Glasgow Human Rights Network Bulletin 13 July 2011

Please send any items for the next e-bulletin to ghrnadmin@glasgow.ac.uk

1. Events and Calls for Participation

Calls for Submissions for Black History Month 2012 - Deadline extended
This year’s celebrations will link in with events across the country to provide a vibrant and diverse programme of events to celebrate the contributions and achievements made by Black and Minority Ethnic individuals in Scotland.  The Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER) invites you to submit your initial ideas and suggestions for Black History Month events.  The deadline for submissions has been extended to Friday 20 July 2012.

Please note this is NOT a funding application as CRER is not in a position to provide funding for events, however we are open to discussing collaborative working.   Please return forms to Kam Kaur at kam@crer.org.uk 

Third International Conference on Human Rights Education
6-10 December 2012, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland
Glasgow Human Rights Network members are warmly invited to submit proposals for papers for the Third International Conference on Human Rights Education: Promoting Change in Times of Transition and Crisis, to be held at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland on 6-10 December 2012.  The Conference is an annual event bringing together experts and scholars from around the world interested in the topic of human rights education.

During the Conference a wide range of problems concerning human rights will be considered.  They include such topics as, multiculturalism, the experience of Central and Eastern Europe, the Arab Spring, welfare rights in time of crisis, relation between constitutionalism and civil rights, the problem of developing countries and freedom in the Internet.  Other universal and current issues will also be raised during plenary sessions and workshops.

Among the speakers invited to the Conferences are winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, Ombudsmen from different countries, members of international and regional organizations dealing with human rights, government officials and scientists from leading universities and research centers.  For more information about the conference and to register please see:   
http://www.hre2012.uj.edu.pl/

Deadline for submissions: 31 July 2012

Download: 3rd Intl. Conf on Human Rights Education


2. Funding Calls

2013 FP7 Socio-Economic Sciences and Humanities (SSH) Work Programme
The 2013 FP7 Socio-Economic Sciences and Humanities (SSH) Work Programme has just been published (closing date: 31 January 2013) - see link for further details: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/appmanager/participants/portal;efp7_SESSION_ID=xh32P8GFjk81zLfyKkGNsQG5bQQlTmnBnhf759m9mLzlLzFN3VyP!-595117945?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=cooperation

European Research Council (ERC) calls
The European Research Council (ERC) calls have also been announced. A number of changes apply in this year's ERC calls for proposals. The main changes include:

  • The introduction of the "ERC Consolidator grant":
    The previous ERC Starting grant scheme will be divided into two separate calls:
    - Starting grant (StG): for researchers who have been awarded their first PhD at least 2 and up to 7 years prior to the publication date of the call.
    - Consolidator grant (CoG): for researchers who have been awarded their first PhD over 7 and up to 12 years prior to the publication date of the call.  A Consolidator grant is worth up to €2 million (under certain circumstances up to €2.75 million). 
  • One single deadline for each call, and not different deadlines for the three domains as in the past. 
  • The publication of the next Advanced grant (AdG) call is now published on 10 July (not in the autumn as previously), with the deadline for applications in the autumn (not in spring as in the past).

Further details at:

Starting Grant (ERC-2013-StG) – closing date 17 October 2012

Advanced Grant (ERC-2013-AdG) – closing date 22 November 2012


3. News

GHRN PG Cluster Blog
The Glasgow Human Rights Network Postgraduate Cluster includes Masters and PhD students from the University of Glasgow, the University of Strathclyde and Caledonian University.  Their blog features information about meetings, conferences, links to papers and other things falling under the categories of either “interesting” or “useful”. Sometimes, the two may coincide: http://ghrnpostgradcluster.wordpress.com/

New paperback version of Sociology and Human Rights now available
Sociology and Human Rights: New Engagements is the first collection to focus on the contribution sociological approaches can make to analysis of human rights. Taking forward the sociology of human rights which emerged from the 1990s, it presents innovative analyses of global human rights struggles by new and established authors. The collection includes a range of new work addressing issues such as genocide in relation to indigenous peoples, rights-based approaches in development work, trafficking of children, and children’s rights in relation to political struggles for the decriminalisation of same-sex sexual activity in India. It examines contexts ranging from Rwanda and South Korea to Northern Ireland and the city of Barcelona.
The collection as a whole will be of interest to students and academics working in various disciplines such as politics, law and social policy, and to practitioners working on human rights for various governmental and non-governmental organisations, as well as to sociologists seeking to develop understanding of the sociology of human rights. Details: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415634304/

