SUPERVISED INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH

All supervisors will be Columbia faculty who hold a PhD or other terminal degree. Students are responsible for identifying their own supervisor and it is at the discretion of faculty whether they offer to supervise individual research. Projects must be focused on human rights and can be approached from any disciplinary background. Students are expected to develop their own syllabus and reading list in consultation with their supervisor. The syllabus is to be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies or the Director of Undergraduate Studies, respectively. In addition to completing assigned readings, the student must also write a human rights seminar paper of 20-25 pages. Projects other than a research paper will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The range of topics that are acceptable as a human rights paper is broad. Research projects could focus on a particular violation of human rights; they could study the work of a particular NGO or social movement, they could research a person or a particular event and its implications for human rights. They could discuss the development of a norm, trace a particular process or comment on a case, among many other possible topics. According to the University’s academic policies, students cannot submit the same work for more than one course. The work completed in this independent study course must be distinct from the work a student completes in other courses, including the Human Rights Senior Seminar, the Human Rights Thesis Seminar, and the graduate human rights thesis course. Please also note that HRSMA students may not count this course toward the 30 points required for the degree. Rather, it can only be completed as additional coursework.