Human Rights

Human Rights research and teaching is an interdisciplinary endeavour at the University of Stirling. We work across Philosophy, History, Political Sciences, Social Sciences and Law to provide an interdisciplinary lens on human rights research relating to everyday life.

Our staff are engaged in world leading, rigorous, high impact policy-orientated research ranging in issues from children’s rights, disability rights, the rights to housing, food and health, NGO regulation, UN human rights monitoring institutions as well as and human rights and climate justice.

Stirling hosts the world’s only MSc in Human Rights and Diplomacy taught in partnership with the leading training body of the United Nations: the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). The Masters is designed to prepare future leaders in the field through an intense programme taught by the leading researchers and practitioners from across the globe. We have established partnerships with leading human rights organisations including UN Women, International Organisation for Migration,  and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Our students have gone on to work with the United Nations Population Fund, the European Court of Human Rights, the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Stirling Co-Hosts the UPR Academic Network together with Academics at BCU Centre for Human Rights' UPR Project at Birmingham City University. The UPR Academic Network (UPRAN) is an international network of global scholars working on the UN's Universal Periodic Review. The Universal Periodic Review is an intergovernmental process providing a review of the human rights record of all UN Member States. UPRAN members range from PhD students through to very experienced scholars from various backgrounds across the world.

The UPRAN aims to create a network of researchers and academics working on the UPR to share their expertise as well as foster international and interdisciplinary collaborationsIn the face of the triple environmental crisis, including climate change, pollution and biodiversity depletion, the project SuperSustainable, funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and conducted at the University of Stirling, analyses how Super-Networks can make environmental policies rights-consistent and sustainable. Super-Networks are new forms of transnational advocacy vehicles fostering human rights protection in environmental, climate and biodiversity policies. The number and diversity of actors involved, brokerage across-policy fields and inclusive collaboration patterns make Super-Networks particularly strong in addressing rights concerns at international environmental negotiations.

Our interdisciplinary human rights work is also advanced through by our Research Cluster on ”Democracy, Human Rights and Communication/Advocacy in the Digital Age focusing on how we are entering a new era of social media and digital data regulation that addresses challenges to human rights and democracy, such as hate speech, disinformation, censorship, and privacy concerns. This cluster explores how law and policy can foster a safer online environment, promote human rights-compliant algorithms, and support effective digital activism and public participation.