Eleonora di Franco holds a LL.B. in Law from the University of York (UK) and an LL.M. in European Public Law and Governance (cum laude) from Maastricht University. She works in a combined position as lecturer and PhD researcher at the Department of International and European Law. Her PhD project examines the role of SLAPPs as a specific legal form of obstruction in public participation and legal measures to counter the shrinking of civic spaces within the EU legal order. Her research interests lie primarily in EU constitutional law, the protection of the Rule of Law, and European judicial dialogue on human rights.