Credits: photo by Chiiun Miin Seah
By: Sina Platzbecker, Sophia Salziger and Chiiun Miin Seah
Introduction
This year’s annual PhD training for 3rd and 4th-year PhD students of the Netherlands Network for Human Rights (NNHRR) took place on 11 April 2025 at the University of Groningen. The different panels focused on diverse topics that 3rd and 4th-year PhD students would find relevant and useful in the later stages of their PhD trajectory. The PhD training was centred around two fundamental pillars: research – including publications and grants – and human rights careers. Innovative additions to this year’s training included a panel on Open Access publishing and a panel on human rights research and mental wellbeing.
Professor Marcel Brus (University of Groningen) and Ewa Romanowska (NNHRR) opened the training by welcoming all participants. Professor Marcel Brus addressed the problem of finding a career in human rights amid budget cuts and the rise of illiberal governments. He motivated the participants to broaden their horizons by focusing on the skills acquired during their PhD, such as critical thinking and independent problem-solving. Next, Ewa Romanowska provided some practical information about the new contract between Asser and Springer, which gives PhD students the opportunity to publish their PhD theses with NNHRR. It is important for PhD students to be aware of the different publishing possibilities available to them at the end of their doctoral journey in order to establish their expertise and to demonstrate a publication to future employers.
Publishing Human Rights Research: Blog Entries, Open Access & Journal Articles
The first three morning sessions dealt with publishing human rights research. Topics covered included writing blog entries, publishing Open Access, and journal articles. Dr Antenor Hallo de Wolf (University of Groningen and Human Rights Here) opened the session by looking at the benefits and disadvantages of writing blog entries, as compared to journal articles. Participants learned about the purpose of a blog entry and how to approach writing one themselves. The NNHRR blog, Human Rights Here, was a central focus point, as it provides opportunities for the writing of legal blogs and is a way to experience the process of legal blogging. Professor Lorenzo Squintani (University of Groningen), Open Access Ambassador, subsequently gave an insightful presentation on Open Access publishing. This (relatively new) broad movement shows how science and academia can engage with the public, as opposed to the privatisation of knowledge. Professor Squintani emphasised the collaborative effort and nature of science, which builds on the expertise of others and can be managed across different disciplines. However, a few private companies have an undue hold on the knowledge produced by universities whose research is, after all, funded by the public. Closer collaboration between researchers and Open Access publishing has the potential to change this. Transparency and open academia can lead to shared knowledge and make more resources available to the wider public, ultimately increasing efficiency through collaboration. Finally, Naomi van de Pol (Netherlands Quarterly for Human Rights) presented on publishing journal articles. She explained how the publication process works for the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights journal, which was particularly insightful for PhD students who are planning to submit an article.
Human Rights Research & Wellbeing
The first afternoon session focused on human rights research and wellbeing. Professor Alette Smeulers (University of Groningen) addressed the question of how to deal with the often shocking content encountered in human rights research. She highlighted the importance of managing the psychological impact of emotionally challenging research, while still centring the actual victims of human rights abuses. Using quotes taken from researchers themselves, Professor Smeulers illustrated the range of emotions and feelings researchers may experience in their work, such as anger, disgust, guilt and shame. Towards the end of the session, it became clear that these sentiments reverberated with many participants.
Beth Yoder (Wellbeing, Diversity & Inclusion Officer, University of Groningen) encouraged participants to build self-awareness for their own wellbeing, emphasising in particular the importance of building a habit of self-reflection. She drew the participants’ attention to recent research by Lisa Feldman Barrett, which shows that emotions that were thought to be ‘real’ are in fact socially ‘constructed’: they are not universal but culturally conditioned. In her research, Feldman Barrett shows that, because emotions are constructed and different for each person in a given situation, it may be difficult to formalise approaches to wellbeing. In spite of this, certain everyday habits to build internal resources are helpful to continue pursuing human rights research. Building a habit of healthy and regular nutrition, sleep and exercise through small changes goes a long way. On top of these everyday habits, Yoder recommended finding a balance in three areas in order to set priorities and improve overall-wellbeing: values (what is important to you?), skills (what do you like spending time doing?) and needs (what do you need at this point in your life?). These reflections can help PhDs to break out of the treadmill of academia and help to conserve energy for when it is most needed.
Human Rights Careers
The next session was a panel discussion on careers in human rights, with Dr Katerina Tsampi (University of Groningen) as moderator. This session provided the participants with information on the different career paths in the field of human rights:
Dr Ineke Boerefijn of the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights began by introducing her work as an advisor to the Institute’s Board. She studied at Utrecht University and has worked, among others, on violence against women. Having a general background in human rights law has been the foundation for her work in upholding the Institute’s mandate to protect and monitor human rights all across the Netherlands, including the Caribbean Netherlands. The participants learned that the Institute is looking for specialists, which may include experts in national law and equal treatment, policy advisors for external relations, policy impact researchers, as well as people skilled in project management and communication. It was emphasised that working for an institute, which may entail writing advisory opinions for policymakers or content to be put on website pages, requires accessible and concise language. This can be very different from the language used in a doctoral thesis.
