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Human Rights Policy Legal Clinic

2026 Special Focus: Health and Human Rights

7 – 17 July 2026
Registration is open until 26 June 2026.

Face-to-face programme in Olomouc: 7 – 17 July 2026 (arrival on 6 July and departure on 17 July or on 18 July)

ECTS credits: Students can earn up to 5 ECTS credits for active participation

Price:
€ 490 per participant (participants are responsible for arranging their travel and accommodation)

You may use Erasmus+ funding for your participation within the Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) framework. In this case, please make sure to verify with your home university that you are eligible for the Erasmus+ grant and that your institution can nominate you by 25 June 2026.

At the same time, students from Aurora partner universities are also welcome to attend outside the BIP framework. For these students, participation in the academic programme is free of charge.

Price includes:

• Academic programme enrolment
• Reading and welcome pack
• Field trip to Health Lab
• Interactions with special lecturers and guests
• Two coffee breaks and lunch each day
• Exciting social activities (Board Games Evening, Movie night, Barbecue)

Contact: Martin Verner: martin.verner@upol.cz

Programme details

Legal clinics are a special form of legal education, combining theory and practice, designed to teach not only knowledge, but also develop skills and instill values, and promote social justice. Legal clinics exist in many forms. One of them is a Policy legal clinic, where students instead of helping individual clients, focus on existing legal problems from a policy perspective, usually by analysis of legal regulation and its practical application, identifying problems and deficiencies, and suggesting general measures, such as changes to legal regulation or other policy-oriented activities, to address the problem.

In summer of 2026, Palacký University, Faculty of Law, would like to invite you to experience the Third Installment of Human Rights Policy Legal Clinic Summer School. The Human Rights Policy Legal Clinic course, which normally takes a full semester, will be condensed into a two-week intensive Summer School schedule. Participants of the first Human Rights Policy Legal Clinic Summer School in 2023 and the second in 2024 appreciated that the course equipped them with the necessary tools to identify deficiencies in human rights protection and to suggest measures and legal changes to address the problems. They valued the opportunity to meet a wide variety of professionals with diverse backgrounds working on human rights across many settings.

In 2026, the Human Rights Policy Legal Clinic will have a special focus on human rights related to health and framed within the current context – from modern technologies, data privacy, assistive technologies, pro-bono medicine, to triage, discrimination, protection of people with disabilities, and environmental rights related to health.

Learning outcomes: Summer Law School will allow the participants to develop:

1. knowledge of international, European, and comparative human rights law (proportionality, horizontal effect, tension between universalism and particularism, equality, positive and negative obligations) and specific rights (human dignity, privacy, right to life, health and health care, socio-economic rights, environmental rights),
2. develop a wide range of analytical, creative, problem-solving, legal writing, and critical thinking skills, increase their sensitivity to human rights issues in general, but specifically in a cross-cultural context, and
3. understand the importance of human rights monitoring, policing, and advocacy.

During the two weeks of the Summer Law School, participants will engage in interactive sessions with human rights experts from various fields and backgrounds (attorneys, judges, human rights activists), developing their knowledge and relevant skills, which they will use over the course of the whole summer school when working in teams on analytical human rights policy projects, starting from defining and structuring the analyzed problem, researching and discussing it, presenting to others and writing and receiving feedback to their policy paper.

Mode of study: 

Distance learning with real-time participation in weekly online meetings. 

Course Description: 

The main purpose of this course is to provide participants with opportunities to critically analyse institutional and systems approaches based on different types of leadership and ideas of expertise. The concepts of professionalism and professional identity in leadership will be examined, particularly in the field of education and topic on sustainable development. Wicked problems will be defined and discussed, possible solutions identified and what could prevent their progress and how outcomes could be evaluated. Issues of professional learning for change and leadership including taking actions will be discussed and connected to the UN SDGs and eight key competences for sustainability and social entrepreneurship. Attention will be given to professional capital for sustainability with some focus on integrative learning, linking thinking skills and content. The final topic will be a professional development plan putting reflection and self-assessment into structured private plan. 

See the course in the UI course catalog here. 

Course schedule and assessment:  

Classes and discussions are online and built on informed debate and active participation (minimum 80% attendance in class is required).

Assignments include individual written assignments and active participation in discussion threads, and team assignments including leading a class, giving a lecture and leading discussion, and be in the role of class discussant. To pass the course students need to get minimum grade 5,0 for each assignment and fulfil obligatory attendance and participation in classes. Further information and instructions will be on Canvas (the learning environment). 

 Final project for the course is due in early December.

Learning outcomes: 

At the end of the course students can: 

• demonstrate knowledge and understanding of issues and models related to institutional and systems approaches 

• differentiate threats and opportunities when working with sustainability in different institutions 

• analyse relations among different institutions from a systems approach and apply concepts such as resilience and adaptability. 

