Since January 2026, the Cluster of Excellence “Transforming Human Rights” has begun to re-examine the potential of human rights as a universalistic framework for addressing the fundamental changes that are shaping our time in political, economic, social, ecological, and technological contexts. The Cluster will comprehensively assess how five megatrends – autocratization, fragmented economic globalization, international migration, planetary environmental crises, and digitalization – are transforming human rights, and how human rights can and should transform responses to these megatrends. Additionally, the Cluster seeks to comprehend how these transformations challenge human rights theory and prompt a reconsideration of fundamental normative claims about human rights.
To this end, principal investigators from FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and partner institutions will conduct human rights research across a variety of disciplines, including law, political science, philosophy, anthropology, human geography, history, computer science, management studies, and education. Additionally, the Cluster will integrate transdisciplinary approaches by involving human rights practitioners. The Cluster is collaborating with four participating institutions in Germany – the International Nuremberg Principles Academy, the German Institute for Human Rights, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, and the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology and fifteen international partners.
(Planned) Support Activities for Postdocs
Funding for Professional Training, Field Research, Networking, and Outreach Activities | Workshops on Methodology, Science Communication, Data Management, Open Science, and Transferable Skills | Support in the Preparation of Research Stays or Exposure to Practice Organizations | Opportunities for Acquiring Teaching and Mentoring Skills | Annual Retreats
Recruiting
Open positions are listed on the cluster’s job page.
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