Lecturer in Family Law, University of Sussex
Maria Federica is an Italian advocate and holds a PhD from SOAS. She joined Sussex in January 2015. Before undertaking her doctorate she worked for Save the Children Italy where she specialized in children’s rights. Her main research interests lie in issues relating to ADR, Access to Justice, Comparative Family Law, Human Rights with focus on children, and LGBTI people. Maria Federica combines academic interests with activism in support of LGBTI people, and is a member of Avvocatura per I Diritti LGBTI. Her last two research projects have been awarded funding by the EU Commission. The first project, Litigious Love: Same-Sex Couples and Mediation in the European Union, which she has coordinated on behalf of Avvocatura, involves a comparative analysis of the use of mediation for resolving intra-family disputes between same-sex partners. The second project, Bleeding Love: Raising Awareness on Domestic and Dating Violence Against Lesbians and Transwomen in the European Union, investigates domestic and dating violence against lesbian, transgender and bisexual women in Italy.
Maria has developed a booklet on mediation for children of same-sex couples and has worked with a graphic designer to transform her ideas.
