Upcoming Events
HRRC Co-Sponsored Event
September 24, 2026
Ercüment Celik (Sociology, University of Freiburg)
Exile Turkey, 1933-1945: A ‘Student-Led Science’ Remembrance Project on Jewish & Anti-Nazi Scholars
5pm, Class of 1947 Room, Babbidge Library, University of Connecticut
In person participation only.
Past Events / Archive
HRRC Workshop
May 21-22, 2026University of Connecticut - University of Tübingen/College of Fellows
Sustaining Human Rights in the Face of Right-Wing Extremism
Workshop program
HRRC Salon
April 9, 2026Imge Akaslan (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg)
Human Rights Due Diligence and Norm Translators
Abstract and bio.
HRRC Salon
March 12, 2026Robin Greeley (Art History, University of Connecticut and MIT), José Falconi (Art History and Human Rights, University of Connecticut), and Michael Orwicz (Art History, University of Connecticut)
Human Rights, Aesthetics, and Memorialization
Abstract and bios.
HRRC Salon
February 12, 2026Open Hour - Current Events and Human Rights
HRRC Salon
December 11, 2025
Members of the Working Group on International Relations - Frauke Lachenmann, Mateja S. Platise, Ángel Oquendo, Nneka Okechukwu
International Law – A Success Story
HRRC Salon
November 13, 2025
Shelly Levy Tzedek (Cognition, Aging and Rehabilitation Laboratory at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev / Senior Fellow at FRIAS Freiburg)
Participatory Design as a Human-Rights Practice in Social Robotics
HRRC Talk
November 4, 2025
Christoph Safferling (Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, and International Law at the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg / Director of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy)
The Nuremberg Trials After 80 Years: Where Does International Criminal Law Stand Today?
See coverage of the event in the Daily Campus.
HRRC Salon
October 9, 2025
Valeria Vegh Weis (Research Fellow, Zukunftskolleg, Universität Konstanz / Professor of Criminology, Universidad de Buenos Aires/Universidad Nacional de Quilmes)
Decolonizing Media Narratives on International Criminal Justice Through a Victim-Driven Approach: An Analysis of the Syrian Universal Jurisdiction Cases in Germany
4th HRRC Conference
Human Rights in the Balance: Safeguarding Social and Environmental Sustainability
June 17-18, 2025 | In person, Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS) / University of Freiburg
See the conference website for further details and a report about the conference in the regional newspaper Badische Zeitung.
Gen AI and Me: Creative Computing and Emancipatory AI
A partnership between the Pestalozzi Realschule, Freiburg’s Stadtbibliothek at Münsterplatz, IMBIT—the research facility of the BrainLinks-BrainTools Center, and the Connecticut/Baden-Württemberg Human Rights Research Consortium
March 31-April 2, 2025 | In person, various locations, Freiburg
Read a report here and a post about the event here.
AI ODYSSEY AT HARTFORD PUBLIC LIBRARY
A partnership between the Hartford Public Library and the Connecticut/Baden-Württemberg Human Rights Research Consortium
October 7 and 9, 2024 | In person, Hartford Public Library, Albany Ave Branch
Read our report here and a post about the event on the UConnGerman blog here.
HRRC Workshop
Challenges of Corporate Sustainability and Due Diligence
September 23, 2024 | In person, Harnack Haus of the Max Planck Society, Berlin
HRRC Workshop
Sustaining Human Rights in the Face of Far-Right Extremism
September 19-20, 2024
Keynote: Jason Stanley (Philosophy, Yale University): Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future
Click here for the workshop program
Panelists included Michael Lynch | Rolf Frankenberger | Heather Battaly | Ángel Oquento | Sara Bangert | Richard Wilson | Isabell Sluka | Marco Krüger | Tracy Llanera | Peter Schneck | Laura Zander | Felix Schilk | Lynne Tirrell
HRRC Co-Sponsored Lecture
September 17, 2024
Luisa Neubauer (Geographer and Climate Activist, Germany) “Organizing for Climate Justice and Democracy”
This event was jointly sponsored and organized by the German Section of the Department of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages; the Connecticut/Baden-Württemberg Human Rights Research Consortium (HRRC); and the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute.
