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 7th:
Human Rights and New Technology (Oxford, England)
Application Timeline:
Opens May 1st and closes June 1st.
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
Bella Albiani '26 Multidisciplinary Science
Bella Albiani is studying Multidisciplinary Science with minors in Global Health and Service, Biology, Anthropology and Chemistry in the Clark Honors College. She became passionate about resource insecurity while volunteering with her local food bank during the COVID pandemic. In college, she has engaged with vulnerable communities through the UO’s prison education program, research with people experiencing homelessness and continued volunteering at food pantries and a free medical clinic. These experiences have empowered her to develop a stronger understanding of human rights frameworks in order to channel career path into shaping research and policy addressing social determinants of health.
Jessica Brannan '28 Economics | Planning, Public Policy & Management
Jessica Brannan studies Economics and Public Management in hopes of pursuing a career in economic development. She is interested in exploring the globalization of economies and its effect on small communities, specifically the exploitation of laborers in developing economies. Learning more about human rights will be integral to her understanding of these issues. Outside of academics, she works for the University of Oregon Basic Needs Program and the Holden Center for Leadership and Community Engagement, where she equips students with the physical resources and skills they need to succeed in education and life.
Sameeha Chowdhury '26 Psychology
Sameeha is pursuing her B.S. in Psychology with minors in Legal Studies and Business Administration at the University of Oregon. A Muslim Bangladeshi American from Portland, she is passionate about addressing systemic issues like implicit racial bias and improving decision-making in the justice system. She has worked with Distressed Children & Infants International to combat child labor and expand access to education globally. At the C2 Diversity and Social Cognition Lab, she supports research on bias, categorization, and racial attitudes. By combining insights from psychology and law, she aims to help create a legal system that understands and serves diverse communities.
Andrew Gorecki '26 Architecture
Andrew is studying Architecture with a minor in Sociology and Historic Preservation at the University of Oregon. During the previous winter and summer breaks, Andrew has been interning at Scott Edwards Architecture, primarily working on sustainability initiatives and public projects. He hopes to continue this work by incorporating biophilic design within community-oriented projects. Through his involvement with the Carnegie Global Oregon Ethics Program, Andrew hopes to incorporate human rights through an architectural and advocacy lens. It's his mission to create an environment where our shared architecture and physical environment promote art, accountability, and human rights.
Tara Sarbacker '28 Architecture
Tara is studying Architecture with a minor in Mathematics at the University of Oregon Clark Honors College. As an aspiring architect, she's curious how inequity stems from the structures that define our societies. Her passion for food security prompted her to organize an Empty Bowls fundraiser and grow produce for the Linn-Benton Food Share in her hometown. Through participation in the Carnegie Global Oregon Ethics Program and Prison Education Program, she has expanded her design education to include important perspectives on human flourishing. Her goal is to help address social disparities that are caused by the built environment.
Prior Participants
2024 Cohort
- Sophia Barghouti '27 Political Science, Middle Eastern and North African Studies
- Bryonie McMahon '27 Political Science, Educational Foundations
- Colleen Uzoekwe '24 Human Physiology
- Ruby Wool '25 Journalism
- Miriam Yousaf '24 Global Studies
2023 University of Oregon OCHR Contingent
2019 University of Oregon OCHR Contingent
2018 University of Oregon OCHR Contingent
