HRMI Co-Founder wins Grawemeyer Award

We are absolutely delighted to announce that Human Rights Measurement Initiative co-founder Dr Susan Randolph’s work on measuring economic and social rights has won a prestigious international prize, the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order, given by the University of Louisville.

Susan co-wrote the 2015 book Fulfilling Social and Economic Rights with her two colleagues, Sakiko Fukuda-Parr and Terra Lawson-Remer. In it, the authors set out a new way of measuring the human rights performance of countries — the method that HRMI now uses. You can read Susan’s recent explanation of their ideas in her recent blog post here.

In 2016, the book won the American Political Science Association’s Human Rights Section Best Book Award.

The official announcement of the Grawemeyer Award includes this explanation of the worth of Susan’s work:

“All of our reviewers agreed this work can inform domestic and international policies, aid in the work of non-governmental organizations and provide a way to evaluate performance in a truly comparative perspective,” said Charles Ziegler, a University of Louisville political science professor who directs the world order award. “In short, the ideas expressed in this book can make a significant contribution to world order.”

Sometimes likened to the Nobel Prize, but focusing squarely on ideas, the $100,000 Grawemeyer Awards reward outstanding ideas in music, world order, psychology, education and religion. Winners visit the University of Louisville in April to accept their awards and give free talks on their winning ideas.

The award for ideas improving world order has been awarded in the past to people putting forward ideas on genocide, nuclear weapons, political violence, slavery and internally displaced people, among others. You can see the full list of winning ideas here.

Warm congratulations to Susan, Sakiko and Terra! We are so pleased to be putting your work into action at HRMI.