Undergraduate Summer Intensive


In 2020, The University Network for Human Rights offered a unique training program exclusively for undergraduates interested in the practice of human rights advocacy. Through our program, participants received unparalleled training in the history and practice of human rights advocacy and directly applied these skills to real-world human rights advocacy projects with the University Network team. This program was the first of its kind in the United States, providing undergraduates the opportunity to engage in substantive human rights training under the supervision of seasoned professionals.


An Update regarding our Human Rights summer 2023 Intensive

The University Network for Human Rights will not be hosting a summer intensive during the summer of 2023. We will welcome applications for our 2024 intensive beginning in fall 2023. To stay updated about our offerings, please subscribe to our newsletter.


2020 Intensive Cohort (from top-left to bottom-right):  Malak Afaneh (Pomona); Ifeoma Anyoku (Brown); James Chang (U Penn); Teresa Conchas (Brown); Kenia Hale (Yale); Lillian Hua (Yale); Margot Lurie (Amherst); Ebonee Major (Howard); Luis Martínez (…

2020 Intensive Cohort (from top-left to bottom-right):
Malak Afaneh (Pomona); Ifeoma Anyoku (Brown); James Chang (U Penn); Teresa Conchas (Brown); Kenia Hale (Yale); Lillian Hua (Yale); Margot Lurie (Amherst); Ebonee Major (Howard); Luis Martínez (Vanderbilt); Kenny Morris (UCSB); Sydney Young (Harvard)

Human Rights Intensive 2020

Our inaugural undergraduate Human Rights Intensive was a big success! The University Network received over 170 applications, representing nearly forty universities in five countries. Ultimately, our cohort comprised eleven exceptional undergraduates from Amherst, Brown, Harvard, Howard, Pomona, the University of California at Santa Barbara, the University of Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt, and Yale. Due to COVID, our summer intensive and all subsequent work took place in a virtual context.

Summer Training: In June and July, Executive Director James Cavallaro led six weeks of daily e-seminars, guiding our eleven students through the history of the human rights movement, critiques of the practice, contemporary understanding of human rights law, and possibilities for the future of human rights. We hosted several lectures from guests including: Prof. Kathy Libal (UConn), Prof. Sam Moyn (Yale), and Alicia Yamin (Harvard/PIH).

Throughout the summer, our students also received in-depth practical training in technical skills. Dr. Kimberly Terrell (Tulane) led a workshop series titled “Identifying Environmental Health Disparities in the United States,” which taught students to use R and QGIS tools to identify inequities in environmental quality and health from publicly available data. Cohort members gained additional trainings in data analysis, interview skills, and human rights fact-finding in high-risk contexts.

Continued Engagement: Following two months of extensive training, students began supervised human rights work on projects that explored: the intersection of environmental racism and COVID-19 mortality, mass incarceration in the US, environmental advocacy with indigenous groups, the human rights situation in Bolivia, human rights in Western Sahara, and more. Students worked closely with one of our Clinical Supervisors on research, fact-finding, and advocacy tasks. Participants received regular, personalized feedback at every step of this process. Participants also engaged in additional human rights training sessions over the course of the next year — ultimately, with the goal of enriching their skills in human rights practice.


To learn more about our program, please explore the following pages:

  • Program Overview — learn more about our program’s structure, dates, and location.

  • Application Requirements — read more about how to apply for this unique opportunity.

  • Training Curriculum — explore how our program utilizes seminar-style coursework, module-based practical training, and real-life human rights advocacy projects to train undergraduates in the practice of human rights.

  • Participant Testimonials — see what past students say about working with the University Network.