Project details
This project will examine the availability, awareness and accessibility of participatory rights of families in relation to mass grave protection and investigation. While participatory rights are featuring more prominently in international law, their explicit link to mass graves, judicial investigations and commemoration efforts is not well explored.
Family participation has the potential to provide significant benefit to the investigation (by revealing relevant lines of inquiry) as well as to the family members themselves. At the same time, the safety of family members participating in the investigation may place some additional confidentiality, reporting and data limitations on the investigation. However, participatory rights of the next of kin may not be available to all, leading families of missing persons to proactively engage in search efforts either on their own (a phenomenon known as citizen-forensics) or by joining NGOs that assist with scientific, investigative work.
A growing body of literature on digital evidence and documentation technology for human rights fact-finding efforts has emerged to safeguard the probative value of such efforts before a court of law. But the question to be addressed remains: how can the structural divide between a rule-of-law based, authoritative, independent investigative approach with participatory rights and the ‘citizen-forensics’ approach be effectively closed?
View full project description (pdf 223kb)
The closing date is 5 May 2024.
Supervisors
Dr Melanie Klinkner is an international law scholar and, together with Dr Ellie Smith, author of the Bournemouth Protocol on Mass Grave Protection and Investigation. In January 2023 she was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant (£1.6 mio, funded through the UKRI guarantee for Frontier Research) to develop a comprehensive human rights framework for Mass Grave Protection, Investigation and Engagement (MaGPIE). She led an Arts and Humanities Research Council Research Leaders Fellowship for the creation of mass grave protection guidelines with the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) as project partner. In addition, she was the Principal Investigator on a Global Challenges Research Fund project on how to humanise the process of mass grave protection and investigation from the representative perspective of victims’ families. Presently she is working on a Leverhulme funded project to explore the merit of open source mass grave mapping. Together with Dr Howard Davis she is author of the monograph ‘The Right to the Truth in International Law’ (published by Routledge, 2020). During Trinity Term 2018 she was a Research Visitor at Oxford University's Bonavero Institute of Human Rights. Since February 2021 she is a member of the 'Panel of Experts on Missing Persons' for the ICMP. At Bournemouth University she teaches public international law, international criminal law and international human rights law.
Funding
A fully-funded Studentship includes a maintenance grant of £18,622 per year to contribute towards living expenses during the course of your research, as well as a fee waiver for 36 months. Associated costs, such as for fieldwork and conference attendance, will also be met under the Studentship.
Academic support
The Research Development Programme, developed by the Doctoral College in line with the Researcher Development Framework (Vitae).An added benefit is the opportunity to meet researchers from other academic schools at BU through the activities of the Doctoral College and benefit from their experiences, skills, and perspectives.
Fully entry requirements
The BU PhD and MRes Studentships are open to UK, EU and International students.
Candidates for a PhD Studentship should demonstrate outstanding qualities and be motivated to complete a PhD in 4 years and must demonstrate:
- Outstanding academic potential as measured normally by either a 1st class honours degree (or equivalent Grade Point Average (GPA) or a Master’s degree with distinction or equivalent
- An IELTS (Academic) score of 7.5 minimum (with a minimum 6.5 in each component, or equivalent) for candidates for whom English is not their first language and this must be evidenced at point of application.
In addition to satisfying minimum entry criteria, BU will look closely at the qualities, skills and background of each candidate and what they can bring to their chosen research project in order to ensure successful completion.
Applicants will be asked to submit an online application form and a proposal (approximately 1500 words) outlining their understanding of the project for which they are applying, the approach they would envisage taking and what qualities they will bring to the research community.
Please note:
- current BU Doctoral students are not eligible to apply for a Studentship
- current MRes/MPhil students can apply, subject to satisfactory completion of their Research Degree prior to being able to take up the award
- PhD Studentships cannot be used to support BU staff to complete doctoral programmes.
International entry requirements
If English is not your first language, you will need to provide evidence that you can understand English to a satisfactory level. English language requirements for this course are normally:
IELTS (Academic) score of 7.5 (with a minimum 6.5 in each component) or equivalent.
View further information about our English language requirements.
A number of pre-sessional English and preparatory programmes are offered through our partner institution, Bournemouth University International College, and will get you ready for study at BU at the appropriate level.
You can also find further details of the international qualifications we accept, and what level of study they apply to, on our postgraduate entry requirements page.
Apply now
Click the green ‘Apply now’ button at the top of the page and complete the online application form. You can find further guidance about applying for a postgraduate research degree in our Postgraduate Research section.
The closing date for applications 5 May 2024.
Careers
A research degree can open new career opportunities in commercial research and development, consultancy, or could lead you to starting your own business. You may alternatively consider a career in academia. You may wish to undertake research to contribute to your knowledge of a specialist subject, or develop your employability by enhancing your skills in project management and analysis.