July 2017
After the Project Team briefing that was coordinated by Prof Baruffi and took place on 26 June, the planned activities have been carried out throughout the end of the second year of the project.
The Report on the activities from April to June 2017 was finalised and uploaded on the project website on 7 July. It contains a detailed analysis of the activities performed both before and after the Summer School, as well as a description of the course itself and its delivery. In addition, a report regarding the outcomes of the Summer School evaluation surveys is provided as annex.
Following the delivery of the Summer School, the Law Department offices took care of the administrative and financial aspects of the project, namely the collection of the required documents from the Teaching Staff members and the payment of their fees. In this regard, Caterina and Diletta were involved in keeping contact with the teachers in order to facilitate the communication and the collection of the documents.
The stagiaire, Maddalena, completed her 150-hour long internship at the end of the Summer School and submitted the final report on her activities that was reviewed by the Project Team and hereby attached (see Annex 1).
Diletta, Cinzia and Marta collected the scientific articles for the publication of the 2017 special edition of the e-journal Papers di diritto europeo. This activity followed the delivery of the second edition of the Summer School on the fashion industry in the European Union, which was held at the Law Department of the University of Verona from 19 to 24 June 2017, allowing to further deepen the research on such topics, as well as to provide a wider dissemination of the project’s results. The articles were drafted by members of the Teaching Staff of the Summer School, analysing selected subject matters that formed part of the programme of the course with the aim of fostering the academic value of the project. Under the supervision of Prof Baruffi, the Project Team reviewed the articles according to the editing criteria of the online peer-review open-access journal edited by the European Documentation Centre. The special issue (consisting of three articles) was then published on 31 July by Isolde, who is in charge of the realisation and uploading of contents on the official website of the EDC, and is available both on the project website (on the specific section dedicated to the project’s scientific activities) and the e-journal webpage.
As further Teaching Staff members were actually committed in submitting their own articles for the publication, but were not able to meet the deadline that was set on 7 July due to conflicting schedules, Prof Baruffi deemed advisable to e-mail them and grant an extended deadline until the end of July, or in case of need for further time until 15 September. Therefore, an updated version of the 2017 special edition of the e-journal Papers di diritto europeo is envisaged during the first months of the third year of the project. Due to these problems to meet the deadline, the Project Team is of the advice that the possibility of planning in advance an extended deadline, as opposed to the current one set at the end of July, will be under consideration for the third year of the project, in order to include a more comprehensive scientific publication among the project’s deliverables.
With regard to the internship opportunities offered to the Summer School attendees, at the end of June a total of 8 applications were collected by Isolde and Diletta and then sent to the two internship providers (the law firm KMPG Tax & Legal and Mr Casucci). Both of them directly carried out the recruiting procedures to select the interns and manage the duration and other related aspects of the internship. Feedback will be reported in due time.
Cinzia and Marta updated the project website with new contents, namely the detailed Report of the 2017 Conference (which was drafted by the stagiaire Maddalena and reviewed by the Project Team), the photo gallery of the 2017 Summer School and further bibliographical references on fashion law.
Social network accounts (Twitter and Facebook) were constantly updated with new contents and information, as well as project results on the Erasmus+ participant portal were regularly reported.
August 2017
Marta drafted the Newsletter n. 3/2017, whose contents include a short description of the Summer School outcomes and its follow-up activities, namely the internship opportunities and the 2017 special edition of the e-journal Papers di diritto europeo, as well as some highlights on other project-related activities, such as the publication of the Report on the 2017 Conference and the update of the bibliographical references on fashion law. Cinzia reviewed the issue and then Marta uploaded it on the project website on 6 August.
Diletta reviewed the Summer School didactic materials (power-point presentations made available to the attendees through the Google Drive) in accordance with the requests and conditions approved by each Teaching Staff member and uploaded them on the specific section of the project website.
Cinzia and Marta updated the social network accounts (Facebook and Twitter) and Diletta took care of updating the project results on the Erasmus+ participant portal.
Diletta drafted the Report on the activities from July to August 2017, which was discussed and reviewed by the Project Team before the upload on the website.
With a view of planning the activities of the third year of the project (1 September 2017), the Project Team scheduled a briefing on 5 September. The agenda envisages also a discussion of the outcomes of the evaluation surveys regarding each Teaching Staff member of the 2017 Summer School and the proposals of topics for the upcoming 2018 conference.
Verona, August 2017
* * *
Annex 1
Final report on the internship with the UnivrFW Project Team
Among the envisaged internships opportunities, in addition to those at selected law firms, the Academic Coordinator, Prof Maria Caterina Baruffi, agreed with the Head of the Law Department to open an internship position at the European Documentation Centre addressed at university students in their last year of studies, who were offered to perform project-related activities under the supervision of the Project Team. This specific internship is intended to enable stagiaires to build up their knowledge on the subject matter of the project, as well as to experience working in team within the framework of a EU project.
Here is the feedback by the appointed stagiaire, Maddalena Vanzo.
“I am about to graduate in Law at the University of Verona and I attended the first edition of the Summer School “Univr Fashion Week” in June 2016. Through the variety of topics addressed by the course, I discovered interesting subject matters that are not usually dealt with during the academic programme. Moreover, I had the opportunity to attend lectures of practitioners and experts that stimulated my curiosity toward the fashion industry in the European Union.
Therefore, I decided to apply for the 150-hour internship at the European Documentation Centre (EDC) in order to get directly involved in the project activities. During the internship, which took place from February to June 2017 under the scientific coordination of Prof Maria Caterina Baruffi, I worked together with Dr Isolde Quadranti, documentalist head of the EDC, and/or one of the members of the Project Team, willing to help me out whenever needed.
Throughout the internship, I collaborated in the organisation of the two main events planned for the second year of the project, namely the Conference of 10 March and the Summer School held from 19 to 24 June. I also took part in the related scientific activities.
On the one hand, indeed, I was involved in the collection of applications sent via e-mail both for the Conference and the Summer School. I listed the admitted applicants at the events and I kept the lists daily updated. Furthermore, I prepared the materials requested by the lecturers, I printed out the evaluation surveys and I assisted the Project Team with all the other preparatory activities. I also contributed to the dissemination activities regarding the events by posting promotional posters at relevant locations, such as Departments and Libraries of the University of Verona and the Court of Verona. At the end of the Conference, I analysed the answers provided in the evaluation surveys, while during the Summer School I distributed the registers of attendance, I checked whether they were duly signed by the participants and I collected the evaluation surveys at the end of each lesson/workshop.
On the other hand, I got involved in the drafting of the Newsletter 2017/2, which mainly aimed at disseminating the Conference’s outcomes, as well as in the research of books, journals’ articles and case law in order to update the bibliography on fashion law issues available in a specific section of the project website. Moreover, I drafted the final Report on the Conference that contained a summary of the main topics addressed by the speakers. Both the Newsletter and the Report have been published on the project website. Their drafting was a rather difficult task, since I found it hard to sum up some of the lectures’ content, especially where I had to make an effort to fully understand the topic, as well as to use the proper writing style. Therefore, the members of the Project Team helped me convey my ideas in a coherent and consistent way. I am sure that their tips on text writing will be particularly useful during the drafting of my final dissertation.
Overall, the internship has provided me with a valuable training experience. I am grateful for having been given the opportunity not only to expand my knowledge on the various aspects of the fashion industry in the EU, but also to enjoy the privileged point of view of the “behind the scenes” of such a…fashionable project!”