Maria Piera Rizzo

Maria Piera Rizzo is a Full Professor of Navigation Law, International Navigation Law, and Navigation Safety at the Department of Law, University of Messina. She serves as Director of the CUST Euromed 'Elio Fanara' University Center for Transport Studies and holds editorial positions in ANVUR-ranked journals including Il Diritto marittimo and Rivista di diritto della navigazione. She is a member of AIDINAT (Italian Association of Navigation Law), SIDI (Italian Society of International Law), and AIDIM (Italian Maritime Law Association).

She graduated with honors in Law from the University of Messina in 1982, specializing in Administrative Law. Her academic career began in 1989 as a researcher at the University of Reggio Calabria. She became a Full Professor in 2000 at the University of Cassino before joining the University of Messina in 2001.

Her research focuses on:

• Maritime and transport law frameworks
• EU regulations for air traffic management (Single European Sky)
• Coastal state obligations in search/rescue operations
• Environmental protection in maritime contexts
• Legal aspects of migrant rescues and the non-refoulement principle

She has led national PRIN research projects on flight assistance (2005) and navigation infrastructure safety (2008), and participates in EU initiatives like SECURMED and AEROMAT.

Her publications emphasize evolving regulatory landscapes in aviation and maritime law, with recent works analyzing pandemic impacts on transport, U-Space drone regulations, and updates to the Chicago Convention. She frequently addresses safety-compliance tensions in international straits navigation and pollution-risk vessel management.

Research Leadership:

• Scientific director for PRA studies on EU transport regulations
• Coordinator of interdisciplinary research on Mediterranean maritime transport sustainability
• Organizer of international conferences on navigation safety (e.g., 2013 Conference: 'Safety and Freedom in Navigation')

She teaches Navigation Law, Transport Law, and Tourism Legislation, and has supervised PhD candidates in Transport Law through the University of Messina's doctoral program.