Duke Human Rights Center Offers Summer Research Grants

DHRC logo.

Deadline: March 1, 2019

Currently enrolled Duke undergraduate and graduate students are invited to apply for summer research funding from the Duke Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute. The goals of the grants are to strengthen research opportunities for students interested in developing, implementing and working in human rights. Special consideration is given to students whose research projects contribute to a senior thesis or project. Grants are available of up to $2,000.

Eligibility and Criteria

Students from all backgrounds and academic disciplines are encouraged to apply. Graduating seniors or graduate students in their final year at Duke are not eligible.

Students must be directed by a member of the Duke University faculty and conducted over a period no less than 2 weeks during the summer. Students are expected to be in frequent contact with their advisors and the DHRC@FHI throughout the duration of the project.

The grant will support domestic or international travel and living expenses, but not equipment.

Projects involving interactions with human subjects, either in-person or online, may need approval from the Duke Institutional Review Board. Read more.

Projects conducted internationally are subject to restrictions and guidelines for the safe conduct of research abroad. Read more.

Application

Download the application here. Send your completed application to emily.stewart@duke.edu as a word document.  In addition to the application, you will need to request a letter of support from your Duke faculty mentor. This should be sent directly to emily.stewart@duke.edu. All applications and letters of support due by March 1, 2019.

Previous Grant Recipients

Read about previous grant recipients and their projects.

Duke Human Rights Center Offers Annual Koonz Prize for Undergraduates

Koonz Prize.

Deadline: April 1, 2019

Duke undergraduates are invited to enter essays or alternative projects regarding global human rights issues in the annual Oliver W. Koonz Human Rights Prize competition. The Duke Human Rights Center awards one $500 prize in each category of best essay and best alternative project on a human rights theme.

The Oliver W. Koonz Human Rights Prize honors Oliver W. Koonz (1910-2009), who was the father of Claudia Koonz, the Peabody Family Professor Emeritus in the History Department and a founding member of the Duke Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute. Professor Koonz is a passionate advocate of undergraduate education. She has taught and mentored hundreds of Duke students during her career at the university. Her areas of specialty include genocide, 20th-century European history, and fascism. From her father, she inherited a passion for the outdoors and learning. This prize honors his memory.

Essays must be no longer than 25 double-spaced pages. They may take the form of analytic or critical essays, empirical research papers, term papers, or personal essays on any human rights issue. Projects can be photo- or video-based, theater pieces, scripts, or web pages.

Please send submissions with an introductory paragraph describing the connection with human rights and specifying if the paper or project is related to a course. Submissions do not have to be created in the context of a course, but must be done during the time the student is enrolled at Duke.

Please send submissions to Emily.Stewart@duke.edu by April 1, 2019. Awards will be announced in May 2019.

Collaborative Research Project Tackles Environmental and Social Inequities in Alabama

Catherine Flowers and Duke team members in Lowndes County

Catherine Coleman Flowers is the founder of the Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise (ACRE). Since 2015, she has partnered with the Duke Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute and the Nicholas School of the Environment to find solutions for the lack of wastewater infrastructure in Lowndes County, Alabama.

The situation exemplifies the social and environmental inequities facing rural communities of color in the American South, which include endemic poverty, lack of economic opportunity, hazardous health conditions, and inadequate infrastructure.

A recent article by Flowers and Duke’s Erika Weinthal, Elizabeth Albright, and Emily Stewart, “Solution-centered Collaborative Research in Rural Alabama” describes the ongoing environmental justice project in Lowndes County.

This year, an interdisciplinary network led by Duke graduate students has taken the lead in diagnosing the interlaced physical, financial, legal, and political barriers to sanitation access in Lowndes County and evaluating potential solutions.

Next year, Flowers will be involved in a Bass Connections project team with colleagues from the Nicholas School of the Environment, the Pratt School of Engineering, and the Duke Human Rights Center.

Duke Human Rights Center Opens the Koonz Human Rights Prize

drhcfhi

Deadline: April 1, 2017

Duke undergraduates are invited to enter essays or alternative projects regarding global human rights issues in our annual Oliver W. Koonz Human Rights Prize competition. The Duke Human Rights Center awards one $500 prize in each category of best essay and best alternative project on a human rights theme.

The Oliver W. Koonz Human Rights Prize honors Oliver W. Koonz (1910-2009), who was the father of Claudia Koonz, the Peabody Family Professor Emeritus in the History Department and a founding member of the Duke Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute. The recipient of many awards, Professor Koonz is a passionate advocate of undergraduate education. She has taught and mentored hundreds of Duke students during her career at the university. Her areas of specialty include genocide, 20th century European history and fascism. From her father, she inherited a passion for the outdoors and learning. This prize honors his memory.

Essays must be no longer than 25 double-spaced pages. They may take the form of analytic or critical essays, empirical research papers, term papers or personal essays on any human rights issue. Projects can be photo or video-based, theater pieces or scripts or web pages. Please send submissions with an introductory paragraph describing the connection with human rights and specify if the paper or project is related to a course. Submissions do not have to be created in the context of a course, but must be done during the time the student is enrolled at Duke. Please send submissions to Emily.Stewart@duke.edu by April 1, 2017. Awards will be announced in May 2017.

Duke Human Rights Center Offers Summer Research Funding

drhcfhi

Deadline: March 1, 2017

Currently enrolled Duke undergraduate and graduate students are invited to apply for summer research funding from the Duke Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute (DHRC@FHI). The goals of the grants are to strengthen research opportunities for students interested in developing, implementing and working in human rights. Special consideration is given to students whose research projects contribute to a senior thesis or project. Grants are available of up to $2,000.

Eligibility and Criteria

Students from all backgrounds and academic disciplines are encouraged to apply. Graduating seniors or graduate students in their final year at Duke are not eligible.

Students must be directed by a member of the Duke University faculty and conducted over a period no less than 2 weeks during the summer. Students are expected to be in frequent contact with their advisors and the DHRC@FHI throughout the duration of the project.

The grant will support domestic or international travel and living expenses, but not equipment.

Projects involving interactions with human subjects, either in-person or online, may need approval from the Duke Institutional Review Board. Read more…

Projects conducted internationally are subject to restrictions and guidelines for the safe conduct of research abroad.

Application

Please make sure you have all the necessary information before you apply. All applications due by March 1, 2017.

In addition to the application, you will need to request a letter of support from your Duke faculty mentor. This should be sent directly to emily.stewart@duke.edu.

Read about previous grant recipients and their projects.