About Rosa Barceló Compte

PhD in Law at the University of Barcelona (UB). I defended my PhD thesis (Ventaja injusta y protección de la parte débil del contrato) on September 18th, 2018, in front of a committee comprised of three members: Dr. Miquel Martín Casals (University of Girona), Prof. Dr. Chantal Mak (University of Amsterdam) and Dr. Pere del Pozo Carrascosa (University of Barcelona). My PhD. thesis focused on the institution of ‘unfair advantage’ by means of a critical analysis that highlighted the potential of the introduction of this rule in private law. I was awarded with the Extraordinary PhD in Law Award of the University of Barcelona, 2018. To this award followed a book on the same topic (Ventaja injusta y protección de la parte débil del contrato, Marcial Pons, 2019). Finally, I received in July 2020 the Ferrer Eguizábal Award, a distinction granted to prominent research in Catalan Private Law. 

My academic career began in 2014 as a scholarship holder attached to the Department of Civil Law at the University of Barcelona (UB) within the scholarships program for the training of university teachers granted by the Ministry of Education. That same year, I joined the research group Grup de Recerca Consolidat per la Generalitat de Catalunya en Consum, Dret Privat i Noves technologies, led by Prof. Dr. Mariló Gramunt Fombuena and Prof. Dr. Gemma Rubio Gimeno. Currently, since January 2020, I hold a position as a postdoctoral researcher in the field of contracting in the digital environment and I am a member of the Grup de Recerca Consolidat en Dret civil català i Dret privat Europeu.

As a researcher, I have published several works (a book, book chapters and articles) on topics such as contractual equilibrium, unfair advantage, laesio enormis, legal remedies to unbalanced contracts, contractual justice and the protection of the weaker party. For this research and its comparative perspective, three research stays abroad were carried out: one in the University degli Studi di Milano and the other two in the Molengraaf Institute for Privat Law (Utrecht University) under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Ewoud Hondius. Additionally, I have written some works on the topic of sharing economy and the regulation of the reputation feedback systems posed by the digital platforms in order to gain the trust of its users. Recently, my research is focused on the study of the legal challenges that arise from blockchain -based smart contracts and the process of contract formation, and its compatibility with existing contract law. I am also working on the field of contracting in the digital age, especially on contracts for the supply of digital content. Finally, I am studying the possible application of AI in the arbitration of consumer claims. Thus, I have participated in three competitive research projects granted by the Spanish Ministry of Education and I have also been award with three grants from the Catalan government.