The Department of Political Science, Law, and International Studies (SPGI) brings together 90 scholars in Political Science, Law, History, Political Philosophy, Sociology, foreign languages and culture.

Academic fellows cover the following fields of research: European Public Policies and Public Management; Political Science; Genders Studies; Global Studies; Governance and Regulation Theories and Models; History of International Relations; Human Rights; International Law; Institutional and Normative processes dealing with person, family, market, work and welfare; Legal theory; Modern and Contemporary History; Regional studies; Relationships between languages and institutions.

The Department of Political Science, Law, and International Studies offers the following courses:

• 4 First-cycle degrees: Political Science, Economic Law, Political Sciences International Relations and Human Rights, and Social work (qualifying for welfare officers).
• 5 Second-cycle degrees: European and Global Studies, Human Rights and Multi-Level Governance (both entirely taught in English), Government Sciences and Public Policies, International Relations and Diplomacy, and Innovation and Social Work.
• 3 Short specialisation degrees: Sustainable local development management; European Integration: Policies and Community Design; Innovation, Design and Evaluation of Policies and Services.
• 3 Seasonal Schools

The Department of Political Science, Law, and International Studies is the administrative seat, promotes and manages the Research Centre for Regional Studies "Giorgio Lago" (CISR).

The Department is the administrative seat of the Ph.D programme on International Law, Private Law and Labour Law, and collaborates with further Ph.D programmes at the University of Padova: the Ph.D Programme in Philosophy and the Ph.D programme in Human Rights, Society and Multi-Level Governance (University of Padova). The faculty staff is, moreover, involved in the following Ph.D programmes History (University of Padova); Sociology and Social Research (University of Bologna); Political Science and Sociology (Scuola Normale Superiore, Firenze).

The Department promotes internationalisation in research and in external relations by operating as a structure hosting the research activities of foreign scholars who are beneficiaries of various grants. Every year, in keeping with its policy of promoting internationalisation, SPGI offers students the opportunity to attend Seasonal Schools organised in collaboration with academic institutions or other international organisations.

The Department is particularly sensitive to the needs of internationalisation of teaching and research, contributing to the formulation of policy making and opinion making at local and national levels. It promotes the Italian network “Scholars at Risk-Italy” as part of Scholars at Risk (SaR), an international network of higher education institutions, founded at the University of Chicago in 1999 and currently headquartered in New York. Its main objective is to promote academic freedom and protect scholars who are risking their lives or whose jobs are at stake. SAR is part of the Network for Education and Academic Rights (NEAR) and the Scholars Rescue Fund (SRF)-Institute of International Education (IIE). Up until now, 450 universities in 40 countries around the world have joined SaR.

Due to its broad interdisciplinary heritage in several relevant fields, the Department is characterised by a significant projection towards society and its current challenges both domestically and internationally.