HRRC Salon
April 8, 2024
Christina Binder (International Law and International Human Rights Law, Bundeswehr University Munich)
The 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action Thirty Years On – Or, Past, Present and Future Perspectives on Human Rights in Times of Crisis
Click this link for an abstract and bio.
HRRC Lecture
April 4, 2024
César Rodríguez-Garavito (Professor of Clinical Law, Chair and Faculty Director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University School of Law)
‘More-Than-Human Rights’: Pushing the Boundaries of Legal Imagination
Click this link for an abstract and bio.
Click this link to watch a recording of the lecture.
HRRC Salon
March 7, 2024
César E. Abadía-Barrero (Anthropology and Human Rights, University of Connecticut), Catalina Alvarado-Cañuta (Anthropology, University of Connecticut), and Francisco Huichaqueo-Pérez (Humanities and Visual Arts, Universidad de Concepción)
Buen Vivir and Collective Healings: A Communalist and Biocentric Initiative to Heal Colonial Wounds
Moderator: Karin Amos (Education, University of Tübingen)
Click this link for an abstract and bios.
HRRC Salon
February 8, 2024
Patrick Heidkamp (Environment, Geography & Marine Sciences, Southern Connecticut State University)
Realizing Economic Rights in the Blue Economy: Challenges and Opportunities
Click this link for an abstract and bio.
HRRC Salon
December 7, 2023
Zehra Arat (Political Science, University of Connecticut)
A Human Rights Theory of Democracy: Analyzing Democratic Instability in Class & Identity Politics
Respondent and moderator: Christina Binder (International Law and International Human Rights Law, Bundeswehr University Munich)
Click this link for an abstract and bios.
HRRC Salon
November 2, 2023
Dirk Hanschel (European and International Public Law, University of Halle-Wittenberg / Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology / University of Connecticut) and Annette Mehlhorn (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology)
Rights of Nature & the Nature of Rights: Insights from Law & Anthropology
Click this link for an abstract and bio.
HRRC Salon
October 5, 2023
Markus Krajewski (University of Erlangen/Centre for Human Rights Erlangen-Nürnberg) and Shareen Hertel (University of Connecticut/Human Rights Institute); Moderator: Janne Mende (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law)
Due Diligence Laws: Scope, Content, and Implications
Click here for more information.
HRRC Lecture at the University of Connecticut
October 3, 2023
Christina Gerhardt (German Studies, University of Hawaii); Q&A with Patrick Heidkamp (Environment, Geography & Marine Sciences, Southern Connecticut State University); Moderation: Anke Finger (German Studies, University of Connecticut)
Sea Change and Environmental Justice
Click here for more information.
HRRC Salon
May 4, 2023
Andrew Clark (Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy, University of Connecticut), Rüdiger Wulf (Law, University of Tübingen), Brittany LaMarr (Tow Youth Justice Institute, New Haven), Per S. Våge (Kriminalomsorgsdirektoratet, Norway)
The International Justice Exchange: Creating and Sustaining Justice Systems Centered in Human Rights and Human Dignity
Click here for more information on the International Justice Exchange.
Picturing the Pandemic
Opening at the Mark Twain Center for Transatlantic Relations in Heidelberg, April 27, 2023
On display from April 28-July 23, 2o23
Curators: Uwe Wenzel (Mark Twain Center), Sarah Willen (University of Connecticut), Katherine Mason (Brown University), Alexis Boylan (University of Connecticut)
New Approaches to Human Rights Dialogue and Public Engagement
Workshop of the Working Group on Human Rights Education and Solidarity
Mark Twain Center for Transatlantic Relations in Heidelberg, April 26-29, 2023
HRRC Salon
April 6, 2023
Sarah S. Willen (Anthropology, University of Connecticut), Alexis L. Boylan (Art and Art History, Humanities Institute, University of Connecticut), Uwe Wenzel (Mark Twain Center for Transatlantic Relations, Heidelberg)
Picturing the Pandemic: Cultivating New Spaces for Human Rights Dialogue, Local and Global
Click here for more information.
