Oxford Brookes University 28th June 2010.

June 2009 “Citizenship, Migration and Equality within the EU”, at the Departamento de Derecho Administrativo, Facultad de Derecho, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid

July 2008 “EU Citizenship and religious liberty in an enlarged Europe, Conference on European Law & Policy in Context entitled ‘The Next 50 Years: The Future of European Law & Policy’, Birmingham, 3–4 July 2008.

April 2007 “European citizenship and free movement of scientists in the European Research Area: the case of Italy” New Europe, New Governance, New Worlds?, Melbourne 12-14 April, Joint Monash European and EU Centre/ACIS conference

May 2005 “La cittadinanza europea con particolare attenzione ai problemi dell’allargamento” Action Robert Schuman 2004/2005, Facoltà di Giurisprudenza, Università degli Studi di Bari, Italy

October 2004 “Progressione di carriera, genere e mobilita’ scientifica nell’Area di Ricerca Europea” CNR Rome, conference “L’Europa e noi: a che punto siamo?”

June 2004 “Brain drain o mobilita’ scientifica? Il caso dell’Italia”, Association Women in science, Rome, Conference “Ragionando della nuova scienza”.

June 2004 University of Bari, “The Expectation of Mobility in Science Careers” at the Faculty of Law of the University of Bari (CSLPE Research report No. 26).

February 2004 “Academic Scientific Careers in Italy”, EC Commission conference, Lisbon, (CSLPE Research Report No. 16).

Other experience

Dr Morano-Foadi has previously held positions including

• Senior Lecturer, Department of law, Oxford Brookes University (September 2007 to August 2010).
• Lecturer at the School of Law, University of Leeds (September 2001 - August 2007).
• Seminar leader in EU law (chair Professor Louise Ackers) at School of law, University of Lancaster (Jan 2001-June 2001);
• Research Fellow at School of Law, University of Leeds (February 1998 - December 1999) working on the TMR and MIGRANT CHILDREN Research Projects, funded respectively by the European Commission and by the European Commission and the Nuffield Foundation.
• Tutor in Environmental Law and Management, Provincia di Foggia (Local Authority), Italy (February 1997 - July 1997)
• Research Fellow at Italian National Research Council, Juridical Studies Institute on the International Community (Rome) (April 1995 - February 1996)
• Scientific Co-ordinator at the Institute for Advance Sciences and Technologies for Development (STESAM), Bari, Italy (September 1994 - January 1995).