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Centre for Applied Human Rights

An activist centre situated in a university for public good.

The Centre for Applied Human Rights (CAHR) places people, notably human rights defenders, at the core of our work.

Our research, knowledge exchange, teaching, protective and advocacy activities are anchored in real-world human rights and humanitarian challenges and opportunities.

As such, we think politically and use socio-legal, interdisciplinary, and participatory methodologies to protect human rights and activism.

Study with us

CAHR presents an opportunity to join a friendly community of ambitious and critical thinkers striving to bring about change.

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Masters programmes

PhD studies

What our alumni do

CAHR is distinctive in supporting practical student activism, which is embedded in our degrees, linked to ongoing research, and initiated by students themselves.
CAHR research is applied in nature. This means that its goal is to have an impact on concrete real-world challenges and situations.

Protective Fellowships for Human Rights Defenders

100 defenders, 50 countries, 15 years - We are the first centre to involve frontline human rights defenders in every aspect of our work, through protective fellowships, teaching and research, under the umbrella of the Human Rights Defenders Hub.

Visiting human rights defenders form the core of our work in terms of providing training for defenders, conducting research and incorporating the visiting defenders as an integral part of the MA and LLM programmes.

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Signature programmes of knowledge exchange

Research and innovation themes

Publications

Latest news

News

7 July 2025

We, the undersigned organisations, express grave concern regarding the ongoing arbitrary detention of lawyer and human rights defender Waleed Abu al-Khair since April 15, 2014.

News

16 June 2025

The Centre for Applied Human Rights (CAHR) is pleased to announce one scholarship for the 2025/26 academic year for one student to study on the MA in Applied Human Rights.

News

24 April 2025

A new report documents the impact of the recent cost-of-living crisis and over a decade of austerity measures on the lives and rights of York residents.

Events

Every year we host a wide range of speaker events, symposiums and discussions. Why not join us at our next one?

Upcoming events

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Visit our YouTube channel to explore our work.
Find out more about the team and explore our expertise.