Rights CoLab is working with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) to develop and define a strengthened set of disclosure standards that investors can use to persuade companies to improve labor rights for both direct employees and workers in their supply chains. The project has two components: a data science project and an Independent Advisory Group. Our coalition of labor experts, data scientists, and SASB partners is focused on improving social disclosure standards that drive real gains in human rights.

The data science project, carried out with the Data For Good (DFG) program of the Data Science Institute of Columbia University, uses natural language processing and machine learning to identify new relationships between labor-related human rights risks and financial materiality.

Rights CoLab has recruited internationally recognized labor rights experts to the Independent Advisory Group to advise the project. The Advisory Group has two main functions: 1) to advise the DFG researchers as subject matter experts; and 2) to advise SASB on how to revise their standards to benefit workers while reducing reputational and legal risks for companies.

Full details on this project can be found on this page.

This is a volunteer opportunity for students to use their skills for the social good.

Project Owners

  • Joanne Bauer, Rights CoLab and School of International and Public Affairs. Joanne Bauer teaches Corporations and Human Rights at SIPA. She is Senior Researcher for the Business and Human Rights Program, at Columbia’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights and co-founded an international initiative on Teaching Business and Human Rights. In October 2018 she co-founded Rights CoLab, an independent initiative that develops strategies to advance human rights through business, civil society, technology and finance.
  • Paul Rissman. Paul helped found Rights CoLab in 2018. He has served on various non-profit and for-profit boards, including the Archaeological Institute of America, and he was chair of Cinetic Rights Management, a digital media distributor. Prior to his retirement in 2008, he was Executive Vice President of Alliance Bernstein L.P. and Chief Investment Officer of Alliance Growth Equities. Paul has also conducted scholarly research on sustainability reporting. He was a 2019-2020 Open Society Fellow.

Project timeline

  • Earliest starting date: 10/01/2020
  • End date: 01/01/2021
  • Number of hours per week of work expected during Fall 2020: ~10
  • Project is ongoing and will be reviewed for future directions at the end of the semester

Candidate requirements

  • Skill sets: familiarity with machine learning concepts; natural language processing experience is a plus; ability to program in a language like R or Python that has a robust data analytic toolset is required.
  • Student eligibility: freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, master’s
  • International students: eligible