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The BHRights Ini­ti­at­ive

The BHRights Ini­ti­at­ive pro­motes teach­ing and re­search on Busi­ness and Hu­man Rights (BHR) across law, man­age­ment, and oth­er so­cial sci­ence dis­cip­lines with­in aca­dem­ic in­sti­tu­tions, and ex­tends bey­ond aca­demia to en­gage with busi­ness en­tit­ies and oth­er stake­hold­ers.

About the BHRights Ini­ti­at­ive

An organically growing interdisciplinary group, the BHRights Initiative provides an academic identity to participants with a commitment to Business and Human Rights (BHR).

The BHRights Initiative was established in March 2014 in Copenhagen as a direct outcome of an Exploratory Workshop funded by the European Science Foundation (ESF).

Membership of the BHRights Initiative is open to scholars with an academic interest in Business and Human Rights and a willingness to contribute to the network’s activities.

Interdisciplinary academic network

The BHRights Initiative (or, short, ‘BHRights’) is an interdisciplinary academic network on research and teaching of Business and Human Rights. Members specialize in human rights, sustainability or CSR and represent a range of social science disciplines, including:

  • Law
  • Management and organizational studies
  • Economics
  • Business ethics

Dual objective: research and teaching

From the outset, the objective of BHRights has been to foster interdisciplinary academic work in the field of Business & Human Rights. This objective is dual:

  • Promote research
  • Promote teaching

Teaching and research on BHR are approached as inherently interconnected.

Mutual enrichment between research and teaching

Research on the interdisciplinary perspectives of human rights and business can feed into teaching to promote human rights awareness and responsible practices among companies and other economic actors and their stakeholders in relation to business-related human rights impact.

These practices, in turn, provide the basis for enhanced research on business-related impact on human rights, which may feed back into teaching.

BHRights aims to fulfil these objectives through a range of activities and projects. While some are more related to teaching and others to research, the overall idea is mutual enrichment between the two. This duality is closely related to the tradition of research-based academic teaching that is strong in Europe and elsewhere.

Collaboration with networks and organisations

Through its members and activities, BHRights collaborates with several networks and organisations, including:

  • UN Working Group on Business & Human Rights
  • Teaching Business and Human Rights Forum
  • PRME Working Group on Business & Human Rights
  • National Human Rights Institutions
  • Academic Network for the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises

BHRights also maintains a broad network of contacts with business enterprises and civil society organisations that have an interest in:

  • Managing Business & Human Rights
  • Promoting understanding, respect, protection and fulfilment of human rights through public and private actors
“ At BHRights, we see re­search and teach­ing as mu­tu­ally re­in­for­cing – and both as es­sen­tial to driv­ing real-world change in how busi­nesses en­gage with hu­man rights. ” Karin Buh­mann
Pro­fess­or, CBS

Join the BHRights Ini­ti­at­ive

The ini­ti­at­ive runs on the com­mit­ment, in­terest and pas­sion of its mem­bers. It has no fund­ing, and mem­bers are not asked to pay fees.
We en­cour­age mem­bers to share in­form­a­tion on BHR-re­lated events and con­trib­ute in oth­er ways – for ex­ample, by or­gan­ising work­shops or activ­it­ies in­volving oth­er BHRights mem­bers in con­nec­tion with lar­ger events such as con­fer­ences.

As a mem­ber, you are in­cluded in an in­ter­dis­cip­lin­ary aca­dem­ic net­work that provides an aca­dem­ic iden­tity to par­ti­cipants with a com­mit­ment to Busi­ness and Hu­man Rights. Mem­bers are lis­ted on the web­site with a link to their own webpage and are wel­come to join aca­dem­ic events or­gan­ised by or in con­nec­tion with the ini­ti­at­ive.

How to be­come a mem­ber

Membership of the BHRights Initiative is open to scholars with an academic interest in Business and Human Rights and a willingness to contribute to the network’s activities. 

To join The BHRights Initiative:

  • Send an email to Karin Buhmann (kbu.msc@cbs.dk)
  • Briefly describe how your research and/or teaching relates to Business and Human Rights and the aims of the Initiative
  • Include a link to your personal or institutional website

Please send the email yourself. This ensures that you remain in control of the information linked to your name on the public list of members.

In­vite oth­ers to join

The BHRights Initiative grows organically through members who invite others with relevant expertise. We welcome new members from across regions and disciplines.

If you know someone who may be interested:

  • Refer them to our website [link to be inserted]
  • Encourage them to read about our aims, activities, and how to join

Participants at BHRights meetings (such as the annual gathering at the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights) are expected to be members. Potential members are also welcome to attend academic events hosted or supported by the initiative.

List of mem­bers

Alessandro Costa
Anders Melin
Andreas Rasche
Antonella Sarro
Arnas Liauksminas
Arne Vandenbogaerde
Basak Baglayan
Beata Faracik
Benoit Petit
Berit Knaak
Björn Fasterling
Carmen Marquez-Carrasco
Caroline Dale Ditlev-Simonsen
Cees Van Dam
Chiara Macchi
Christine Kaufmann
Claire Bright
Christoph Good
Damiano de Felice
Daniel H. Augenstein
David Hess
David Birchall
Dennis West
Doreen Mcbarnett
Dorothee Baumann-Pauly
Elif Durmus
Erika George
Florian Wettstein
Gaopalelwe Mathiba
Geert Demuijnck
Helga Askgaard Estrup
Jacob Dahl Rendtorff
Jacobo Ramirez
Jakob Lutz
Jan Eijsbouts
Jan Trzaskowski
Janine Allenbacher
Jasper Hotho
Jingjing WU
Joana Fernandes
João Teixeira de Freitas
Johannes Brinkmann
John McKernan
Jonathan Kolieb
Jordi Vives Gabriel
Juan Carlos Ochoa Sanchez
Judith Schrempf-Stirling
Justine Nolan
Karin Buhmann
Katerina Yiannibas
Kish Parella
Kristian Alm
Kristian Høyer Toft
Larry Catá Backer
Leonard Feld
Liang Xiaohui
Lizarazo Rodriguez Liliana
Luis Rodriguez-Pinero
Lynn Rosenberry
Maddalena Negila
Markus Krajewski
Marta Bordignon
Mary Footer
Michael Addo
Michelle Staggs Kelsall
Nadia Bernaz
Nicola Jagers
Nicolas Bueno
Nien-hê Hsieh 
Olena Uvarova, also Olena Uvarova
Olga Martin-Ortega
Opi Outhwaite
Owen McIntyre
Rachel Chambers
Rafael Miranda
Rajiv Maher
Renginee Pillay
Robert McCorquodale
Samentha Goethals
Sara Seck
Salvador Herencia-Carrasco
Stephanie Bijlmakers
Stephanie Triefus
Stephen Park
Tara Van Ho
Therese Jebsen
Vasanthi Srinivasan
Verena Girschik
Victor M. Sanchez Sanchez
Wiliam Rook
Wouter Vanderhole
Yingru Li

Be­come a Mem­ber

Mem­ber­ship of the BHRights Ini­ti­at­ive is open to schol­ars with an aca­dem­ic in­terest in Busi­ness and Hu­man Rights and a will­ing­ness to con­trib­ute to the net­work’s activ­it­ies.

To join, briefly de­scribe how your re­search or teach­ing relates to Busi­ness and Hu­man Rights and the aims of the Ini­ti­at­ive, and in­clude a link to your per­son­al or in­sti­tu­tion­al web­site.

E-mail Karin Buhmann