After this insightful talk, Dr Hanna Bosdriesz from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took over. She spoke about the (potentially challenging) transition from working in academia to working in practice. After her PhD, she left academia to become a government lawyer and later moved to her current position in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Here, she works on international litigation involving the Netherlands before all international tribunals and advises ministers on international law issues. Reflecting on the transition from academia to practice and work outside academia, Dr Bosdriesz talked about the possibility of encountering the ‘PhD image’, i.e. the stereotype of a PhD with (presumed) knowledge but no practical work experience. Like Professor Brus, she encouraged the participants to emphasise the skills they have developed in addition to the knowledge obtained during their PhD, such as project management (based on PhD students’ experience in planning and carrying out research), as well as the strong personal motivation and persistence that are needed to complete a dissertation.
The next speaker was Eleni Chaitidou, who provided the participants with insights into her work at an international criminal court. After studying in Germany and working briefly in academia, she left academia for an internship with an ICC judge. This eventually led to a position as an assistant of ICC Judge Hans-Peter Kaul. In this position, she has had a variety of roles and responsibilities, ranging from drafting texts for the court, assisting the judge with various tasks and preparing for hearings, to carrying out on-site investigations, such as in Uganda for the Ongwen case. Being flexible and able to adapt to new situations on a daily basis is an essential skill when working for an international court. Currently, Chaitidou is a senior legal advisor to the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. With over a thousand persons applying for jobs at the ICC every year, she stressed the importance of highlighting one’s own research topic, language skills and other (soft) skills in the recruitment process.
Finally, Dr Christian Mommers talked about his work as an advisor to the Commissioner at the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights – an independent and impartial institution with a broad mandate to monitor human rights in close cooperation with civil society. Dr Mommers joined online from Strasbourg and once again encouraged the participants to prioritise practical experience: ‘Applications are often more about what you can do than what you know.’ As there are only limited opportunities to work on human rights, he advised participants to start looking at what skills are needed for these types of jobs and to try and acquire these skills, which may include budget monitoring, advocacy, project management and learning new languages. He pointed out that the fast-paced environment of practical jobs such as his own requires quick, rather than deep-level, analysis - a skill that future applicants may wish to invest in.
The session concluded with an engaging Q&A that further emphasised the importance of political analysis skills, an understanding of political processes, advocacy skills, strategy development, language skills and more.
Grants
In the final session, Professor Jeanne Mifsud Bonnici (University of Groningen) shared valuable insights with participants on the availability of grants for human rights research and the application process. Grants can boost one’s career and bridge the gap between practice and academia. They offer the freedom and independence to work on one’s own projects and may help to broaden the scope of research. While there is plenty of funding available for commissioned research, Professor Mifsud Bonnici recommended exploring new and unfamiliar topics. A wide variety of funding opportunities are available for human rights research, including travel grants, personal grants and collaborative grants. Participants received a list of relevant information and links to help them find the financial resources to continue their human rights research. The ethical challenges of applying for grants were also addressed. The ethical challenges of applying for grants were also addressed, including how to handle so-called ‘human rights washing’ (the practice of superficially promoting or claiming to uphold human rights for positive publicity, while engaging in actions that undermine or violate those rights in practice) and the different political interests of the parties involved.
Conclusion
This year’s NNHRR PhD training in Groningen offered participants a variety of topics. PhD students learned about publishing human rights research and the benefits and disadvantages of writing blog posts, journal articles, and Open Access publishing. The session on mental health and wellbeing showed how participants can work on their mental wellbeing by building habits and engaging in regular self-reflection to build up inner resources. In the session on careers in human rights, all speakers addressed the fact that the skills needed and developed in academia may be different from those needed to work outside academia. This does not mean that a PhD ‘lacks’ these skills; they simply have to be cultivated. However, being aware of potential difficulties is helpful in order not to demotivate oneself when starting a career outside of academia. Finally, the session on grants gave participants an insight into the variety of ways to apply for grants when doing human rights research. After this exciting programme, the participants gathered for drinks and dinner to round off an eventful day with the hope of seeing each other again soon.
The event was co-organised by Dr Katerina Tsampi from the Department of Transboundary Legal Studies (TLS) University of Groningen, PhD candidates with TLS, Sophia Salziger and Chiiun Miin Seah, and Research Master student Sina Platzbecker.
Bio:
Sina Platzbecker is an LLM in International Human Rights Law and is currently pursuing a Research Master in Law at the University of Groningen. With a background in International Relations, she is interested in interdisciplinary research spanning topics such as freedom of speech and demonstration, as well as Chinese law and history.
Sophia Salziger is a PhD candidate at the departments of Transboundary Legal Studies and Private and Notarial Law at the University of Groningen and a member of the Security, Technology & e-Privacy (STeP) Research Group. Her PhD focuses on non-material damages in the event of data protection violations, such as psychological distress resulting from the invasion of privacy, damage to reputation and infringements of personality rights.
Chiiun Miin Seah is a PhD researcher at the Department of Transboundary Legal Studies at the University of Groningen. Her PhD is on intra-party sexual abuse of child soldiers within the ambit of international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and international criminal law.