In the emerging academic field of Business and Human Rights (BHR), conducting research with real-world impact is the declared objective of many researchers. It is a field in which individual research interests and advocacy for human rights are often closely aligned.

Companies under pressure to manage human rights challenges also welcome research on applied research questions. They hope for scholarly guidance on implementation challenges and results that are readily applicable in corporate practice.

However, setting up research projects that meet the sometimes paradoxical requirements from academia and practice poses many challenges for researchers in this field. 

In this Podcast we will provide examples from our work conducted in the context of the Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights. We will present our distinct research process and methodology to discuss with participants how to make further improvements. To close the webinar, we will highlight potential unintended consequences of conducting research with the declared objective of affecting change in company conduct.

Panelists:

Dorothée Baumann-Pauly, Director, Center for Business and Human Rights - Geneva School of Economics and Management, Switzerland.

Serra Cremer Iyi, Consultant, Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights - Geneva School of Economics and Management, United Kingdom.