ABSTRACT I In this talk, I will first outline the core tenets and methodology of the project “Protecting the Right to Culture of Persons with Disabilities and Enhancing Cultural Diversity through European Union Law: Exploring New Paths”, in short DANCING, funded by the European Research Council. I will then present the three complementary objectives pursued by the project – experiential, normative and theoretical respectively – and some interim findings, explaining how the research is contributing to the consolidation of EU disability law as a standalone field of academic enquiry. Throughout the talk, I will also highlight some personal experiences and challenges in managing a large, “high risk/high gain”, project.
BIO I Delia Ferri is a Professor of Law at Maynooth University (MU) School of Law and Criminology, where she lectures primarily in the fields of EU law and International and European Disability Law and acts as Director of the Postgraduate Research (PhD) Programmes in Law. Since March 2020, she is the co-Director of the MU Assisting Living & Learning (ALL) Institute, an interdisciplinary research institute, which includes more than 120 researchers and academics from across several MU Departments and Schools. Prof. Ferri is also affiliated researcher at the DIRPOLIS Institute (Institute of Law, Politics and Development) of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Italy), and a fellow at the Burton Blatt Institute of Syracuse University (USA). She is a senior member of the European Disability Expertise network funded by the European Commission. In June 2023 she has been appointed as a member of the Scientific Committee of the Fundamental Rights Agency of the European Union.