July 2026

1. Overview

The Human Rights Defender Exchange (HRDx) is aimed at supporting and expanding communities of scholarship and practice in the nascent field of Human Rights Defender Studies.

HRDx is launching a two-year mentoring programme for early career human rights scholars in and from designated countries in the Global Majority who conduct research related to human rights defenders and/or human rights activism.

This programme is a collaboration between the Centre for Social Justice and Community Action, Durham University (UK), the Centre for Law and Social Justice, Gadjah Mada University (Indonesia), the Networked Teaching and Learning Centre, Goiás State University (UEG, Brazil), the African Universities Hub for Human Rights, University of the Western Cape (South Africa), and the York Law School, University of York (UK). *

This programme will provide early career human rights scholars with:

(a) mentorship and international networking opportunities;
(b) support in developing diverse academic writing styles and in engaging with different publics; and
(c) career development opportunities.

Project activities include mentoring meetings, online knowledge exchange activities, and an in-person writing workshop in Yogyakarta, Indonesia in July 2027. Each scholar will be supported in writing three international publications in English.

You must fit three essential criteria to be accepted into this programme, which are as follows:

(a) You must be in or from one of the following countries: Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa, Turkey, Thailand, Vietnam or a Least Developed Country (that is: Africa: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia; Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Nepal, Timor-Leste and Yemen; Caribbean: Haiti; Pacific: Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu)

(b) You must have conducted research about human rights defenders and/or human rights activism for more than three years and less than 10 years (that is, an ‘early career scholar’)

(c) You must be willing and able to participate in most of the activities in this programme (as described in Section 2 below)

2. Activities

The Mentoring Programme involves the following activities over a two-year period.

Mentoring Programme

During this programme, we would like you to attend:

• 2 online Plenary Meetings at the start and end of the Programme
• Around 6 online small group mentoring meetings of 3-4 people every 2-3 months, facilitated by an assigned mentor
• Around 6 online skills-focused discussions every 2-3 months about academic writing and career development, including (a) issues in conducting research in Human Rights Defender Studies (with a gender and intersectional lens); (b) ways of securing research funding with research councils and philanthropic organisations, including drafting grant applications and building equitable relationships; and (c) the challenges of engagement with diverse publics on human rights issues.
• A 5-day workshop in Yogyakarta in July 2027 focused on writing and career development, and including a colloquium on ‘Decoloniality and Resistance’

Publications

During this programme, we would like you to focus on the following writing tasks:

1. Contributing to a co-authored article on the challenges facing early career scholars in Human Rights Defender Studies
2. Writing a short entry for a Handbook of Human Rights Defenders Studies (of an estimated 2,000 words on a topic to be decided in consultation with the editors, Jones and Nah)
3. Writing a journal article based on your research for publication in a Special Issue of a journal (of an estimated 8,000 words)

3. Application Process

To apply for a place on this mentoring programme, please complete this form by 10 August 2026.

All participants will be notified about the outcome of their application by 15 September 2026.

For further information, please contact Dr Alice M. Nah (alice.m.nah@durham.ac.uk)

* This programme is led by Dr Alice Nah, Dr Herlambang Wiratraman, Prof. Ulisses Terto Neto, Dr Mmeli Dube, and Prof. Martin Jones and is funded through a British Academy International Writing Workshops 2025 grant.

Download the application in PDF form below