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Research Themes • Human Rights in the Digital Age

Research Theme

Human Rights in the Digital Age

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Theme lead: Professor Ella McPherson 

CGHR’s Human Rights in the Digital Age theme addresses the emergent and rapidly evolving changes wrought to human rights practices and norms by the use of digital technologies. With respect to practices, this includes human rights fact-finding and advocacy; with respect to norms, this includes human rights related to communication, information, expression, privacy, assembly and association. 

The research and activities under this theme approach human rights from a communications perspective and, as such, are particularly concerned with pluralism and solidarity. Another core concept of the theme is risk, particularly risk governance around perceived threats to security and facticity.   

Praxis research in this theme includes academic startup, The Whistle, as well as the Digital Verification Corps and innovative, interactive tools such as the Social Life of Data experience, the Digital Human Rights Toolkit, and the chatbot providing information for asylum-seekers in the UK.  Empirical scholarship includes investigations of human rights fact-finding using digital tools, reimaginings of the practice of witnessing, and explorations of the digitally-mediated freedom of assembly.   

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