This research area provides specific expertise, particularly in economics and law, for the analysis of economic and socially relevant phenomena affecting citizens, organizations, and their communities at various levels.

A research area investigating new social responsibility practices and the green perspective of attention to environmental impacts. The focus of study is on businesses, including financial institutions, but also on other economic actors: public and private entities, consumers, savers and customers in general, and citizens.

Focus areas include:

1. The sustainable approach to managing the production and distribution chain and overall governance.
2. Methodologies for analyzing impacts throughout the product life cycle (LCA), not only environmental but also social.
3. An in-depth study of sustainability practices related to water resources, including measuring impacts in terms of water consumption throughout the product life cycle.
4. The analysis of emerging sectors such as alternative food systems, Renewable Energy Communities (CERs), and socially responsible enterprises.
5. Methodologies for identifying strategic and operational choices with a view to sustainability and for measuring results and impacts, according to an ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) perspective.
6. The analysis of the individual dimension of sustainability with the aim of contributing to the development of a sustainability mindset in individuals that encompasses individual and collective values ​​related to sustainability.

In addition to the areas mentioned above, the CESC provides support to the University in activities related to the Vice-Rectorate for Welfare and Sustainable Development, including strategic sustainability communication, drafting the University sustainability report, and gathering information on active research projects.

Finally, the CESC collaborates with the University Departments and the Vice-Rectorate in organizing the Sustainability Workshop, an initiative born within the Department of Engineering and Applied Sciences and extended to the University level.

The Migration and International Cooperation area encompasses two main research streams, described below:

• Migration: The ongoing migration phenomenon has triggered social and economic dynamics that require targeted, effective knowledge and tools. Focusing on the national and international contexts in which the phenomenon unfolds, we analyze regulatory instruments and processes of inclusion/expulsion, as well as migrant mobility, to reconstruct the socio-territorial dynamics they induce in the areas of departure, transition, and arrival. We analyze the impact they have on the labor market through multiple forms of economic activity, proposing innovative solutions for preventing and combating irregular work, labor exploitation, human trafficking, and migrant smuggling, as well as for the protection of victims.
• International cooperation: This topic is addressed in light of the profound changes in the territories of the South and the North, the significant phenomena of human mobility, and the evolution of the economic, political, socio-educational, cultural, and entrepreneurial perspectives of the Global South. The perspective is both macroeconomic and local development process-level, including the economic, financial, social, and territorial impacts of various actions—whether spontaneous or induced, partnerships or individuals, public or private—with a view to assessing their effectiveness and sustainability, while also identifying critical issues within the framework of human rights protection. Particular attention is paid to the role of international university cooperation, also highlighting the contribution of the UNESCO Chair in "Human Rights, International Cooperation and Sustainable Development."