You'll study 180 credits in total. The course consists of:
This course aims to familiarise you with three sides of human rights practice: law, institutions and advocacy .
Semester 1 introduces you to key concepts in international human rights law. This enables you to critically examine international and regional treaties and the work of monitoring and adjudication bodies. You'll also receive training in socio-legal research methods and data collection through fieldwork. You'll then apply this knowledge whilst working on a human rights placement in partnership with a non/governmental organisation or UN mechanism.
In Semester 2, you can enhance your advocacy skills by participating in clinical legal education or a human rights lab. You'll learn to communicate research in different formats to peers, scholars, professionals or law clinic clients across a range of professional settings. The range of option modules will allow you to deepen your knowledge and skills in a specific human rights field or craft a more interdisciplinary understanding of human rights.
During Semester 2 and the summer, you’ll start work on a dissertation on a topic of your choice.
Our core modules enable you to acquire holistic knowledge and the necessary socio-legal skills needed for a successful career in human rights practice, or progression to PhD study.
As part of legal clinics, you'll develop advocacy campaigns and submissions to international human rights bodies. You'll also undertake a human rights placement with an organisation that works on a topic of interest, and conduct fieldwork in South Africa, the UK or online.
You must choose one of these two modules as a core module and may take the second one as an optional module.
You will also study two option modules. In previous years, options have covered topics such as:
The options available to you will be confirmed after you begin your course. While we are striving to accommodate our students’ preferences, we are not able to guarantee availability of optional modules.
Our modules may change to reflect the latest academic thinking and expertise of our staff, and in line with Department/School academic planning.
During Semester 2 and in summer, you will work on a dissertation of up to 12,000 words on a topic of your choice. You will be guided throughout your dissertation journey by an academic supervisor. The dissertation is due for submission in mid-September.
The dissertation is a substantive piece of academic work and the culmination of your studies. It's often possible to align your dissertation with an organisation you've worked with, ensuring it has immediate relevance and impact. As part of their dissertation research, many of our students choose
You’ll work with world‐leading academics who’ll challenge you to think independently and excel in all that you do. Our approach to teaching will provide you with the knowledge, opportunities, and support you need to grow and succeed in a global workplace.
You will be taught by academics and experienced practitioners in a range of innovative and interactive formats, including:
Most of the teaching activities will take place at the Centre for Applied Human Rights and York Law School. The Centre is based in the Research Centre for Social Sciences on Campus West and York Law School is located in the Law and Sociology Building on Campus East. In addition, you will spend two weeks undertaking fieldwork, either in Cape Town (South Africa), online or in and around York (UK).
Our beautiful green campus offers a student-friendly setting in which to live and study, within easy reach of the action in the city centre. It's easy to get around campus - everything is within walking or pedalling distance, or you can always use the fast and frequent bus service.
You'll be assessed on work including essays, moot written submissions, legal advocacy campaigns, reflective diaries, presentations and your dissertation.
If English isn't your first language you may need to provide evidence of your English language ability. We accept the following qualifications:
For more information see our postgraduate English language requirements .
You may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language courses . These courses will provide you with the level of English needed to meet the conditions of your offer.
The length of course you need to take depends on your current English language test scores and how much you need to improve to reach our English language requirements.
After you've accepted your offer to study at York, we'll confirm which pre-sessional course you should apply to via You@York .
You can apply and send all your documentation online. You don’t need to complete your application all at once: you can start it, save it and finish it later.
Apply for this course