
A World-Class Research and Policy Institute
The Human Rights Institute is a research and policy institute in the heart of Silicon Valley. To ensure its lasting success and for those looking to invest in effective policy solutions and distinguish SJSU as a new center for human rights scholarship—anonymously or to leave a deliberate legacy—there are plenty of opportunities to give.
SJSU Spring Research Colloquium on Human Rights and Social Change: Equity in the Age of COVID-19
SJSU HRI Faculty Summer Research Grant
The SJSU Human Rights Institute is offering one Faculty Research Grant for the Summer of 2021. It will employ a faculty member for approximately six weeks of Summer research activities (5-10 hrs./week, total capped at $5500). The grant recipient will be announced at the 2021 HRI/ISSSSC Spring Research Colloquium on Human Rights and Social Change, onApril 27th (2:00-5:00).
SJSU HRI 2021 Aris Anagnos Graduate Student Scholarship for Human Rights Research
April 12, 2021 11:59 pm
The Aris Anagnos Graduate Student Scholarship for Human Rights Research is a new, annual scholarship from the SJSU HRI meant to support graduate research in the field of human rights. Eligible applicants must be enrolled full or part time as a graduate student at SJSU in the 2021-22 AY, and must have an interest in human rights scholarship, advocacy and/or reporting.
Call for Student Research and Reporting Projects
April 12, 2021 11:59 pm
We invite students to share research, informational reporting and advocacy efforts that is relevant and meaningful to human rights and social change. The theme of this event is "Equity in the age of COVID-19". This program is to recognize and reward the work of students.


Live Watch Party: Free Angela & All Political Prisoners
This event kick-offed Black History Month and the Lecture Series with a live watch party of the award winning documentary, Free Angela and All Political Prisoners by Shola Lynch (2012). The film details the early life of Dr. Angela Davis as a scholar, political figure, and temporary fugitive who would defend herself in an epic 1972 trial that became an international stage for revolutionary Black feminism. The live watch party featured a live Q&A with Dr. Bettina Aptheker, who appears in the film.

Teach-In Panel Discussion: Dr. Angela Davis and the Indispensability of Black Feminism and Socialism in 2021
This event featured a virtual teach-in panel discussion of Black Feminism and Socialism by internationally known scholars, Drs. Barbara Ransby, Bettina Aptheker, and Neferti X.M. Tadiar. Each guest presented a brief, but provocative talk before engaging directly with questions from the viewing audience.

Keynote Lecture with Dr. Angela Davis
The culminating event for the SJSU HRI Human Rights Lecture Series, featuring the 2021 keynote human rights lecture from Dr. Angela Davis (UC Santa Cruz, Distinguished Prof. Emerita). Following the lecture, Dr. Davis discusses how these ideas are shaping political struggles in our region and across the country.

The HRI faculty include award-winning authors, educators, and journalists who partner with one of the most diverse student bodies in the country and some of the most impressive organizations in the region to inform policy and practice according to international human rights law, standards, and scholarship.

In partnership with the SJSU Human Rights Minor Program, students gain access to a wealth of applied and scholarly experience in human rights law, philosophy, advocacy, policy design, and reporting.

A central goal of the SJSU HRI is to demonstrate the potential for critical scholarship and human rights frameworks to address the many challenges that confront our local and global communities. The HRI creates and engages policy at the local, state, and federal level, working with stakeholders and policy makers to craft effective policy solutions.

The SJSU HRI facilitates and supports groundbreaking scholarship that continues to shape the broader field of Human Rights. Beyond traditional publications, research is often conducted in partnership with students and community organizations to create, improve, and inform policy solutions to pressing social problems.

