Masters Course in Business and Human Rights

Companies are in a unique position to create the resources and infrastructure needed for people to realise their human rights. However, corporate conduct can also adversely affect the rights of workers, consumers, and communities.

This highly respected Masters-level course, taking place over four weekends between September and December, explores the links between human rights violations and corporate activities. It focuses on the importance of international standards in strengthening respect and protection of human rights, as well as what corporate human rights due diligence means in practice for businesses.

The course is jointly offered by IHRB, the University of Bergen (UiB), and the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights and is delivered by a world-class faculty of business and human rights experts from the fields of business, academia and civil society (see below).

This course is available to master's students, professionals and anyone interested in business and human rights.

A bachelor's degree or equivalent and at least two years' work experience is required. The course is with 15 ECTS credit points.

Students will be required to complete a semester paper, assigned at the beginning of the semester, of not more than 4,500 words, to be submitted four weeks after the last weekend gathering (grading scale A-F).

For more details on the course, please contact Andrea Mevold Zakariassen andrea.zakariassen@uib.no at the UiB’s Department of Comparative Politics.

This year’s course will take place on the following weekends:

• 24-27 September
• 9-11 October
• 30 October - 1 November
• 20-22 November

The first and last course weekends take place in person in Bergen, Norway, with two intervening weekends taking place virtually.

The course cost is NOK 35,000. (Cost does not include travel or accommodation - there will be an option to join virtually for those unable to travel to Bergen.)

Sessions will comprise a mixture of lectures, seminars, and group discussions. All lectures are streamed using Zoom.

All relevant materials, including lecture recordings, will be made available throughout the course pages at the student portal - MittUiB.

Upon completion of the course, you will be able to:

• demonstrate a specialised knowledge of human rights standards expected of companies and the challenges they face meeting them;
• understand how to identify if business practices are consistent with human rights standards and evaluate challenges in detail;
• develop sophisticated approaches based on due diligence assessment methods and tools that companies use in order to ensure respect for human rights;
• communicate your expertise in human rights and business to companies, governments, institutions and other actors.

Through expert guidance this course will help you learn about:

• what companies can and cannot do through an introduction to international human rights standards such as the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights, ethical norms and legal principles, and corporate duties;
• the dilemmas of operating in spaces where local standards and rules may vary from and sometimes contradict global standards or policies;
• how senior company executives address challenges and conduct due diligence;
• existing initiatives and corporate strategies designed to deal with human rights and business and uphold international standards;
• contemporary challenges in business and human rights including climate, just transitions, conflict, technology, and concerns including discrimination.

Learn from individuals at the forefront of making human rights part of everyday business. 2026’s faculty includes

Ahmad Abdallah, Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms

Adiljan Abdulrihim, Uyghur Transitional Justice Database

Nazma Akter, AWAJ Foundation, Bangladesh 

Elisabeth Andvig, Senior Investment Stewardship Manager at Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM)

Nnimmo Bassey, Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Rafto Laureate

Anton Mifsud Bonnici, Independent Consultant

Froydis Cameron-Johansson, IHRB Trustee, ex-Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Shell

Emma Cowper, DP World Europe

Frode Elgesem, Chair, National Contact Point, Norway; judge, Borgarting Court of Appeal

Francesca Fairbairn, Oceans, Commodities, and Academy Programme Manager, IHRB

Erika George, Professor of Law, Boston University

Erik Hagen, Director, Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara

Jen Herink, Microsoft

Isabel Hilton, Founder China Dialogue; Visiting Professor, the Lau Institute KCL; contributing editor Prospect

Theo Jaeckel, Independent Consultant

Therese Jebsen, Senior Advisor, Rafto Foundation for Human Rights

Scott Jerbi, Senior Advisor, Policy and Outreach, IHRB

Nicole Karlebach, Microsoft

Dr Harpreet Kaur, Business and Human Rights Specialist, United Nations Development Programme, Bangkok Regional Hub

Deanna Kemp, Director, Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining; University of Queensland; International Advisory Council, IHRB

Jostein Hole Kobbeltvedt, Executive Director, Rafto Foundation; Director, IHRB Nordic

Iain Levine, Human Rights Consultant

Rae Lindsay,  Clifford Chance, International Advisory Council, IHRB

Bonny Ling, Executive Director, Work Better Innovations, Forced Labour Expert

Alinde Melin, Volvo

Asria Mohamed, Information officer, Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara

Frank Mugisha, Executive Director, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), Rafto Laureate, Human Rights Defender

Justine Nolan, University of New South Wales, Australia

Beena Pallical, Chair, Dalit Arthik, National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights; Rafto laureate

Anita Ramasastry, Henry M. Jackson Prof of Law University of Washington; former member of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights

Simone Rocha, Independent Consultant

William Rook, Deputy Chief Executive Officer & Chief Operations Officer, Centre for Sports and Human Rights

Ingrid Rossland, Rafto Foundation for Human Rights

Haley St. Dennis, Head of Just Transitions, IHRB

Sanchita Banerjee Saxena, Public Policy and Human Rights Expert; Lecturer

Marte Stensrud, Equinor

Mark Taylor, Author of War Economies and International Law; International Advisory Council, IHRB; Norad

Salil Tripathi, Senior Advisor, Global Issues, IHRB

Andrei Vasiliev, Responsible Sourcing, Social Impact Manager, BESTSELLER

Claude Voillat, Independent consultant

Leigh Anne DeWine, Amazon

Duncan Warner, Senior Responsible Sourcing and Human Rights Manager, ASDA

Andrea Zakariassen, Assistant Professor Department of Comparative Politics  University of Bergen