HRRC Salon
March 2, 2023
Ángel Oquendo (Law, University of Connecticut)
Disconnections and Connections: Human Rights versus Democracy; from Principles toward Policies; National within International Law
Click here for an abstract.
HRRC Salon
February 2, 2023
Achilles Skordas (Public International Law/International Relations, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg)
Sustainability of the Global Order and the Human Rights Jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
Click here for an abstract.
HRRC Salon
December 1, 2022
Silja Voeneky (Law, University of Freiburg), Johanna Thoma (Philosophy, London School of Economics), Thomas Burri (Law, University of St. Gallen), Wilfried Hinsch (Philosophy, University of Cologne), Antje von Ungern-Sternberg (Law, University of Trier), Oliver Mueller (Philosophy, University of Freiburg)
Discussing Responsible AI – Interdisciplinary Perspectives: The Cambridge Handbook of Responsible Artificial Intelligence
Click here for an abstract and more information.
HRRC Salon
November 3, 2022
James Cavallaro (University Network for Human Rights, Wesleyan University, Yale University, UCLA)
Rethinking Prisons in the Americas & the Consortium and Human Rights Practice
Click here for an abstract.
Picturing the Pandemic
Images from the Pandemic Journaling Project
Exhibition opening event, co-sponsored by the Connecticut/Baden-Württemberg Human Rights Research Consortium
October 27, 2022, at the Hartford Public Library, 500 Main Street, Hartford, Connecticut
For more information, visit the project's website.
HRRC Salon
October 6, 2022
Peter Schneck (American Studies, University of Osnabrück) and Laura Zander (Collaborative Research Center "Law and Literature," University of Münster)
Migrancy Experience and Human Rights Imaginaries: Globalized Narratives of Migration and the Legal Formation of Subjects 'on the Move'
Click here for an abstract.
HRRC Salon
June 2, 2022
Stephan Sonnenberg (Professor of Law, Seoul National University School of Law, South Korea)
Sustainable Development Goals: A New One-Size-Fits-All Universal Standard?
Click here for an abstract.
HRRC Annual Conference:
Human Rights and Global Challenges: Geopolitics - Environment - Migration
May 11-12, 2022 | In person conference, University of Connecticut (Storrs and Hartford)
Keynote: César Rodríguez-Garavito (Professor of Clinical Law, Chair and Faculty Director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University School of Law): Climatizing Rights: Human Rights for the Anthropocene
Welcome by Theresia Bauer, Minister for Science, Research and Art of the German State of Baden-Württemberg
CLICK HERE FOR THE CONFERENCE PAGE & PROGRAM
Panelists include Karin Amos | Kiel Brennan-Marquez | James Cavallaro | Ercüment Çelik | Kat Geddes | Joshua C. Gellers | Shareen Hertel | Nora Hertz | Prakash Kashwan | Florian Kastner | Thomas Keenan | Frauke Lachenmann | Anat Lior | Tobias Lebens | Kathryn Libal | Samuel Moyn | Elisa Orrù | Sandra Sirota | Isabell Sluka | Silja Voeneky
HRRC Salon
April 7, 2022
Manuela Wagner (German Studies and Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies, University of Connecticut) and Sandra Sirota (Experiential Global Learning & Human Rights, University of Connecticut)
Narratives of Injustice and a Quilt of Hope: Teaching for Human Rights and Intercultural Citizenship
Click here for an abstract.
