Focus
Studying Human Rights from the Bottom Up
The Institute for Human Rights serves as a platform for research and education on human rights with a particular focus on the struggle of vulnerable and marginalized populations, including minorities, refugees, women, children, persons with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ community, and people dealing with the consequences of poverty. The IHR’s content-related emphasis is on the social movements associated with human rights — the bottom up approach and grassroots efforts that lead to empower communities to claim their human rights.
The IHR engages in three different ways:
Education
The IHR strives to educate students, faculty, and the community locally, nationally and globally on the content of human rights, human rights implementation, and issues relating to human rights violations.
Research
The IHR serves as a platform for individual and collaborative research on human rights with a particular focus on the human rights of marginalized populations around the world.
Outreach
The IHR engages with communities in Birmingham, in Alabama, the U.S. and around to world to discuss pressing human rights issues, to provide context on human rights implementation, and to offer human rights education.
Grant Writing and Research Opportunities Workshop (GROW) Program
IHR invites applications for its Grant Writing and Research Opportunities Workshop (GROW) Program for Spring 2025 (formerly SSJR Fellowship). The training lasts one semester and focuses on:
- How to write grants with a social science and humanities focus.
- How to include a human rights and social justice framework into research areas that have not traditionally embraced these perspectives (e.g., scholars in medicine, health sciences, and STEM areas).
This training is geared towards early investigators and junior faculty. Cohorts will be limited to 10 participants, which meet monthly for workshops and discussions.
The IHR GROW Program has the following objectives:
- Develop independent researchers who use or are interested in using human rights and social justice frameworks through mentored training.
- Provide training on the research approaches and viewpoints human rights research can offer disciplines that have not traditionally engaged these approaches.
- Provide instruction on working in interdisciplinary teams.
| Date/Time | Delivery | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday, January 8, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. | In-person | Workshop and lunch: Fellow introductions, project development, social justice and human rights frameworks, considering policy |
| Wednesday, February 5, 12 - 1 p.m. | Zoom | Workshop: Finding funding, creating a collaborative, interdisciplinary team |
| Friday, March 7, 12 - 1 p.m. | Zoom | Workshop: Contacting your programs officer, specific aims, significance, and innovation |
| Wednesday, April 2, 12 - 1 p.m. | Zoom | Workshop: Biosketch, budget, and budget justification |
| Tuesday, May 6, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. | In-person | IHR GROW Workday |
To apply, please submit your CV and short statement of interest (500 words). The application deadline is Wednesday, December 11, at 11:59 p.m. Selected applicants will be notified in mid-December. Scholarships available. For questions or concerns and to submit your application, please email