MA, PhD Essex
Director of Academic Studies, Human Rights Centre

Dr. Andrew Fagan is the Director of Academic Studies of the Human Rights Centre. He possesses academic degrees in Social Anthropology and Psychology, Political Theory and Moral and Political Philosophy. He has broad, multidisciplinary teaching experience, having taught in four separate academic disciplines: philosophy, law, government and social anthropology, at the University of London and Essex University. His human rights teaching focuses upon the philosophical, political and cultural dimensions of human rights’ principles and practice. He is particularly interested in the philosophical foundations of human rights law, the relationship between cultural diversity and human rights, and that between religion and a respect for human rights principles. He has written and edited numerous books including; The Human Rights Atlas (University of California Press, 2010), Human Rights: Confronting Myths and Misunderstandings (Edward Elgar, 2009) and with Janet Dine, Human Rights and Capitalism: a Multidisciplinary Perspective on Globalisation (Edward Elgar, 2006). He is also editor of the Essex Internet Encyclopaedia of Human Rights. He regularly teaches medical ethics to medical professionals and has a long-standing interest in the development of human rights in the central Asian and East Asian regions, where he holds several visiting professorships, including the occasional occupancy of the UNESCO Chair for Human Rights at Brusov University (Armenia). He regularly teaches at the United Nations University in Tokyo. His current teaching at Essex includes HU901: the Colloquium in the Theory and Practice of Human Rights, HU921: Contemporary Issues in Human Rights and Cultural Diversity, and HU100: Foundations of Human Rights.