Centre of Governance & Human Rights (CGHR)

The Centre of Governance and Human Rights (CGHR) is an outward focused multi-disciplinary research endeavour strongly committed to advancing thought and practice within areas of critical importance to global justice and human well-being in the twenty-first century.

CGHR is currently co-directed by Ella McPherson, Lecturer in the Sociology of New Media and Digital Technology at the Department of Sociology, and Sharath Srinivasan, the David and Elaine Potter Lecturer in Governance and Human Rights at the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS).

The Centre aims to be widely valued as a dynamic, innovative and collaborative research network with proven expertise, producing high quality scholarly outputs.  As such, the Centre is particularly interested in building bridges between the academy, policymakers and practitioners, and does so through core research themes as well as through innovative spin-out projects.

Within Cambridge, CGHR brings together wide-ranging expertise from within Sociology and POLIS and across the University to build a core network of scholars, including graduate researchers. The Centre benefits from the ideas and involvement of a range of academics and students with expertise in a diverse range of disciplines, including: African Studies, Social Anthropology, International Law, Computer Science, Data Science, Development Studies, Gender Studies, Geography, History, International Studies, Latin American Studies, Media and Communications, Middle Eastern Studies, Physics, Politics, Sociology, Social Psychology, South Asian Studies. 

CGHR was founded in late 2009 by Sharath Srinivasan, the inaugural David and Elaine Potter Lecturer in Governance and Human Rights in the POLIS. A generous gift to the University by the David and Elaine Potter Foundation, made this lectureship and the establishment of the Centre possible. Established in 1999 by David and Elaine Potter, the Foundation seeks to achieve an impact through grants that promote reason, education, and human rights, in the hope of improving mutual understanding, reinforcing good governance, and encouraging the growth and maintenance of a robust civil society, particularly in less developed countries.