Research Program on Economic & Social Rights

The Research Program on Economic and Social Rights brings more than a dozen UConn faculty together with over 30 affiliated scholars from across the United States and Canada. Together, we have generated numerous graduate and undergraduate courses, several edited volumes, multiple co-authored articles, and the National Science Foundation-funded Socio-Economic Rights Fulfillment Index (SERF Index).

A worker picks crops at Sienna Farm.

Economic & Social Rights Group (ESRG)

The centerpiece of our program is the ESRG, an interdisciplinary monthly gathering of faculty and graduate students who meet to share ongoing research and to discuss current scholarship around economic and social rights. In addition to monthly meetings, we produce the Economic Rights Working Paper Series, hold an annual thematically-oriented, one-day workshop with our affiliated members, and host an annual public lecture by a leading figure in the field. Past speakers include Philip Alston and Immanuel Wallerstein.

Economic Rights Working Paper Series

The purpose of the series is to foster and promote research in the re-emerging area of economic rights. The series aims to be the clearinghouse for research in economic rights. It will be continuously updated. Typically, working papers in the series represent work in progress on any topic of economic rights and from any field. Published articles may also be included as a convenient way for scholars to access up-to-date research in their area of interest. In all cases the copyrights for the papers included in the series remain with the author or, if previously published, with the author and/or publisher. Those interested in submitting papers to the series should contact Derek Johnson at derek.johnson@uconn.edu.

 

Access the Working Paper Series

Upcoming Events

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Join the Listserv

If you are interested in receiving email announcements for our events, visit the ESRG listserv page to enroll. If this is the first time you have signed up for a UConn listserv, please select “Get Password” on the right side of the page and follow the steps to register your password. You can return to the same site in the future to change your email address or unsubscribe. Members of the list include graduate students, staff members, faculty members, and visitors to the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute. The list is moderated by a faculty member in the program. To send e-mails to the listserv, simply send your email to uconn_esrg-l@listserv.uconn.edu. To prevent SPAM, the system will ask you to confirm that you have submitted your email.

Our Community

The Economic & Social Rights Program has a rich history of cultivating scholars and practitioners whose work concerns issues of poverty, inequality, environmental justice, and other challenges at the heart of human wellbeing. Read more about how we've grown in UConn Today.

News

Our People

Leadership

Shareen Hertel

Shareen Hertel

Director, Research Program on Economic & Social Rights
Professor, Political Science & Human Rights

shareen.hertel@uconn.edu

Affiliate Members

Meet Our Affiliates

Imge Akaslan
Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law
Business and Human Rights, Global Supply Chains

Catherine Albisa
Race Forward
Constitutional and Human Rights Law

Radhika Balakrishnan
Rutgers University
Gender; Development; Budgetary Analysis

Kristy A. Belton
Consultant
Economic Rights

Salil Benegal
Union Collegee
Environmental Rights; Inequality

Lea Bishop
Indiana University McKinney School of Law
Right to Science and Culture

Catherine Buerger
Dangerous Speech Project
Human Rights Education; Activism

Benjamin Carbonetti
Trinity College
State Capacity; Repression

Christina Chiarelli-Helminiak
West Chester University
Burnout; Human Rights Education

Chad Clay
University of Georgia
Labor Rights; Human Rights Measurement

Allison Corkery
Center for Economic & Social Rights
Economic and Social Rights; Methodology

 

Diane F. Frey
San Francisco State University
International Labor Standards; Right to Decent Work; Union Rights

Sakiko Fukuda-Parr
The New School
Human Rights Measurement; Global Financing

Carlos Garcia-Quijano
University of Rhode Island
Human Well-being; Human Ecology; Coastal Livelihoods

Michael Goodhart
University of Pittsburgh
Democracy; Globalization

Mark Gibney
University of North Carolina- Asheville
Extraterritorial Obligations

Madri Hall-Faul
University of Kentucky College of Social Work
Devolution, social welfare policy, cash assistance

Philip Harvey
Rutgers University
Right to Employment; Labor Rights

Patrick Heidkamp
Southern Connecticut State University
Economic Geography; Globalization

Richard Hiskes
Grand Valley State University
Economic Rights; Environmental Rights

Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann
Wilfrid Laurier University
Right to Food; Economic Rights

 

Chris Jeffords
Villanova University
Environmental Human Rights; Environmental Economics

Elizabeth Kaletski
Ithaca College
Economic Development; Labor Rights; Child Labor

Prakash Kashwan
Brandeis University
Environmental Policy; Global Climate Governance

Konstantinos (Kostas) Koutsioumpas
Independent Researcher
Right to Sport; Physical Activity and Play

