Human Rights Summer Fellowship

Summer Fellows from 2019.

The Human Rights Summer Fellowship supports highly motivated Stanford students looking to make a valuable contribution and learn more about a specific issue in the field of human rights or international justice.

The Center is pleased to offer a Human Rights Summer Fellowship for currently enrolled Stanford students to work in partnership with a relevant organization or through community-based research, with the guidance and supervision of Stanford faculty. Stipends of up to $6,500 are available to undergraduates or grad students who commit to working full-time (35 hours/week) for a minimum of nine weeks either in the United States or abroad during the summer quarter.

Requirements

The Center intends these fellowships to be open-ended so that students may choose the summer experience that best fits their needs—either connecting with an organization to gain work experience relevant to a profession the student hopes to pursue or spending the summer engaging in community-based research aimed at addressing a pressing local challenge or effecting positive social change. Students may partner directly with a governmental, multilateral, or non-profit organization, or the corporate social responsibility wing of a for-profit business to work on promotion, monitoring, evaluation, or implementation of a discrete human rights or international justice project. Those interested in the research route would identify community members with whom they can work collaboratively to address their particular interests. Interested students are encouraged to use a brainstorm form to help generate ideas. Students can access the brainstorm form here

Application Process

Applicants must submit all of the following:

  • Online application form, including a full proposal for the applicant’s research goals or learning objectives through a work placement, information about the partner organization (if applicable), or a preliminary plan for research (proposed interview subjects, sources for data gathering, etc.)
  • Letter of recommendation from an academic or professional reference in any relevant discipline or sector who can attest to your qualifications to undertake the summer work you propose with the support of the fellowship. Contact information for recommender must be included.
  • A letter of support from the primary organizational partner for the student’s research or work placement
  • A list of relevant Stanford undergraduate courses the applicant has taken that focused on human rights and/or international justice, including the instructor, the quarter of enrollment, and an official course description (must have taken at least two courses).
  • An unofficial transcript
  • A tentative budget

Other Information

Note on COVID-19 implications: Given the uncertainty around whether travel will be possible come summer, we ask applicants to open discussions with potential partner organizations around what both in-person and remote placements could look like.

Interested students are encouraged to begin making connections with potential host organizations during Fall and Summer quarter. Students can reach out to the Haas Center for Public Service, in addition to the Center for Human Rights, for guidance on how to find a partner organization.

For more information, students can contact Student Services Specialist denisefz [at] stanford.edu (subject: Human%20Rights%20Summer%20Fellowships%20) (Denise Fernández).

If you need a disability-related accommodation and/or need to receive any internship information/application in an alternate format, please contact the Diversity & Access Office at, at phone: (650) 725-0326 or email: disability.access [at] stanford.edu (disability[dot]access[at]stanford[dot]edu).