Data For Good: Using NLP to Reveal the Cost of Corporate Human Rights Violations

Rights CoLab (https://rightscolab.org/) is working with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) to define a strengthened set of disclosure standards that investors can use to persuade companies to improve labor rights for both their workforce and workers in supply chains. The project has two components: 1) a data science project, and 2) an Expert Group.

The data science project uses natural language processing, machine learning, and other data science techniques on a wide range of data sets - including Form 10Ks, proxy statements, earnings calls, news and lawsuit databases – to identify new relationships between labor-related human rights risks and financial materiality. The Expert Group provides subject matter expertise to the data project and makes recommendations on how to incorporate relevant findings into revised SASB standards to benefit workers while reducing reputational, operational, and legal risks for companies. Full details on this project can be found on this page: https://rightscolab.org/project-harnessing-big-data/.

Faculty Advisor

• Professor: [Joanne Bauer](https://rightscolab.org/people/joanne-bauer/ OR https://rightscolab.org/project-harnessing-big-data/)
• Center/Lab: Rights CoLab, Columbia University SIPA
• Joanne Bauer (https://rightscolab.org/people/joanne-bauer-2/), CoFounder, Rights CoLab, and Adjunct Professor, SIPA. Bauer teaches Corporations and Human Rights at SIPA and is Senior Researcher for the Business and Human Rights Program at Columbia’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights. She is an advisor and board member to a number of human rights organizations and initiatives, and co-founded an international initiative on Teaching Business and Human Rights.

Paul Rissman (https://rightscolab.org/people/paul-rissman-2/), Co-Founder, Rights CoLab; Board Member, Sierra Club Foundation. Rissman 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 AllianceBernstein 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: 3/1/2022
• End date: 9/1/2022
• Number of hours per week of research expected during Spring/Summer 2022: ~10
• Number of hours per week of research expected during Summer 2022: ~Flexible

Candidate requirements

• Skill sets: Familiarity with machine learning concepts; natural language processing experience is a plus; ability to program in a language like Python or R that has a robust data analytic toolset is required.
• Student eligibility: freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, master’s
• International students on F1 or J1 visa: eligible
• Academic Credit Possible: Yes
• Additional comments: This project takes place almost entirely remotely, so willingness/ability to work remotely is a requirement.