In this annual workshop focusing on the role of technology in our modern society, we continue to explore the urgent, exciting, and concerning issues around our changing technological landscapes and how this influences our day-to-day. New technology is one of the major drivers of change in human society today. But what does all this new digital, biological and renewable technology mean for human rights?
This workshop will explore the relationship between many new technologies emerging across human society and people’s continuous demands for human rights. The course will examine how the impact of new technology is sometimes positive and enabling of human rights, sometimes negative and restrictive, and often ambivalent and uncertain. Students will study particular technological revolutions in communications, medicine, governance, surveillance, education, weapons, energy and manufacturing to explore their implications for traditional human rights to heath, privacy, free speech, free association, and the laws of war. More profoundly, the workshop will explore how new technology is changing our experience of being human – ontology itself - as we live an increasingly hybrid life as computerized humanity. This shift poses fundamental questions about the notion of the human in human rights, and looks set to create a new generation of rights and duties. These must focus especially on the important values of autonomy, individuality and authenticity that underpin our rights as human beings.
By the end of the course, students will have a clear understanding of the risks and opportunities to human rights in new technology, and be better equipped to work as activists and policymakers in this rapidly developing area of rights. The course will be taught by leading scholars from the University of Oxford and visiting human rights activists working on and with new technology of various kinds.
Week of July 6th:
Human Rights and New Technology (Oxford, England)
Application Timeline:
Open now and closes May 15
Apply for Summer Oxford Workshop
In July of 2025, the University of Oregon and Oxford Consortium of Human Rights supported the following cohort of students to attend the New Technology and Human Rights Workshop at the University of Oxford in Oxford, England.
Current Recipients (2025)
Eesha Gupta '27 Economics | Global Studies
Eesha Gupta studies economics, cognitive science, and global studies at the University of Oregon. Her work centers on communication as a tool for advancing human rights. From human-computer interaction research across text and image modalities to designing AI translation systems derived from semiotic theory, she uses technology to bridge social divides. She organizes tournaments with the National Parliamentary Debate League, bringing human rights education to middle and high schoolers through competitive debate. In her spare time, Eesha is an avid scuba diver and happiest underwater. She plans to pursue a career in AI
safety and intellectual property law.
Niharika Panjala '27 Political Science
Niharika is studying Political Science, Spanish, and Public Policy at the University of Oregon, where she engages with environmental justice, international relations, and governance studies. Through policy research with Neighbors for Clean Air, grassroots organizing as Field Director for the Democratic Party of Lane County, and volunteer work supporting Spanish-speaking immigrant families, she has developed a strong commitment to equity and civic engagement. Her interests center on creating policy that directly involves marginalized communities in policy initiatives while also exploring the global impacts of governance, human
rights, and international cooperation. She hopes to pursue a career in policy and advocacy work that advances both local and global justice.
Benni Howard '26
Benni is double-majoring in Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Oregon. Her research for
her recently defended honors thesis on immigrant due process rights in the United States’ Ninth Circuit Court
of Appeals sparked her interest in human rights. Benni aspires to be an immigration lawyer, specializing in
humanitarian casework at a legal aid nonprofit. This summer, she will intern in Medellín, Colombia, with their
government before returning to the United States to seek further opportunities and prepare for law school.
Prior Participants
2025 Cohort
- Bella Albiani '26 Multidisciplinary Science
- Jessica Brannan '28 Economics | Planning, Public Policy & Management
- Sameeha Chowdhury '26 Psychology
- Andrew Gorecki '26 Architecture
- Tara Sarbacker '28 Architecture
2024 Cohort
- Sophia Barghouti '27 Political Science, Middle Eastern and North African Studies
- Byronie McMahon '27 Political Science, Educational Foundations
- Colleen Uzoekwe '24 Human Physiology
- Ruby Wool '25 Journalism
- Miriam Yousaf '24 Global Studies
2025 University of Oregon OCHR Contingent
2023 University of Oregon OCHR Contingent
2019 University of Oregon OCHR Contingent
2018 University of Oregon OCHR Contingent
