Currently enrolled Duke undergraduate and graduate students are invited to apply for summer research funding from the Duke Human Rights Center@FHI.
The goals of the grant are to strengthen research experience for students interested in developing, studying, implementing, and working in human rights. We fund student-driven research projects only. Special consideration is given to students whose research projects contribute to a senior thesis or project or to students enrolled in the Human Rights Certificate.
Students are encouraged to seek support from other Duke sources for their planned research needs. For accepted projects, we will work with students to ensure they have the necessary funds to pursue their research goals.
We do not fund students planning to work as research assistants to faculty or staff working on their own, separate projects.
Grants are available for up to $2,000.
Eligibility and Criteria
- Students from all backgrounds and academic disciplines are encouraged to apply. Successful projects have a significant human rights focus.
- Graduating seniors or graduate students in their final year at Duke are not eligible. Students who have previously received this grant are also ineligible.
- Students must be supervised by Duke University faculty during their research time.
- Research must be conducted over a period of no less than two weeks during the summer.
- Students are expected to be in frequent contact with their faculty supervisors and the DHRC@FHI throughout the project.
- Students must commit to writing blog posts and providing visuals for the DHRC@FHI website and social media.
- Students are strongly encouraged to present their research at the annual Global Ideas, Local Impact event sponsored by the DHRC@FHI's Student Advisory Board.
- Projects involving interactions with human subjects must be approved by the Duke Institutional Review Board. Read more here.
Applications for Summer 2026 will be due in the spring (date to be announced). The application will be released this summer.
Questions? Contact Natalie Pickett: natalie.pickett@duke.edu.
2025 Undergraduate Student Awardees
Gloria Bao
Tie-T, the Chinese Butch: The Language and Identity of Chinese Sapphics
Matthew Joo
Margins of Discourse: U.S. Bases and the Social Peripheries of South Korea
Jiae Kim
Unspoken Legacies: Koryo Saram Women, Education, and Identity in Uzbekistan
Mariana Meza Mantilla
Theorizing and Practicing Social Change: Systems Analysis, Resistance, and Reimagination Towards Just in the U.S. Borderlands
Ella Patterson
From Purge to Protest: The Lavender Scare and the Roots of LGBTQ Resistance
Samantha Richter
Overcoming Political Barriers to Implementing Small-Scale Detention Centers in Europe: Insights from a Comparative Policy Analysis
Kulsoom Rizavi
Tech Corporations, Union Busting, and the Battle for Southern Labor Rights
Past Awardees
Gabe Caress
"Balanced Justice: Understanding Bias in the Legal System Through Education"
Race. Class. Sex. Gender. Ability. These are all visual markers we use to come to conclusions about others. Our eyes are where preconceived notions begin. But how are these factors addressed and accounted for in the courtroom? When your life's on the line, who looks out for your personal integrity? The justice system often deals with accounting for individual bias on a case-by-case basis due to lack of adequate coverage of this topic in some law schools. This project aims to explore what that truly means and how education manifests into reality. How do different law curriculums address, or plan to address these biases? How do they impact an individual's personal justice? To better account for bias, we have to understand the status quo. That is the aim of this project — to understand where we stand presently in an effort to do better in the future.
Thang Lian
"Chin Refugee Community Formation"
By examining the intimate transnational intersections between displacement and resettlement, this project (a) investigates and records how Chin refugees form(ed) communities in Michigan, Indiana, and California through oral history, (b) situates the Chin people's history within Myanmar’s historical contexts "post-independence" (post-1948), (c) uses various archives to delineate the Chin people's history before and after 1948, and (d) interprets community history via frameworks of class, race, and religion.
Yadira Paz-Martinez
This research project examines the socialization experiences of undocumented and H-2A farmworkers in Sampson County, NC. Through oral history with farmworkers from various backgrounds, it seeks to understand their immigration stories, labor conditions, and how family dynamics shape their interactions. By focusing on farmworkers within Sampson County, the project aims to uncover the unique challenges they face, including human rights abuses and systemic barriers. Ultimately, it aims to humanize their narratives, inform policy proposals, and raise awareness about the realities of farmworkers' lives and labor.
Taylor Glatt, Provider Perspective on Barriers to Healthcare Accessibility For Refugees in Durham, NC
Andrew McCallum, Museums, Memory, and Migration in Paraguay
Hareth Yousef, Illegal Settlements and Land Confiscation and their Impact on Palestinian Farming Communities
John Sabogal Venegas, Indigenous, Rural Communities in Colombia After Civil War
Nikhita Gopisetty, Experience of Diabetes in Young Adults in Mysore District
Alexandra Griffen, The Medical Establishment and Midwives: Charting Duke University Hospital’s Relationship to Birthing post-1931
Gabriela Nagle, Assessing Policy Priorities for Protecting Human Rights of Latin American Climate Migrants in Urban Area
Stephanie Zempolich, Investigating Majority Muslim and non-Muslim Countries’ Response to China’s Ongoing Genocide of the Uyghur Population in Xinjiang