Symposium to discuss cutting edge research on human rights defenders
Posted on 17 July 2017
The symposium brought together more than a dozen early career researchers at various stages of doctoral and post-doctoral research. Nine papers on human rights defenders were presented and discussed. The papers were based on fieldwork in Colombia, Egypt, Honduras, Kenya, Mexico, Russia, and Uganda and applied a wide range of disciplinary points of view and methodologies to the study of human rights defenders. The research represented some of the best new thinking about the emerging human rights defender paradigm and the challenges facing human rights defenders on the ground.
The symposium gave participants a chance to receive feedback on their draft papers and provided a forum to discuss cross-cutting definitional, conceptual and methodological issues. More established academics also spoke to participants about how to navigate the challenges of publishing and applying for academic positions. One participant commented: "fascinating, constructive, generous discussion, feedback and intellectual inspiration!" The papers presented at the symposium will be published over the next year in the Hub's working paper series.
More information on the Human Rights Defender Hub can be found at: www.hrdhub.org.