• demonstrate familiarity with a range of models and research related to sustainability 

• identify wicked problems inherent in different institutions and on the systemic level 

• can engage in difficult dialogue and work with controversial issues in writing and oral debate 

• debate ideas on change management and educational action for sustainability and related problems and solutions with both specialist and non-specialist audiences 

• state a position or present objections, scrutinize assumptions and implications of different ethical perspectives 

• engage in and interpret academic readings showing autonomy in dialogue within and beyond own subject field 

Application procedure: 

Students apply via the University of Iceland’s Aurora application portal, where they log in using their home university credentials. All students must attach a copy of their current transcript from their home institution and the information page of their passport or another form of valid travel ID to their application. 

Application deadline is 19 June 2026. 

Applications will be answered by the end of June. 

Mode of study: 

Distance learning with real-time participation in weekly online meetings. 

Course Description: 

In this course students develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between environmental science and financial markets. Students learn current methods for structuring green and sustainable finance frameworks, issuance process, certification.  

This course covers main methods and concepts related to impact reports. Students learn how sustainable finance frameworks are used in practice after issuance within financial institutions. This course covers ESG risk assessments, main methods and practical use in the investment process and portfolio structuring. This course covers main indicators reported by financial institutions regarding their loan and investment portfolios, i.e., GAR (green asset ratio) and BTAR (book taxonomy aligned ratio). This course covers different types of climate risks as defined by the TCFD (Task force on climate related financial disclosures). Students learn about responsible and impact investment methodologies and the goals investors seek using such methodologies. This course covers the legal requirements regarding disclosures, in particular the EU Taxonomy and related regulations. Students learn about financed emissions using the PCAF methodology (Partnership for carbon accounting financials). This course will also cover the relationship between the insurance sector and sustainability. 

See the course in the UI course catalog here. 

Course schedule and assessment:  

The course is delivered online and consists of weekly sessions over an eight-week period starting in late September. Active engagement and participation are an integral part of the course. 

Assessment is based on written assignments (50%) and a final examination (50%). The final exam will be conducted online under closed-book conditions. Students are responsible for arranging the examination at their home institutions. Further details will be provided to admitted students at the beginning of the course. 

Students can expect the final exam to take place in late November or early December.

Learning outcomes: 

• Students understand main concepts and KPI’s related to sustainable finance. 

• Students can structure a sustainable finance framework and understand main methods used for impact reports. 

• Students understand main laws and regulations related to sustainable finance 

• Students understand the benefits and drawbacks of ESG risk assessments and can put those to practical use. 

• Students can use sustainability disclosures to structure investment portfolios. 

Application procedure: 

Students apply via the University of Iceland’s Aurora application portal, where they log in using their home university credentials. All students must attach a copy of their current transcript from their home institution and the information page of their passport or another form of valid travel ID to their application. 

Application deadline 19 June 2026. 

Applications will be answered by the end of June. 

Mode of study:

Distance learning with real-time participation in weekly online meetings.

Course Description:

Students will gain an insight into the newest research and developments within the marine resources sector, including new product development, technological and processing advances, novel analytical quality assessment techniques, as well as obtain a holistic view of the many aspects affecting seafood processing and handling, all from the effects of catching/harvesting ground to the development of marine products and their effect on the human body during their consumption.

Amongst covered topics are processing novelties and optimization, robotics and automation within seafood processing, technical advances in quality analytics, novelties in product development including 3D food printing from marine resources, fish protein and peptide processing, micro-plastics hazards in the marine food chains, marine bioactive compounds, as well as characterization, processing and product development of marine raw materials and underutilized side streams.

See the course in the UI course catalog here.

Course schedule and assessment:

The course is delivered online and consists of weekly sessions from September to November, with final examination in early December. Active engagement and participation are an integral part of the course.

Assessment is based on assignments submitted throughout the semester (20%), a project report (30%), and a final presentation and questions (50%). Further information and instructions will be on Canvas (the learning environment).

Final presentation may take place outside of scheduled teaching, in late November or early December.

Learning outcomes:

After completing this course students should be able to:

• Describe the newest developments within technological, processing and product development of marine raw materials
• Identify and describe the main processing steps and their effect on quality and safety of marine products
• Identify side streams and underutilized raw materials from marine resources
• Discuss possible product developments of underutilized raw materials from marine resources
• Discuss and critically assess environmental and health impacts on marine products, such as the introduction of micro-plastics into the food chain etc.
• Demonstrate familiarity with the newest products development trends from marine resources, such as 3D printing, fish protein processing and more.
• Apply and evaluate gained knowledge in a case-based project and report writing

Application procedure:

Students apply via the University of Iceland’s Aurora application portal, where they log in using their home university credentials. All students must attach a copy of their current transcript from their home institution and the information page of their passport or another form of valid travel ID to their application.

Application deadline is 19 June 2026.

Applications will be answered by the end of June.