Member-only story
Being a rights researcher
One of the joys of doing a PhD has been shaping my own academic identity. Eight years ago I returned to university aged 34, adrift in the world, not really sure about the direction I was heading in. Along the way I have studied games, project management, law, and computer science, finding a deep rooted love in rights, how information passes through society, and gender. If you had asked me when I embarked on this journey where I would be in 2024 I would have suggested a creative career, now I see an academic one fixed in trying to shape a better understanding of rights in society.
For many of you rights are an abstract concept, only mattering when you have a need to protect against oppression or fear of oppression. Many of us engage with the idea that rights fundamentally matter, agreeing that we should not impinge on the rights of others, yet in reality all rights are in tension, a process which is both difficult to succinctly conceptualise and complicated to engage in. Which is why I enjoy the academic process so much. There is always a need to explore concepts such as rights in the age in which we live, rather than relying on older conceptions of rights, and thus, for me, researching and exploring rights is a fundamental part of my career.
In practice this means reading, writing, and most importantly engaging with the world at large. Rights are of the world, not separate…
