The Teaching Business and Human Rights Forum is a unique platform for collaboration among individuals teaching business and human rights worldwide. The Forum seeks to promote and strengthen business and human rights education by fostering collaboration among teachers.

“Business and human rights” has emerged as a vibrant movement and a distinct field of practice and study. Demand for business and human rights education is growing rapidly, yet individuals teaching the subject face a number of common challenges.

The Teaching Forum was founded in 2011 to promote and strengthen business and human rights education worldwide. Since an inaugural workshop at Columbia University (New York), the Teaching Forum has grown to include more than 380 members teaching business and human rights at some 200 institutions in 45 countries.

The Teaching Forum was founded by Joanne Bauer, Adjunct Professor of International Affairs, Columbia University and Anthony Ewing, Lecturer, Columbia School of Law. Forum activities have been supported by the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University and the Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute. Since 2018, the Teaching Forum has actively collaborated with the Global Business and Human Rights Scholars Association.

Resources

The Teaching Forum gives participants a means to collaborate and share teaching strategies and resources via its online Discussion Board, in-person Teaching Workshops, a password-protected Syllabi Bank, and its online Teaching Business and Human Rights Handbook (BHRHandbook.org).

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New for January 2024: Mentorship Program

In conjunction with the Global Business and Human Rights Scholars Association, we are pleased to announce the launch of a mentorship program for those who are researching and teaching in the area of Business and Human Rights (BHR). This program is designed to be especially beneficial for those who are in their early career, but may also be useful for people who are simply new to conducting research or teaching in the business and human rights area.

The goal of the mentorship relationship is to help empower the mentee to plan their research, teaching and career goals, both short-term and long-term. The mentor will assist the mentee with issues such as:

∙ Developing a research agenda that helps scholars make a meaningful impact on the discipline;
∙ Providing guidance on how to conduct research (e.g. the publishing process, where to publish, research project management);
∙ Discussing teaching skills, resources, opportunities to not only inspire their students but to also understand how teaching and research might complement one another;
∙ Facilitating networking opportunities in the BHR area; and
∙ Offering other advice as appropriate based on experience, such as work-life balance.

The mentor is expected to schedule at least three one-hour meetings over the course of a year. Additional meetings and communications between meetings can be determined by the mentor and mentee. It is important to note that the role of the mentor is not to tell the mentee what to do, but to act as a sounding board and to provide advice based on the mentor’s experience. The mentor will not replace the advice of supervisors at the mentee’s home institution on what is necessary for success at that institution. In addition, the mentor is not expected to serve as a reviewer and commentator on the mentee’s research papers or teaching materials, though the mentor may agree to take on that role based on the mentor’s research interests and time.

To be a mentor, the individual must:
∙ Have at least 5 years of experience in research and/or teaching;
∙ Have publications in the BHR field (in recognized national journals and should include some publications in English) and be actively involved in conducting research on BHR topics; and
∙ Be available to serve as a mentor for one year.

If you meet these criteria and would like to serve the BHR community by taking on the role of a mentor, please fill out this form:
https://forms.gle/kYDcPwcpfhYFnmzJ6 

Once we have gathered interested mentors, we will post a call for mentees. At that time, to help us match mentors and mentees, we will ask mentees about their short-term and long-term goals (and priorities) related to BHR research and teaching; and their area of research (general topic area; regions of interest).

A special thanks to Anthony Ewing for his role in the creation, maintenance, and funding of our website.