The University Network for Human Rights (UNHR) places summer fellows in Lisbon, Portugal for eight to ten weeks of hands-on human rights work. Fellows join community-based projects under the supervision of attorneys and advocates, contributing legal research, writing, and organizing. The projects listed for the current round cover ethnic cleansing and erasure in Nagorno-Karabakh, environmental justice in Panama, disappearances in Mexico, and massacres in Bolivia.
UNHR was launched in 2018 by James Cavallaro and Ruhan Nagra, out of an informal collaboration between Stanford undergraduates and the law school’s human rights clinic, and it now runs student training programs with partner universities in several countries. Applications for the 2026 fellowship are closed; the program returns in future summers.
Benefits & funding
- Eight to ten weeks working alongside UNHR’s advocacy team in Lisbon, Portugal.
- Supervision by practicing attorneys and advocates on active human rights matters.
- Legal research work that reaches human rights bodies: memos, briefs, and contributions to formal submissions.
- Further assignments across fact-finding support, data analysis, backgrounders and event materials, educational program coordination, reports, social media, and website content.
- No stipend is promised. UNHR states that it can provide funding in exceptional cases, based on demonstrated need and unique skills or experience.
- Applicants are encouraged to pursue funding through their own universities, external scholarships, and other sources.
Eligibility
- Law students and graduate students.
- Undergraduates are considered when they bring exceptional, demonstrated experience in human rights or social justice.
- No nationality or residency requirement is stated; applicants worldwide may apply.
- The fellowship is in person in Lisbon for the full eight to ten weeks. UNHR describes no remote option.
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Education required
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Application process
- 1Write a brief statement of interest covering the fit with UNHR’s projects and the intended fellowship period.
- 2Prepare a CV, contact details for two references, and links to any publications.
- 3Email the materials to thomas@humanrightsnetwork.org with the subject line “Summer Fellowship Application – [NAME]”.
- 4Apply as early as possible: UNHR reviews applications on a rolling basis.
- 5Note any funding request in the application, since support is granted only in exceptional cases and rests on demonstrated need.
- 6Check the fellowship page for the next call. The 2026 round is closed.
Program timeline
Rolling
Applications are reviewed as they arrive.
Summer
The fellowship runs for eight to ten weeks in Lisbon.
Closed.
2026 cycle
Next cycle
UNHR has not published dates or a deadline for the next round.