Human Rights | www.essex.ac.uk/human_rights_centre | E admit@essex.ac.uk | T +44 (0)1206 873666


After graduating, Merit used her Gilbert Murray Trust Award to attend a summer school on the International Criminal Court at the University of Galway, Ireland. She is currently studying MSc Forced Migration at the University of Oxford.


Essex is particularly known for its highly regarded Human Rights Centre and Department of Government. I had many


exciting times academically and socially at Essex with various opportunities to mix the two.


Merit Hietanen, BA Politics with Human Rights ’08, Espoo, Finland


Graduate profile


The human rights


core modules The core modules are co-ordinated by the Human Rights Centre and seek to provide you with a strong grounding in the interdisciplinary study of human rights. They provide intellectual coherence to the courses and help promote a sense of shared understanding among all the students in the programme.


In the first year, Foundations of Human Rights introduces you to the basic terms and concepts needed to study human rights, the international, regional and UK systems for the promotion and protection of human rights, as well as the key issues, debates and controversies surrounding the idea of universal human rights.


The modules I took gave me a deeper understanding of international issues surrounding human rights. A module I found particularly useful was Political Theory which broadened my understanding of the world. In my final year, I had the opportunity to take Development, Democracy and Human Rights and The Comparative Politics of Human Rights which complemented each other and brought all the knowledge I had learned over the past three years together. The staff and lecturers made me feel at home and


were happy to promote student initiatives; it was clear that I was among intellectually inspiring academics.


I took an interest in various societies including dance and tennis, as well as the Human Rights Society and the Amnesty International Society. I also tried to keep up my language skills by joining the German and Nordic Society and I was president of the latter in my final year. I ran the Model UN Society in my final year and started the first international Model UN conference in Essex on human rights.


My fondest memories of Essex include dinners with friends and the feeling of achievement when a week with three essay deadlines had passed. When people from all around the world gather and start forming small communities, and where social life is highly active, the sense of belonging is incomparable. I have made many great friends whom I will cherish for the rest of my life and I would not change the experience for anything.


In the second year, Issues and Methods in Human Rights gives you the opportunity to probe deeper into specific issues, providing the chance to learn techniques for systematic research in the field of human rights, including philosophical inquiry and social science methodology.


In the third year, the Human Rights Colloquium uses a series of student-directed learning projects, such as class presentations, to develop the ability for independent human rights research while continuing a deeper analysis of specific human rights topics, including the relationship between citizenship rights and human rights, the rights of minorities, genocide, torture, humanitarian intervention, and international criminal tribunals.


Career opportunities The skills and knowledge that you gain from completing a human rights degree will prepare you well for many careers. You will be particularly well placed to go on to a variety of careers in the governmental, inter-governmental and non-governmental sectors.


Our most recent graduates have gone into careers in the following areas: law, local administration, strategy and policy, teaching, and charitable organisations. Many have gone on to further study, including our MA courses here at Essex.


152 | Undergraduate Prospectus 2012


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