Hrant Dink Scholars Research Human Rights Crises to Expand Knowledge and Community

During the 2025-2026 academic year, two undergraduate students, Aisha Hersi (CLA ‘26) and Sanket Deshpande (CLA ‘27), are exploring and researching mass atrocity crimes through the 2025-2026 Hrant Dink Human Rights Scholarship. Hrant Dink was an Armenian-Turkish journalist known for advocating for Turkish-Armenian reconciliation and human and minority rights in Turkey. He was assassinated in 2007. The fellowship, named in honor of him, promotes research on human rights and the consequences of people’s inhumanity to other peoples. While Hersi discovered scholarly insights on transnational justice mechanisms, and Deshpande focused on distilling complex research into accessible resources for the public, both Hrant Dink scholars bolstered their research skills and solidified their commitment to human rights work.

International Human Rights Work as a Force for Unity

Aisha Hersi is a political science major. She has always been interested in domestic policy and the ways that states craft those policies. As Hersi has engaged more in human rights research through the Hrant Dink Scholarship, she has come to appreciate the universal, unifying nature of human rights advocacy and has been compelled to conduct more research on international policy.

As a Hrant Dink Scholar, Hersi collaborated with Human Rights Program Director Carrie Walling on her research on archives as transnational justice mechanisms. Hersi studied truth commissions and tribunals, looking at whether–and how–information from these proceedings was archived. Examining these archives can provide insight into how they operate and contribute to overall findings about the transparency and accessibility of international justice systems. Sifting through large amounts of data, Hersi was guided by continuous feedback and support from Professor Walling. “The mentorship I received in the first semester of the program was incredibly integral to how I approached the research in the second semester,” said Hersi. She was excited and emboldened to pursue her own research project in the second half of the year.

Now, Hersi is working on her independent project, which focuses on how states interpret the United Nations Charter. Hersi is investigating how states interpret charter rules on the use of military force especially when they conflict with other legal obligations to prevent mass atrocities and norms like  the responsibility to protect (R2P). Her primary case of study is NATO’s intervention in the Kosovo War. 

Diving into UN mechanisms has deepened her knowledge of human rights and inspired her to apply this knowledge to real-world human rights advocacy. 

Hersi’s experience as a Hrant Dink Scholar has inspired her to pursue a career in public service. She is especially interested in work that involves the distribution of public goods, particularly through tax policy. Hersi is planning on attending law school to pursue these goals.

Forging Accessible Human Rights Knowledge

Sanket Deshpande (CLA ‘27) is studying economics and political science. He is especially interested in wealth inequality and power dynamics. In his work as a Hrant Dink Scholar, Deshpande is doing research in the newly launched Human Rights ColLaboratory. The goal of the ColLab is to create digestible, explanatory materials for the general public to learn about human rights topics. Student researchers in the ColLab cover a wide range of topics to help people know their rights and be empowered to defend them. Deshpande translates complex human rights topics into digestible content, while maintaining the comprehensive details needed to fully capture these topics. In his work, his goal is to ultimately support the reader’s ability to apply their newly gained human rights knowledge. 

Deshpande has written pieces on various international accountability topics. He has done research to explain international crimes: war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. He also completed a recent piece on upstanders and bystanders, explaining how we can all take action as human rights defenders, and is currently working on a project on the UN’s charter-based and treaty-based mechanisms for international human rights protection. Deshpande’s work as a Hrant Dink Scholar has challenged him to learn to research and write in new ways, with a renewed purpose. His mentorship with Professor Walling, enabling him to have a close connection with an expert on human rights topics, has been professionally and personally fulfilling. He is driven to produce useful, accessible materials that can truly support his community and help them defend human rights.

For Deshpande, his work feels even more important than ever, especially with increased ICE presence in the Twin Cities. In making these materials accessible and applicable to a non-academic audience, he can empower his neighbors and friends to protect their rights and the rights of others. “It’s all about making sure human rights are not an ivory tower of gatekept knowledge, but instead understood and celebrated by everyone,” he says. When it comes to human rights, knowledge is power. Working with Professor Walling and the ColLab cohort has solidified what Deshpande wants to do in the future. He would like to go to law school and potentially pursue a Fulbright, in addition to continuing his human rights research as an undergraduate student. He is excited to publish the ColLab site soon and share his work with students. 

Extending Human Rights Community 

Hersi and Deshpande’s involvement with the Human Rights Program through the Hrant Dink Scholarship has connected them both to the greater human rights community on campus and in the Twin Cities. Deshpande has been able to access new opportunities, including ones that have pushed him out of his comfort zone. “I’ve taken pride in the little things, whether that’s helping with ICE patrol on a Saturday or researching a human rights case study. There is so much value in every level of action,” said Deshpande. He has found himself in spaces that are sometimes uncomfortable, but necessary to be present in and active in. Hersi emphasized her appreciation of the HRP community and the program’s student-oriented mission. “I’m very proud to contribute to a program that prioritizes student engagement and uplifts student research,” she said. She has felt supported to find and pursue her own niche within human rights research. Hersi and Deshpande’s experiences as Hrant Dink Scholars have solidified the importance of the work they do within the program and as human rights defenders in their daily lives, lessons they will take with them during their time at the University and beyond.