Scholar appointed co-director of human rights centre

  • October 18, 2017
Scholar appointed co-director of human rights centre

Ella McPherson appointed Co-Director of the Centre of Governance and Human Rights at the University of Cambridge.

Ella has already brought to CGHR her passion for conducting innovative critical scholarship that aims at impactful real world application, and her ability to sustain deep engagement with practitioners and policymakers. She has also championed the role of students in CGHR's work. Now, through her leadership role, the Centre is poised to chart exciting new directions.

Sharath Srinivasan

Gates Cambridge Scholar Ella McPherson has been appointed Co-Director of the Centre of Governance and Human Rights at the University of Cambridge.

Ella is Lecturer in the Sociology of New Media and Digital Technology in the Department of Sociology at Cambridge, and a Fellow at Queen's College, Cambridge. She has been a long-time Research Associate of the CGHR and is the Centre's Theme Leader on Human Rights in the Digital Age which is launching a Digital Verification Corps in collaboration with Amnesty International. This global network of digital volunteers, many of them students from universities around the world, will help to speed up fact-checking of footage of human rights violations. 

Speaking about Ella's new appointment, Dr Sharath Srinivasan, fellow Co-Director of the Centre, said: "Ella has already brought to CGHR her passion for conducting innovative critical scholarship that aims at impactful real world application, and her ability to sustain deep engagement with practitioners and policymakers. She has also championed the role of students in CGHR's work. Now, through her leadership role, the Centre is poised to chart exciting new directions. CGHR has always prioritised interdisciplinary and collaborative research and its co-leadership from Sociology and the Department of Politics and International Studies [POLIS] marks an important new juncture. I have taken much inspiration and joy from working with Ella to date, and look forward to much more of that in the coming years."  

The 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.

Ella [2004] did her PhD in Social and Political Science at the University of Cambridge. 

Ella McPherson

Ella McPherson

  • Alumni
  • United States
  • 2004 PhD Social and Political Science
  • Pembroke College

Latest News

Cambridge event for new book by leading thinkers

Artificial intelligence gets a lot of bad press, but if harnessed correctly has the ability to create jobs and drive growth through enhancing productivity and helping countries level up, according to a new book by some of the world’s leading thinkers. The book, Permacrisis: A Plan to Fix a Fractured World, explores pressing global issues […]

Rainforest carbon credit schemes less effective than thought, claims report

The effectiveness of widely used rainforest carbon credit schemes has been called into question by a new study. The study, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) Carbon Crediting,  by the Berkeley Carbon Trading Project is co-authored by Gates Cambridge Scholar Libby Blanchard [2012] and has been making headlines around the world. It brings […]

Gates Cambridge Trust seeks Global Engagement Officer

About us  Gates Cambridge Scholarships are prestigious, highly competitive, full-cost scholarships awarded to outstanding applicants from countries outside the UK to pursue a full-time postgraduate degree in any subject available at the University of Cambridge. Gates Cambridge Scholars become part of a lifelong global community defined by its core value of commitment to improving the […]

How combining clinical data could improve traumatic brain injury outcomes

Researchers, led by a Gates Cambridge Scholar, have integrated all medical data collected from traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients to calculate, for the first time, the personalised contribution of each clinical event to long-term recovery. This international effort marks a step towards patient-centred treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU). Shubhayu Bhattacharyay [2020] is the lead […]