Morton Winston, chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion and director of the Center for the Study of Social Justice, was recently named the Danish Distinguished Chair in Human Rights and International Relations for 2007 –08. This senior Fulbright Research Scholarship provides Winston with the opportunity to spend four months in residence at the Danish Institute for Human Rights in Copenhagen. There, he will contribute to the institute ’s active academic exchange and aid the institute in networking with American universities and research environments, in addition to participating in conferences and teaching activities.
Winston’s research interests revolve around contemporary human rights theory. While abroad, he will be working on a research project on corporate social responsibility for human rights. “The past decade has witnessed a remarkable growth in the idea that major corporations have significant social responsibilities for protecting human rights and the environment, ” Winston said.
The goal of his upcoming research is “to create an integrated model for corporate social and environmental responsibility that combines a comprehensive assessment tool with an effective auditing and monitoring system and a standard reporting framework, ” he said. “Such an integrated model would provide greater standardization, transparency, and accountability than we presently have in the rapidly developing field of corporate social responsibility.
“The project will focus on voluntary measures, but with some attention to the legal and regulatory issues that must also be addressed as governments move toward better enforcement of laws regulating corporate behavior. ”
Once his tenure at the institute is complete, Winston hopes to either “produce a book” or edit a special issue of The Journal of Human Rights touting his research.
The honor of Danish Distinguished Chair in Human Rights and International Relations is Winston’s third Fulbright Scholarship. His previous awards took him to South Africa (1992 –93) and Thailand (1999–2000).