A note from the Research Director.
A deeper understanding of human rights and a rigorous exchange of ideas are central prerequisites to influence both practical human rights change and new approaches to policy. For that reason, research is at the core of our mandate. The Institute has a long history of carrying out cutting-edge and policy-oriented research and analysis.
As a research institute, we aim to produce relevant and constructive perspectives on current human rights issues, while at the same time meeting the highest academic standards. We carry out inter-disciplinary research across the four thematic areas as well as on cross-cutting issues relating to human rights methods and theory.
In addition to research carried out by staff, we work closely with academic partners around the world. We also coordinate the Lund Human Rights Research Hub, which represents more than 70 researchers working on human rights issues across a wide range of disciplines.
Morten Koch Andersen
Morten Koch Andersen holds a PhD in International Development Studies from Roskilde University. His research interests are in the fields of human rights documentation, rule of law practices, public authority, corruption, torture and violence, impunity and discretion, and unequal citizenship.
He specializes in the interdisciplinary study of the nexus between corruption, human rights and development, mainly in South Asia.
The key questions of his research are, the paradoxes and dilemmas in:
- The interactions between violent political organizations and their members.
- The effects on impunity on individuals, institutions, and society?
- The motivational aspects of choice making in corruption.
He has several years of experience as programme manager of development cooperation in relation to prevention of torture and rehabilitation of survivors – during and after violent conflict, and in places of detention. I have worked on institutional and legal reform, establishments of support systems, education of health and legal professionals, and of prison and police authorities. He has managed partnership collaborations in Europe, North, South and West Africa.
Currently, he advises national human rights institutes, anti-corruption institutes and universities on the relationships between corruption and human rights, and their implications for institutions, individuals and societies, in Africa, Asia and Caucasus.
He has previously been guest researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, senior researcher at the Danish Institute Against Torture. Currently, he is affiliated researcher at the Center for Global Criminology at University of Copenhagen, external lecturer in Global Studies at Roskilde University and teaches at the International Anti-Corruption Academy.
He has worked with the UNODC on the development of educational material on the nexus between human rights and corruption, and developed web-based educational material on corruption and human rights, and violent mobilization for high school education.
For further updates on his research, please refer to his Research profile:
https://portal.research.lu.se/en/persons/morten-koch-andersen
Publications
Explore our publications published with external academic publishers and publications produced directly by the Institute. These include books, edited volumes, chapters, working papers, research and policy briefs, tools and more.
Get the acquainted with our researchers
Meet our visiting scholars and our affiliated scholars.
We regularly welcome guest scholars in Lund to be part of the dynamic human rights research environment. Together with the Law Faculty at Lund University, the Institute hosts a Fulbright-Lund University Chair in Public International Law.
Our Human Rights Library
The libary at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, founded in 1984, is Sweden's most extensive human rights libraries and one of Europe's leading human rights libraries.
Guest Scholars
The Institute regularly welcomes guest scholars in Lund to be part of the Institute’s research environment, and to draw on the expertise and resources of the Institute (including the Institute’s Library and the capacity-building programs pursued by the Institute worldwide) and those of Lund University. Here guest scholars will be exposed to both academic and applied approaches to the study of human rights in a multi-disciplinary environment. We welcome applications from doctoral students, post-doc researchers and professors interested in human rights.
We follow a two stage application process in order to expedite the selection process.
First stage
The documents the applicant is kindly asked to submit are:
- CV, including list of publications,
- Half page description of the planned activities at Institute, especially the topic of interest and research focus,
- Dates for the stay at Institute in Lund,
- Source of funding.
The documents are reviewed in order to decide whether the proposed research project activities are in line with the Institute’s current focus areas. We aim to answer an applicant within two weeks, often much sooner, of receiving the application. The answer will either invite the applicant to submit the documents indicated at the second stage (below) or inform about Institute’s inability to host the applicant.
Second stage
The document to be submitted is a three-page description of the research project (including its potential outcomes) and activities the applicant plans to conduct at Institute during his/her stay in Lund.
Please note that the Institute is unable to provide any financial support for our guest scholars. The Institute offers an office, computer, internet and library access and the opportunity to be part of the research environment of the Institute. The Institute is an equal opportunity institution.