Maria Rosaria Ferrarese graduated in 1972 from the University of Bari and then obtained, thanks to a grant from the CNR (National Research Council), two years of specialization in social sciences at the University of Catania. In 1975, she became a researcher at the University of Bari. She has benefited from various scholarships for research stays abroad. In particular, she did research in Paris for one year (1978-1979) at the School of Higher Studies in Social Sciences as a fellow and in Washington DC at George Washington University, through a study grant LASPAU (1989-1990), an institution affiliated with Harvard University.

She taught as Associate Professor from 1987 to 1996 at the Faculty of Jurisprudence of Trento and since 1996, is a Professor at the University of Cagliari. Since 2001, she has been working in Rome as a professor at the School of Public Administration (ASPS).

She has led various research projects and is a member of the scientific committee of various journals. From 1998 on, she carried out consulting activities for the publishing house Mulino, in particular the selection of foreign works for the Italian translation. Over the last decade, her research has focused on the institutional changes and laws induced by the process of globalization. On these issues she has written books and numerous articles published in Italian and foreign magazines and has held various reports and conferences at national and international level.