Ben Grama is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Human Rights Centre of Ghent University. He is part of the inter-institutional multidisciplinary iBOF project “Future-proofing human rights: Developing thicker forms of accountability”. His work focuses on devising a thick conception of accountability drawing on the overall research findings of the IBOF project.
In his doctoral research project, Whose Norms Whose Governance? Company-Administered Grievance Mechanisms, Access to Remedy and Human Rights, Ben carried out socio-legal research on how corporations handle grievances of human rights abuses from communities adversely affected by their activities. His main research interests are accountability, norm diffusion, access to remedy, and business and human rights.
Ben previously worked for human rights NGOs, Amnesty International Netherlands, Pax and Oxfam Novib on human rights capacity-building and banking and human rights.
Education
University Degrees
PhD Law (Tilburg University)
LLM Public International Law (Utrecht University)
LLB Scots Law (Glasgow University)
Recent publications
Kirandeep Kaur, Ben Grama, Nairita Roy Chaudhuri, & Maria Jose Recalde-Vela (2023). Ethics and Epistemic Injustice in the Global South: A Response to Hopman’s Human Rights Exceptionalism as Justification for Covert Research, Journal of Human Rights Practice
Ben Grama (2022). Company-Administered Grievance Processes for External Stakeholders: A Means for Effective Remedy, Community Relations or Private Power?, Wisconsin International Law Journal
Benjamin Thompson (2018). The Dutch Banking Sector Agreement on Human Rights: An Exercise in Regulation, Experimentation or Advocacy? Utrecht Law Review
Benjamin Thompson (2017). Determining Criteria to Evaluate Outcomes of Businesses’ Provision of Remedy: Applying a Human Rights-Based Approach, Business and Human Rights Journal
Benjamin Thompson (2014). Was Kiobel Detrimental to Corporate Social Responsibility? Applying Lessons Learnt from American Exceptionalism, Utrecht Journal of International and European Law
