About us

The Human Rights and Democracy Forum is a cross-disciplinary research group based in the University of Exeter Law School. It has members from Law, Politics, Sociology and Criminology, and includes a growing body of PhD researchers.

The Forum has four main areas of research activity:

1. Human rights and human dignity in theory and practice, especially under the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights
2. Intersections of public law, private law, criminal law, criminal justice, and international law with questions of human rights and democratic principles
3. Comparative and domestic constitutional law and politics
4. Legal and political dimensions of non-democratic systems and threats to democracy, including past authoritarian regimes and the resurgence of populism and illiberalism

Examples of Forum members’ research on human rights include issues of international trade law, climate change, migration, gender and sexuality, religious freedom, the treatment of prisoners, police powers, and police uses of lethal force. Examples of members’ research on democracy and democratic principles include issues of criminal justice and the rule of law, the comparative history of criminal law in interwar Britain and Fascist Italy, constitutionalism and constitutional reform processes, and the foundations of national and transnational democracy in Europe. Research in the Forum involves comparative, doctrinal, theoretical, historical and empirical methods, and is both national and international in scope.

The Forum has five main aims overall:

1. To support and develop individual and collaborative research projects to the highest standards
2. To stimulate research discussion through seminars and workshops, involving Forum members, guest speakers and students
3. To build connections with external organisations, institutions and networks in related areas of research and practice, nationally and internationally
4. To nurture and train postgraduate researchers
5. To support and deliver research-led undergraduate and postgraduate teaching

The HRDF was founded in 2017, and the inaugural lecture was given by Jonathan Cooper OBE. Its current director is Catherine Dupre .

The HRDF has developed significantly since 2017, and it has its own Blog, founded in October 2023 and edited by a team of staff and students from Exeter Law School. The HRDF is also actively involved in the international Observatory of Representation established in January 2024.

Typical activities of the HRDF include fortnightly discussion of members’ research as well as of current affairs, interdisciplinary workshops and an annual event with its members to nurture critical reflection on ongoing research and peer-learning.

As a research group committed to human rights and democratic principles, the HRDF strives to be open and inclusive, to ensure equality of opportunity and participation, and to welcome all forms of research falling within its scope.