BC graduates work to support a Geneva Graduate Institute research project

Four Bermudian graduates of a human rights course have been working to support a Geneva Graduate Institute research project in Bermuda.

The graduates were identified by the Human Rights Education Network (HuRen) after completing a 12-hour programme delivered at Bermuda College through the Athora Division of Professional and Career Education (APACE).

The course was designed to build practical human rights knowledge and advocacy skills, connecting international frameworks with Bermuda’s national protections.

Those selected are Zahra Siddiqi, Zayne Sinclair, Christopher Jackson and Gabriel Smith.

They are supporting a visiting research team from the Institute - Isabelle Goodrich (from the US), Ana Paola Gomez Castanedas (from Mexico) and Jessica Baker (from Canada) - through interviews and focus group activity, local contextual guidance and youth perspective, informed by their training and community involvement.

The initiative stems from a partnership between HuRen and the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Applied Research Projects division.

The research forms part of HuRen’s wider human rights educational programs, designed to connect local lived experience with global standards and strengthen Bermuda’s long-term rights protections for future generations.

Entrepreneur and advocate Zayne Sinclair, a member of the National Youth Policy Working Group, said: “In Bermuda, a lot of us do work that ties into human rights and the social sector without really understanding how exactly it connects.”

Mr Sinclair said that through the experience, he has been helping to “facilitate focus groups” and support researchers with “contextualisation of Bermuda’s third sector as well as social sector issues”.

Christopher Jackson, who is completing a master’s degree in clinical behavioural psychology at Eastern Michigan University and is involved in youth mental health planning in Bermuda, said the initiative aligns closely with research underway in the local mental health space.

“I love the scientific process. I love soaking up new information,” Mr. Jackson said. “Being able to be involved in a project that involves some international expertise, but ultimately to benefit Bermuda, is sort of my main goal. I just want to contribute to the society of Bermuda.”

Mr Jackson added that the programme helped reframe how human rights relate to daily life in a developed society.

“For those in Bermuda, they may not think that human rights particularly pertain to them because we are a developed society,” he said.

“But… you really start to see how human rights, and even like a lack of human rights education, impacts a place like Bermuda.”

Zahra Siddiqi, a final-year student at Somersfield Academy and a member of Bermuda is Love and the National Youth Policy Working Group, said that because she is still in school, her role has focused on participating in sessions and bringing a student perspective.

“I’ve been participating in them, and… adding my perspective on what human rights education is like from a high schooler’s point of view,” she said.

Ms Siddiqi described HuRen as “a really transformative organisation” and said the work helps people move beyond a general awareness of the term “human rights” to a clearer understanding of why legal structures and protections matter.

She added that the experience supports her long-term ambition to pursue human rights law. “This experience is definitely helping me understand what it’s like to study human rights in a country you’re not familiar with,” she said.

Gabriel Smith, who is also involved in Bermuda Is Love, said: “Human rights are definitely being questioned globally at a pretty significant and alarming rate, so I think it's pretty important to understand the significance of human rights as a legal framework, and as a basic philosophical concept.

“If you don't know about these things, you can't really defend them, right?”

Field research in Bermuda took place from February 9 to 13, and included five interviews and four focus groups, alongside additional programme activities.

A spokesperson for HuRen said the field phase was highly successful, with local participants engaging openly and the Geneva and Bermudian youth cohorts working collaboratively throughout the week.

The final research report will be submitted by Geneva Graduate Institute students at the end of May 2026 in written form and will be shared with interview and focus group participants and the wider Bermuda public through various outlets.