Information for Students

Ready to lead rights-based advocacy into the digital age? The Global Rights Innovation Lab (GRIL) Clinic invites graduate students from diverse fields (e.g. law, data science, public policy, economics, engineering, statistics, journalism, and more) to collaborate on groundbreaking projects that fuse legal advocacy with data-driven insights, and cutting-edge technology to advance justice.

At GRIL, students work in multidisciplinary teams serving organizational clients from grassroots movements to national and international human rights groups. Projects harness data analysis, visualization, and digital tools to strengthen legal investigations, litigation, and policy initiatives.

Law students craft legal theory, transform data findings into legal arguments, identify violations, co-design advocacy strategies, and develop policy recommendations. Data science, data analytics, and engineering students design and implement complex analyses, apply statistical models and train machine learning models, and translate technical insights into accessible evidence. Students with storytelling expertise create compelling visual narratives to drive change.

Depending on your interests and background, you may do the following:

 

For Law Students

  • Develop case theory and legal strategies to address urgent human rights challenges
  • Conduct complex legal research on cutting-edge topics for strategic advocacy efforts
  • Translate legal doctrine into measurable parameters that can be modeled
  • Draft legal briefs, human rights reports, and campaign materials to support policy initiatives
  • Gain data and technology literacy, collaborating with data scientists and technologists

 

For Data Science, Data Analytics, and Engineering Students

  • Analyze and visualize data to answer human rights related questions
  • Apply statistical methods and train machine learning models to analyze human rights data
  • Create digital story telling tools to translate complex data into a compelling narrative for decision makers and the public
  • Gain experience in the data-for-good sector
  • Gain human rights and international humanitarian law literacy, collaborating with law students

 

For All Students

  • Work in interdisciplinary teams
  • Solve real problems for real clients
  • Present your work to local, national, and global organizations
  • Build skills that employers actively seek (i.e., drafting legal strategies, working with data, presenting findings, communicating to diverse audiences)
  • Learn how to work with AI in a responsible manner
  • Help shape how technology is applied to support human rights organizations

 

Who Should Apply

We welcome all comers: Whether you are new to or an expert in human rights and/or data science, at GRIL you will receive training to apply your disciplinary methods to problem solving and advocacy. Every project is hands-on, collaborative, and connected to real-world outcomes. If you’re passionate about human rights and curious about how data and technology can transform advocacy, GRIL is the place to bring your skills, creativity, and determination.

We encourage applications from students in:

  • Law
  • Computer Science
  • Data Science
  • Information Science
  • Public Policy
  • Engineering
  • Technology and Innovation programs

No prior human rights experience is required. Curiosity, motivation, and a willingness to collaborate are what matter most.

 

Enrollment & Credits

Enrollment in the seminar (2 units) and clinic (4 units) is by instructor permission. The seminar meets Wednesdays, 3:35–5:25 PM. GRIL is open to UC Berkeley graduate students enrolled in in-person degree programs.

 

Contact Us

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask us. You can email the clinical director, Laurel Fletcher, at lfletcher@clinical.law.berkeley.edu or the clinical supervisor, Valentina Rozo Angel, at vrozo@clinical.law.berkeley.edu.

Frequently Asked Questions