CEDIS - NOVA School of Law

What CEDIS - NOVA School of Law does

CEDIS (Centro de Investigação e Desenvolvimento sobre Direito e Sociedade da Universidade Nova de Lisboa) is a non-profit academic research center operating as an organic unit of NOVA School of Law within Universidade Nova de Lisboa, headquartered on the Campolide campus in Lisbon, Portugal. Founded in 2004 (with predecessor SPEED seminars dating to 1999), the center conducts interdisciplinary legal scholarship spanning constitutional law, human rights, tax law, international law, and digital regulation. Its core outputs include three curated historical legal databases (Portuguese Legal Doctrine 19th-20th centuries; Portuguese Legislation 1496-1910; Portuguese Colonial Legislation 1910-1970), the CEDIS Press OA Diamond open-access publishing platform, and specialized knowledge centers such as the NOVA Tax Research Lab and the NOVA Centre for Child Law & Children's Rights.

The center employs approximately 13 staff and serves a primary audience of academic researchers, PhD students, and integrated scholars at NOVA School of Law, with secondary beneficiaries including graduate law students, policy makers, civil society organizations, and—through specific EU-funded projects—justice professionals such as judges, prosecutors, lawyers, police, and psychologists. CEDIS does not commercialize products or services; all research outputs are made available through open access. Its revenue model is entirely grant-based, drawing on FCT institutional programmatic funding (UIDB/00714/2020, UIDP/00714/2020, UID/00714/2025), FCT project-specific awards (e.g., TAX & GENDER 2024.18273.PEX), European Commission competitive grants (e.g., JUST-LISTEN under CERV-2025-CHILD, Grant Agreement 101254164), and partnership-based cooperation protocols with entities such as Instituto do Conhecimento powered by Abreu Advogados for the NOVA Green Lab initiative. Distribution occurs through open-access digital repositories, academic conferences, visiting scholar programs, podcasts, newsletters, and direct consortium-based training delivery across multiple EU member states.

Name

CEDIS - NOVA School of Law

Legal name

CEDIS - Centro de Investigação e Desenvolvimento sobre Direito e Sociedade da Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Website

https://cedis.novalaw.unl.pt

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

CEDIS is a non-profit legal research center at NOVA School of Law in Lisbon, conducting interdisciplinary scholarship on law and society and serving academic researchers, graduate students, and justice-system professionals across Europe via grant-funded open-access publishing and consortium-based training projects.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic Legal Research

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (6113), Legal Services (5411)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDAHABAF

Law & Legal Studies Research Universities

Education/Higher Education (Colleges & Universities)/Private Research Universities

SECONDARYEDAGAFAG

Law & Legal Studies Scholarly Publishing

Education/Educational Publishing & Learning Content/Academic & Scholarly Publishing (Journals, Monographs)

Keywords

• Legal research center
• Academic legal publications
• Historical legal databases
• Open access publishing
• Interdisciplinary law studies

Headquarters

HQ city

Lisbon

HQ country

Portugal

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. FCT Institutional Funding: Core institutional funding from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under projects UIDB/00714/2020 and UIDP/00714/2020, representing national funding from the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education
2. European Commission Project Funding: Competitive European funding for specific research projects such as JUST-LISTEN under CERV-2025-CHILD programme (Grant Agreement no. 101254164) and other European Commission initiatives
3. FCT Project-Specific Funding: Funding for individual research projects such as TAX & GENDER (2024.18273.PEX) funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
4. Partnership-Based Research Funding: Research grants funded through cooperation protocols with partners such as Instituto do Conhecimento powered by Abreu Advogados for NOVA Green Lab

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

CEDIS is a non-profit academic research and development center on Law and Society, operating within NOVA School of Law at Universidade Nova de Lisboa. It produces interdisciplinary legal scholarship across constitutional law, human rights, tax law, international law, and digital regulation, publishing open-access outputs through CEDIS Press, maintaining historical Portuguese legal databases, coordinating EU-funded research projects, and delivering research training programs.

Product overview

CEDIS - Centro de Investigação da NOVA School of Law is a unified research and development center focused on Law and Society, operating as a single institutional structure rather than a platform-with-modules architecture. The center offers research databases (Portuguese Legal Doctrine, Portuguese Legislation 1496-1910, Portuguese Colonial Legislation 1910-1970), publication platforms (CEDIS Press - OA Diamond), specialized research centers (NOVA Tax Research Lab, NOVA Centre for Child Law & Children's Rights), and research seminars (SPEED). The portfolio is complemented by education programs, research projects, and science communication activities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Portuguese Legal Doctrine Database (19th-20th centuries)

Quantifiable outcome

• Coordination of European research consortium with 10+ partner organizations across EU member states
• +1 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Instituto do Conhecimento powered by Abreu AdvogadosminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 February 2026Cooperation protocol partner for NOVA Green Lab project, providing funding and expertise for research on energy law, climate law, and sustainability with focus on European law.
• Portuguese Public Prosecutor's OfficecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 February 2026Partner in the JUST-LISTEN European project consortium, contributing to capacity building for justice professionals on child protection. The project focuses on strengthening how the justice system listens to, protects, and engages with child victims of sexual abuse through trauma-informed approaches.
• ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de LisboacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 February 2026University partner in the JUST-LISTEN consortium, contributing to research and training on child protection and justice system engagement with traumatized children.
• Portuguese Bar AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 February 2026Professional body partner in JUST-LISTEN consortium providing training for justice professionals, specifically targeting lawyers in trauma-informed approaches to child victims.
• Portuguese Psychologists' AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 February 2026Professional body partner in JUST-LISTEN consortium contributing expertise in psychological support for child victims and training for psychologists in the justice system.
• Associação GodinhelaminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 February 2026Civil society organization partner in JUST-LISTEN consortium bringing community perspective and child advocacy to the project.
• Leiden University (Netherlands)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 February 2026International university partner in JUST-LISTEN consortium contributing academic expertise and research capacity from the Netherlands.
• Hope for Children (Cyprus)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 February 2026International civil society partner from Cyprus contributing to JUST-LISTEN consortium with expertise in child protection.
• Child Helpline International (Netherlands)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 February 2026International organization partner contributing to JUST-LISTEN consortium with expertise in child helpline services and child protection mechanisms.
• University of Salamanca (Spain)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 February 2026Spanish university partner in JUST-LISTEN consortium contributing academic research capacity and expertise in justice system approaches to child protection.
• NOVA School of LawcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerParent institution - organic unit of Universidade Nova de Lisboa within which CEDIS operates as the dedicated Research and Development Centre on Law and Society.
• NOVA University LisboncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerParent university of which NOVA School of Law is a constituent faculty. CEDIS operates as the research center for the Faculty of Law.
• High Council for the JudiciarycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJudicial governance body collaborating with JUST-LISTEN project for training judges on trauma-informed approaches to child victims in the justice system.
• Directorate-General for Justice PolicycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGovernment body collaborating with JUST-LISTEN project contributing to policy development and implementation of child protection measures in justice system.
• Portuguese Criminal PolicecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLaw enforcement partner in JUST-LISTEN consortium contributing to training of police forces on handling child victims of sexual abuse with trauma-informed approaches.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Market position

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/CEDIS.FDUNL
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cedis-nova-school-of-law

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles15 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CEDIS - NOVA School of Law