Scholars at Risk Monitoring Project
Scholars at Risk is seeking nominations and direct interest from researchers willing to participate in a new project monitoring attacks on higher education.  Monitors will track defined types of alleged violations of academic rights within a defined area (country, region or thematic), and submit confidential monitoring reports to Scholars at Risk, which will consolidate reports into public summaries aimed at raising awareness and increasing protection for academic freedom.  Ideal researcher-monitors would be faculty from or with expertise in the regions of coverage.  A detailed explanation of the project’s scope and methodology follows.   Scholars at Risk welcomes inquiries, nominations or direct interest from researchers willing to participate via email subject “Monitoring project” to scholarsatrisk@nyu.edu.  Faculty and researchers at SAR-member institutions are especially welcome to participate.  Please feel free to forward this message to appropriate individuals.

Scholars at Risk Academic Freedom Monitoring Project Summary
Scholars at Risk is seeking nominations and direct interest from researchers willing to participate in a new project monitoring attacks on higher education.  Monitors will track six defined types of attacks:  (i) killings; (ii) wrongful imprisonment; (iii) wrongful prosecutions; (iv) improper restrictions on travel; (v) improper discharge/loss of position and (vi) other grave or systemic violations (e.g. military or police intrusion into higher education facilities or systematic discrimination in accessing higher education).  Ideal monitors are higher education faculty (e.g. law, human rights, political science, journalism or similar) from the region of coverage, working alone or as lead researchers supervising graduate student researchers.
 
Three categories of researcher-monitors are invited:

Category 1:  Regional
Monitors are invited to assume coverage responsibility for a designated region. Regional coverage will begin with Africa and monitoring in Africa will generally be organized by language. Monitors are invited to assume coverage for the following regions: Arabophone Africa, Anglophone Africa, Francophone Africa, and Lusophone Africa. Applicants with fluency in other widely-spoken African languages are also invited.

Category 2:  Country-focused
Monitors are invited to assume coverage of a particular country, generally their country of residence, origin or expertise. Country-focused monitoring will emphasize countries of concern where numerous or especially grave attacks have been observed, including Tunisia, Turkey, Belarus, Russia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Category 3:  Cross-cutting themes
Monitors are invited to assume coverage of particular themes across borders, namely:
(a) societies in transition (e.g. newly democratic states),
(b) gender-related attacks, or
(c) attacks involving minority or other excluded groups.

Researcher-monitors should indicate their availability and interest in focusing on specific regions/countries/themes when they are nominated/apply.  A modest stipend may be available for monitors from developing countries.

Monitors will use a research guide and materials provided by SAR to (1) identify incidents of attacks on higher education systems, institutions or personnel which fall into the 6 types of conduct to be monitored and (2) record the details of each incident on the Individual Incident Report template provided, analyzing each incident as indicated on the form and attaching corroborating primary and secondary source material when possible.  In most cases, initial identification and corroboration of incidents will come from secondary sources such as media stories and NGO reports.  Where practical, graduate student researchers and lead researchers are instructed to collect primary source material also, including statements from victims, witnesses and/or perpetrators.  These may be quotes in secondary reports (e.g. media stories), public statements on personal or organizational websites or blogs or may be email/chat, VOIP, telephone or in-person interviews.  (Lead researchers will be instructed to determine whether a suggested interview can be conducted ethically and with sufficient protection for the security of the subject as well as the student researcher, lead researcher and any other participants.) Scholars at Risk will receive, review and consolidate reports from all lead researchers into a single, integrated monitoring summary, and provide general oversight and support for the project.  An online monitoring project website will allow monitors to upload their reports and related materials, facilitating efficient reporting and widest dissemination of monitoring data.
 
We believe that the monitoring system has the potential not only to generate awareness, but to significantly improve academic freedom conditions around the globe.  By consolidating and publicizing in a single location a record of grave attacks on academic freedom, we hope to create a virtuous cycle: the monitoring website will function as a magnet, raising the profile of protection for academic freedom and thereby drawing new reports of incidents which might not otherwise have been reported.  This, in turn, will compel new partners to contribute to research and follow-up activities.  Ultimately, the system will allow SAR and the human rights community at large to identify trends, develop best practices, and build increasingly effective responses to attacks.
 
Scholars at Risk welcomes inquiries, nominations or direct interest from researchers willing to participate via email subject “Monitoring project” to scholarsatrisk@nyu.edu.  Faculty and researchers at SAR-member institutions are especially welcome to participate.  Please feel free to forward this message to appropriate individuals.