Kolis Summerer is Associate Professor of Criminal Law and director of the Master’s degree program in “Social work and social policy”, as well as coordinator of the research area in social sciences and and law. She is member of the steering committee of the Euregio Platform for human dignity and human rights (EUPHUR).

She joined Unibz as researcher in 2009 and became professor in 2016. She started her academic carrier at the University of Bologna, where she received her law degree in 1999 and her PhD in Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure in 2004. Until 2009 she was post-doctoral fellow, research assistant and lecturer at the University of Bologna. She was awarded, among others, research grants financed by the Max Planck Society.

Over the years, she has led major international research projects (“CREEP – Criminalizing Revenge Porn?” and “CliC - Clarifying the notion of illegal content under the EU’s Digital Services Act”, funded by the Alphabet/Google “Trust & Safety Research Award”) and she has pursued comparative research, fostering an international academic network and cross-border cooperation.

Her research has addressed a wide range of fundamental topics, focusing both on the general theory of crime as well as on specific criminal offenses and key criminal policy issues, such as gender violence and restorative justice.

She is the author of two monographs, the editor of several book collections, and has published more than 80 articles in national and international journals and books.

Prof. Summerer has presented at numerous national and international conferences, and she serves as a member of the scientific committee and as a reviewer for several scientific journals.

Prof. Summerer is board member of the Associazione “Franco Bricola”, member of the Italian Association of Criminal Law Professors (AIPDP) and of the deutsche Strafrechtslehrervereinigung.

She is also Member of the Max Planck Law Alumni Network.

In 2022, she was awarded Best Teacher of the Year at the Free University of Bolzano.