Business and Human Rights

The re­search pro­file of the Inter­na­tional Doc­torate Pro­gram builds on law and man­age­ment as the core disci­plines com­ple­ment­ed by soci­ology, polit­ical, and in­for­mation sci­ences. Re­search fo­cuss­es on four areas of glob­al value chains and trans­na­tional eco­nomic gov­ernance, mi­gra­tion and changing labor rela­tions, digi­tal trans­for­mation, and envi­ron­men­tal sus­taina­bility. The cur­ricu­lum aims at con­trib­uting to the pro­fes­sional de­velopment of inde­pen­dent and criti­cal re­searchers through courses, con­fer­ences, and prac­tical pro­jects.

The International Doctorate Program at a glance

DegreeDr. jur./ Dr. phil./Dr. rer. soc.
Duration of studyFour years
Place of studyErlangen / Nuremberg, Bayreuth, Würzburg
Admission requirementsMaster's degree in a relevant discipline (law, management, sociology, political, or information science)
LanguageEnglish
Application deadline1 June 2025
HeadProf. Dr. Markus Krajewski
CoordinatorShuvra Dey
 Contact the coordinator
Further information Website "Business and Human Rights"

An inter- and transdisciplinary research

The Inter­na­tional Doc­torate Pro­gram "Business and Hu­man Rights: Gov­ernance Chal­leng­es in a com­plex World", fund­ed by the Elite Net­work of Ba­varia, weds the theo­reti­cal foun­dation of con­struc­tivist didac­tics with an inter- and trans­disci­pli­nary re­search ap­proach. To create an envi­ron­ment of mul­ti-per­cep­tivity, ele­ments of active and self-directed learn­ing and re­search, situ­ated learn­ing, re­search in real life and pro­fes­sional prac­tice, social learn­ing, and disci­pli­nary dia­logue shape the cur­ricu­lum of the doc­torate pro­gram.

As a struc­tured doc­toral pro­gram, "Business and Hu­man Rights" is part of the FAU Grad­uate Cen­ter, an in­for­mation and net­work­ing plat­form bring­ing to­gether struc­tured doc­toral pro­grams from all facul­ties at FAU. It coor­di­nates the doc­torate pro­ce­dure for the whole uni­versi­ty, sup­ports the ad­min­istra­tive as­pects of the doc­toral pro­ce­dure, and offers courses focus­ing on fur­ther quali­fica­tions in inter­disci­pli­nary topics and re­search ca­reer de­velopment, which can be at­tend­ed by all doc­toral can­di­dates.


Due to the sig­nifi­cant prac­tical rele­vance of the issues evolving around "Business and Hu­man Rights", the Inter­na­tional Doc­torate Pro­gram fosters a trans­disci­pli­nary ap­proach, which en­gages aca­dem­ics and prac­ti­tion­ers in a col­la­bora­tive re­search pro­cess to ana­lyse com­plex real-life prob­lems. This allows the doc­toral re­searchers to pur­sue pro­jects with sub­stan­tial prac­tical rele­vance and to de­velop their pro­fes­sional skills which is of sig­nifi­cant value for their ca­reers in and out­side of aca­dem­ia.

Portrait picture of Prof. Dr. Markus Krajewski
© Prof. Dr. Markus Krajewski

With doctoral researchers from 12 different countries and a variety of disciplines including law, business and social sciences, the International Doctorate Program "Business and Human Rights" enables true interdisciplinary and international research at the highest level.

Prof. Dr. Markus Krajewski

International projects cooperated with partners

The inter­na­tional char­acter of the Doctorate Program will be real­ized through the at­trac­tion of a sig­nifi­cant num­ber of doc­toral re­searchers from abroad, inter­na­tional guest re­searchers, and an inter­na­tional Advi­sory Board. Close coop­era­tion with part­ners from busi­ness­es, civil socie­ty, and polit­ical actors ena­bles re­searchers to de­velop their pro­jects in a broader con­text to en­sure prac­tical rele­vance. The International Doctorate Program's cur­ricu­lum aims at con­trib­uting to the pro­fes­sional de­velopment of inde­pen­dent and criti­cal re­searchers through a varie­ty of lec­tures, re­search re­treats, collo­quia, and con­fer­ences as well as the pos­sibil­ity of prac­tical pro­jects.

The Doktorate Program "Business and Human Rights" will in­clude 16 Prin­cipal Inves­tiga­tors from the host uni­versi­ties and up to 20 doc­toral re­searchers se­lected through a com­peti­tive pro­cess. 12 doc­toral re­searchers will be fund­ed by the Elite Net­work of Ba­varia and up to eight by other exter­nal funds. The doc­toral re­searchers will bene­fit from a com­pre­hen­sive su­pervi­sion con­cept al­low­ing them to work with and re­ceive sup­port from an inter­na­tional and inter­disci­pli­nary team.