Thesis Title

'The Enforcement of Corporate Sustainability: is the European Sustainable Corporate Governance Initiative on the Right Track?'

Supervisors

Professor Eva Micheler (LSE) and Professor Mathias Siems (EUI)

Research Interests

Sustainable Corporate Law; Sustainable Corporate Governance; Sustainable Finance

Elena Calsamiglia is a PhD candidate in Law at the European University Institute. She is also a teaching assistant at the Florence School of Banking and Finance. Currently, she is spending a visiting research period at LSE.

Her research explores the implementation of the emerging EU regulatory framework for sustainable corporate governance. It aims to (i) trace the perimeter of this emerging regulatory area; (ii) understand whether and how it is changing the design and implementation of traditional corporate law and governance; and (iii) assess how effective it is at leading companies to adopt sustainable business models. To this end, she combines theory with empirical evidence obtained through interviews with key actors involved in corporate governance of the largest companies operating in the EU internal market.

Before joining the EUI, she was a junior associate at the corporate M&A practice of Clifford Chance, Milan office (2017-2021), specializing in private equity, real estate, and corporate M&A advice for financial investors and corporate clients, mainly on cross-border transactions.

She holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Law (with honors) from the University of Trento and an LLM in Comparative, European, and International Law from the EUI.

Affilations / Memberships

Affiliation with the Florence School of Banking and Finance

Member of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (2024)

Awards / Scholarships

EUI Fellowship: Monthly grant issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy (2022–25) and the European University Institute (2025–26)

Erasmus+: Monthly grant issued by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ program

Early-Stage Research Funding 2024: Lump-sum grant issued by the European University Institute

Excellence Award 2017: Granted by the University of Trento to the top graduates of the year