Giusella Finocchiaro is a Full Professor of Internet Law and Private Law at the University of Bologna and a standing member of the Academy of Sciences of Bologna Institute. Her professional experience spans several decades.

In parallel with her academic career, she has been involved in a number of scientific initiatives. Amongst other things, she has been a member of UNCITRAL (United Nations Commission on International Trade Law) as an expert on legal issues relating to digital signatures and also chairperson of the working group established at the legislative office of the Ministry of Justice charged with drafting legislative decrees for updating national law in line with the GDPR. From 2014 to 2022 she has been chairperson of the UNCITRAL Working Group on Electronic Commerce, where she now is an official Italian representative.

She has been legal advisor for the Russian Government, as a member of the Tacis Project on Electronic Commerce in Russia, and she was also involved in an international project for drafting electronic commerce legislation in collaboration with the Chinese Parliament. In addition, she has been a member of the international group of experts for the “Accountability-Based Privacy Governance” project of the Centre for Information Policy Leadership in collaboration with the European Data Protection Commissioners (2008-2013).

She is a jury member at the Italian advertising standards body, Autodisciplina Pubblicitaria.

She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Centre for Digital Ethics (CEDE) of the University of Bologna.

She is a legal expert of The World Bank.

She is a member of the Commission on AI set up by the Italian Government’s Information and Publishing Department.

She is a legal expert within the UNIDROIT “Digital Assets and Private Law Project”.

She has been President of Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna. She has been a statutory auditor for Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and chairperson of the supervisory body.

She is a member of the Board of Directors of UnipolSai S.p.A.

She sits on the steering committee of the journal “Contratto e Impresa” as well as on the scientific committee of the journal “DIMT”. She is director of the “Subjects and New Technologies” area of the journal “Giustizia civile”. She is a member of the steering committee of the “Rivista di Diritto Sportivo” and the scientific committees of the journal “Diritto dell’Internet”, the “Rivista italiana di informatica e diritto” and the “Rivista di diritto dei media”. She is one of the directors of the portal “MediaLaws”.

She is the author and editor of numerous publications in the area of IT and the internet. These include: Codice della privacy e data protection, Giuffrè, 2021 with O. Pollicino, R. D’Orazio and G. Resta); Fintech: diritti, concorrenza, regole. Le operazioni di finanziamento tecnologico, Zanichelli, 2019 with V. Falce); La protezione dei dati personali in Italia. Regolamento UE 2016/679 e d.lgs. 10 agosto 2018, n. 101, Zanichelli, 2019; Diritto dell’informatica, Giappichelli, 2014 with F. Delfini); Privacy e protezione dei dati personali. Disciplina e strumenti operativi, Zanichelli, 2012; Major Legal Trends in the Digital Economy, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2022 (with L. Balestra, M. Timoteo); Intelligenza Artificiale. Quali regole?, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2024.