HRRC Lectures at the University of Connecticut
Sigrid G. Köhler (Chair of German Literature, University of Tübingen)
April 4, 2022
Die Abolition auf der Bühne. Deutschsprachige Theaterstücke im Kampf gegen Sklavenhandel und Sklaverei (1770-1800) (in German)
Organized by the Connecticut/Baden-Württemberg Human Rights Consortium in collaboration with the German Studies Colloquium
April 5, 2022
Human Rights and the Knowledge of the World in German Journal Debates and Popular Literature (1770-1800) (in English)
Organized by the Connecticut/Baden-Württemberg Human Rights Consortium and co-sponsored by the Human Rights Institute, the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute, University of Connecticut Global Affairs, and the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Art
HRRC Salon
March 3, 2022
Sigrid G. Köhler (Chair of German Literature, University of Tübingen)
Human Rights Speeches against Racism and Slavery? German Literature und Journal Reporting (1770-1800)
Click here for an abstract.
HRRC Salon
February 3, 2022
Lynne Tirrell (Professor of Philosophy, University of Connecticut) and Richard Wilson (Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Law and Anthropology, Gladstein Chair of Human Rights, Associate Dean for Research, School of Law,
Discursive Violence: Context, Causation, and Prevention
Click here for an abstract.
HRRC Salon
December 2, 2021
Sebastian Wogenstein (German Studies/Hebrew and Judaic Studies, University of Connecticut)
Human Rights as Paradigm in Contemporary German Jewish Literature
Click here for an abstract.
HRRC Salon
November 4, 2021
Avinoam Patt (Doris and Simon Konover Chair of Judaic Studies and Director of the Center for Judaic Studies and
Contemporary Jewish Life, University of Connecticut)
The Politics of Holocaust Analogies in the Age of COVID
Click here for an abstract.
HRRC Salon
October 7, 2021
Christina Binder (International Law and International Human Rights Law, Bundeswehr University Munich)
European Human Rights Protection in a Time of Crisis? The COVID-19 Pandemic as Challenge and Opportunity
Discussant: Mateja Steinbrück Platise (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg)
Click here for an abstract.
HRRC Annual Conference: Democracy and Human Rights
June 24, 2021
Keynote Speaker: Wilfried Hinsch (Chair of Practical Philosophy, University of Cologne, Germany): Human Rights, Discrimination, and Social Justice
Additional Speakers: Boaventura de Sousa Santos | Lewis Gordon | Mathias Risse | Janne Mende | Silvia Steininger | Nora Hertz
FRIAS Lecture Series: Human Rights in Times of Crisis
May - July 2021
Speakers: Javier Martinez Torron | Rüdiger Wolfrum | Alicia Ely Yamin | Molly Land | Gerald L. Neuman | Ercüment Celik | Mathias Risse | Julian Nida-Rümelin
For the lecture recordings, click here.
HRRC Salon
May 6, 2021
Silja Vöneky (Public International Law and Comparative Law, University of Freiburg, Germany) and Philipp Kellmeyer (Neuroethics and Artificial Intelligence Ethics, University of Freiburg, Germany)
Scientific, Ethical and Legal Perspectives - Global Harmonisation of Standards for Brain Organoid Research and Therapy?
Click here for an abstract.
University of Connecticut Provost Distinguished Lecture Series
April 21, 2021
Katharina von Hammerstein (Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor, German Studies, University of Connecticut, USA): Voices of Genocide: From German Colonialism in Africa to the Court for the Southern District of New York
HRRC Salon
April 1, 2021
Frauke Lachenmann (Former Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for International Public Law and the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law, Heidelberg, Germany): The Good Faith Principle in Interdisciplinary Perspective
Click here for an abstract.
Conference and Legislative Initiative: "Building Bridges: Connecticut at the Crossroads"
February 23-24, 2021
COVID-19, the Connecticut State Budget Crisis and the Path Towards Decarceration, Public Safety and Community Investment
Click here for more information on the initiative, including the White Paper on Criminal Justice Policy, and here for video recordings of the conference panels.
A collaboration of the Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy and the University Network for Human Rights.
"No Final Resting Place: Narratives of My People. The Ovaherero Genocide."
February 11, 2021
Ngondi Kamatuka, University of Kansas
Click here for more information and a video recording of the Zoom presentation.
Inaugural Conference "Human Rights in Times of Crisis"
November 9, 2020
Click here for the program and video recordings of the conference sessions.
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