MOOC on Science and Human Rights

Scientific freedom and responsibility have to be enabled and practised. They benefit both scientists and policymakers; they also benefit all of us. Yet, these benefits will not be achieved if the status of scientific freedom and responsibility as a human right, as well as their linkages with other human rights, are not well understood or are plainly neglected. At present, we have a human rights knowledge-gap that needs to be closed if science is to be objective, evidence-based, free from undue interference and accessible. Closing this gap will enable scientific researchers to claim and exercise their rights relating to the conduct of science and policymakers to meet their human rights obligations and create a healthy environment for rights-driven science, which is a cornerstone for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

This MOOC, offered in partnership with UNESCO, is the first dedicated educational engagement on the human rights- based approach (HRBA) to scientific freedom and responsibility, which is also accessible, at scale and cross-disciplinary in its engagement with human rights.

THE PROGRAMME

The MOOC runs over 5 weeks and is organised in 2 modules.

Module 1 explains connections and frameworks and tackles two important questions:

• Why connect science and human rights?
• What is a human rights-based approach to scientific freedom and responsibility?

Module 2 is devoted to the HRBA in practice and responds to 3 key questions:

• What is science for human rights?
• What is an enabling environment for scientific freedom?
• How can you use a HRBA to science to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals?

LECTURERS AND EXPERTS

Building on a longstanding cooperation between UNESCO and the Global Campus of Human Rights, the MOOC offers a wealth of specialised knowledge and examples. It features relevant actors from a multitude of perspectives on science and human rights, including but not limited to:

• Guillermo Anlló, UNESCO Montevideo
• Joji Cariño, Forest Peoples Programme
• Verónica Gómez, Global Campus of Human Rights
• Theresa Harris, American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Thérèse Murphy, Global Campus of Human Rights
• Gabriela Ramos, UNESCO Paris
• Changrok Soh, UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee
• David Suzuki, Right Livelihood Laureate
• Rob Terry, World Health Organization (WHO)
• Morris Tidball-Binz, UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions
• Matthew Wallace, UNESCO Paris

INTERESTED IN JOINING?

This MOOC is mainly for scientists, university-level science students and policymakers around the world who want to understand and practise a HRBA to scientific freedom and scientific responsibility.

For more information and to enrol, visit www.gchumanrights.org/shr For further queries, contact us at e-learning@gchumanrights.org