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Main Image for Open Source Investigation Initiative

Open Source Investigation Initiative

In Academic Year 2024-2025 BCB has a spotlight on open source human rights investigation practices. Conceptualized and run by Fred Abrahams and Marija Ristic, this mix of courses, workshops, events, and Amnesty International’s Digital Verification Corps connects the classroom to real-world projects by NGOs, media, and international organizations.

The initiative’s goals are:
1) Equipping students and human rights practitioners with foundational and tech-driven skills in human rights fact-finding and reporting
2) Conducting strategic investigations into violations of human rights and international humanitarian law
3) Partnering with NGOs, international organizations, media, and others in the human rights space

Courses

Making the Case: Human Rights Research and Reporting (syllabus)
Evidence and Inquiry: Open Source Research for Human Rights (syllabus)
Critical Human Rights Advocacy (syllabus)

Events
2024 Human Rights Open Source Investigations: A Workshop on Digital Research Techniques

Events

On November 2, 2024, Bard Berlin hosted an open source workshop with OSINT for Ukraine to examine human rights violations in Ukraine and Syria.

On January 29, 2025, Fred Abrahams and Marija Ristic ran a workshop at the transmediale festival in Berlin called Pro Test: Monitoring Protest from Afar on using open source techniques and tools to monitor police abuse.

Trainings

On December 17-18, 2024, a group of visiting students from Al Quds Bard College received training in open source human rights research.

Digital Verification Corps
DVC Summit 2024, Geneva, Switzerland

Digital Verification Corps

Working with Amnesty International’s Digital Verification Corps (DVC), Bard College Berlin is one of eight universities in the world where students take part in the hands-on work of using open-source digital evidence for human rights accountability. Meeting regularly during the academic year, students get trained in open source techniques and contribute to projects by NGOs, media, international organizations and others. Past projects include the Iranian Archive run by the organization Mnemonic, which documents human rights violations during the 2022 protests in Iran, and a public letter to universities in the United States about the right to protest sent jointly by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union. In September 2024, students participated in the DVC Summit in Geneva, Switzerland with DVC teams from the University of Cambridge, University of Essex, University of California-Berkeley, Hertie School,Geneva Academy for International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and Ibero University in México City. 

The Team

The Team

Fred Abrahams is an experienced researcher, writer and human rights advocate with expertise in war crimes investigations and research methodologies. At Human Rights Watch for nearly three decades, he most recently oversaw the Crisis & Conflict, Arms and Technology divisions, including the Digital Investigations Lab, and led the organization’s internal research training. 

Marija Ristic is an experienced journalist, editor and filmmaker working at Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Programme.

Quick Links

Quick Links

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Bard College Berlin, A Liberal Arts University gGmbH

Mailing address: Platanenstrasse 24, 13156 Berlin, Germany
Phone: +49 30 43733 0
Fax: +49 30 43733 100
Email: [email protected] 
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Bard College Berlin is institutionally accredited at the national level in Germany by the Wissenschaftsrat.

In the United States, Bard College Berlin is accredited through
Bard College by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

Qualifying students receive both a German BA and an American BA. 
© 2024 Bard College Berlin, A Liberal Arts University gGmbH
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