Hilda Llorens
University of Rhode Island
Environmental justice; Afro-Caribbean Ecologies; Latinx Environmentalisms

Gillian MacNaughton
Social and Economic Rights Associates
Right to Health; Right to Decent Work

Brendan Mark
University of Rhode Island
Political Economy; Collective Dissent

Leslie Marshall
Director, SFPE Foundation
Corporate Social Responsibility

Ken Neubeck
UConn Emeritus
Economic Rights; Welfare Policies

Nishith Prakash 
Northeastern University
Development; Political Economy

Sanjay Reddy
The New School
Political Economy; Development

Ana María Sánchez Rodríguez
Maynooth University
Discrimination; International Development

Shawna Sweeney
Consultant
Women’s Economic Rights; Measurement

Corinne Tagliarina
SUNY Morrisville
Right to Water, Laws and Policy

Rachel Wahl
University of Virginia Curry School of Education
Human Rights Education

Daniel J. Whelan
Hendrix College
History of Human Rights

Inga Winkler
Central European University, Department of Legal Studies
Global Justice; Right to Sanitation

Katharine G. Young
Boston College
Comparative Constitutional Law; Judicial Review

Christian Zimmermann
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Redistribution; Unemployment

People

Oksan Bayulgen

Department Head and Professor, Political Science

oksan.bayulgen@uconn.edu

Robert Bird

Robert Bird

Eversource Energy Chair in Business Ethics
Professor of Business Law
Research Fellow, School of Law
Member, Institute for Systems Genomics

rbird@business.uconn.edu

Alex Branzell, a man in a white shirt, smiles at the camera from The Dodd Center for Human Rights.

Alex Branzell

Events & Communications Coordinator, Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute

alex.branzell@uconn.edu

Davis Chacon Hurtado

Davis Chacón Hurtado

Co-Director Engineering for Human Rights Initiative
Assistant Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Human Rights

davis.chacon-hurtado@uconn.edu

Audrey Chapman

Professor, Public Health Sciences

achapman@uchc.edu

Lynn Healy

Lynne Healey

Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor Emerita, Social Work

lynne.healy@uconn.edu

Shareen Hertel

Shareen Hertel

Wiktor Osiatyński Chair of Human Rights
Professor, Political Science and Human Rights

shareen.hertel@uconn.edu

Blair Johnson

Blair Johnson

Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor, Psychology

blair.johnson@uconn.edu

Derek Johnson

Senior Lecturer in Residence, Economics

derek.johnson@uconn.edu

Jin Kwon

Jin Kwon

PhD Student Political Science

ye_jin.kwon@uconn.edu

Molly Land

Molly Land

Associate Dean of Academic Affairs
Catherine Roraback Professor of Law
Professor, Human Rights

molly.land@law.uconn.edu

Erica Laplante

Erica Laplante

Director, Human Rights Research Hub
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute

erica.laplante@uconn.edu

Kathryn Libal

Kathryn Libal

Director, Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute
Professor, Social Work and Human Rights

kathryn.libal@uconn.edu

Catherine Masud

Catherine Masud

Assistant Professor In-Residence, Human Rights Documentary Filmmaking

catherine.masud@uconn.edu

Alanson Minkler

Emeritus Professor, Economics

alanson.minkler@uconn.edu

Craig Mortley

Craig Mortley

Ph.D. Student, Graduate Assistant, and Adjunct Instructor in the School of Social Work

craig.mortley@uconn.edu

Gaurav Mukherjee

Gaurav Mukherjee

Visiting Assistant Professor, Law
Stuart F. Smith Teaching Fellow

gaurav.mukherjee@uconn.edu

Desen Özkan

Assistant Professor Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

desen.ozkan@uconn.edu

Stephen Park

Stephen Park

Associate Professor, Business Law

stephen.park@uconn.edu

Susan Randolph

Susan Randolph

Associate Professor Emerita, Economics

susan.m.randolph@gmail.com

Michael Rubin

Michael Rubin

Assistant Professor, Political Science and Human Rights

michael.a.rubin@uconn.edu

Cory Runstedler

Cory Runstedler

Graduate Assistant

cory.runstedler@uconn.edu

Swayam Sampurna Panigrahi

Swayam Sampurna Panigrahi

Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Fellow (2025-27)

spm25002@uconn.edu

Lyle Scruggs

Professor, Political Science

lyle.scruggs@uconn.edu

Margaret Walsh

Director of Research Development, Institute of the Environment and Energy
Research Professor, Institute of the Environment and Energy

margaret.walsh@uconn.edu

Alyssa Webb

Educational Program Administrator, Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute

alyssa.webb@uconn.edu