BIHR's Human Rights Act Policy Academy 2026

The Human Rights Policy Academy is an online 5-day course for policy, advocacy and campaigning professionals across the UK’s four nations, designed to strengthen the use of the Human Rights Act in policy development and influencing.

At a time of significant debate about the future of human rights protections in the UK, this programme provides a timely opportunity for professionals to deepen their understanding of how the Human Rights Act through the European Convention on Human Rights works in practice and how it can be used to influence policy, legislation and decision-making.

Who can apply for a place?

The Human Rights Act Policy Academy is open to up to 20 UK wide civil society policy, influencing, advocacy and campaigning staff. You must be working on issues that fall within the scope of the UK Human Rights Act and within BIHR’s 5 thematic areas: Health, Care, Housing, Education and Welfare. 20 places will be offered to ensure an equitable mix across the 4 nations and our 5 key issue areas.

When is it?

The course will run online every Monday for six weeks from 1 June 2026, combining full- and half-day group sessions with independent study (full timetable below). Participants will also be invited to BIHR's 16 July 2026 summer event in London where you can meet course colleagues, this is optional. As part of the course, we are also asking alumni to take part in our Human Rights Day Conference on 10 December 2026 sharing the impact of the work (please therefore hold this date in your calendar on signing up).

The dates and times of the 5 workshops will be:

• Workshop 1 : Monday 01 June 2026 - 9.45AM - 2.45PM – Introduction to human rights law and the current context
• Workshop 2 : Monday 08 June 2026 - 12.30PM – 2.45PM – The Human Rights Act in law and policymaking
• Workshop 3 : Monday 15 June 2026 - 12.30PM – 2 .45PM – The Human Rights Act in influencing, advocacy and campaigning
• Workshop 4 : Monday 22 June 2026 - 12.30PM – 2.45PM – The Human Rights Act in internal processes and lived experience voice
• Study Day: Monday 29^th June
• Workshop 5 : Monday 06 July 2026 - 9.45AM – 2.45PM – Final workshop: Human Rights action planning on an issue of your choice

How much does it cost?

We’re grateful to our funders for supporting this work to strengthen the championing of the Human Rights Act through its use, at this crucial time. Thanks to their support, we’re able to offer places on The Human Rights Act Policy Academy on a sliding scale, with free and subsidised places for smaller organisations to ensure equitable access. We do ask organisations to make a contribution aligned to their size and resources. We offer a maximum of 3 places per organisation with the third place free. After you have applied for places on the course for your organisation, we will let you know if you can join as soon we can. If we confirm that your organisation can join the course, payment is then required within 5 working days of our confirmation to allow us to re-offer the places, if your organisation can no longer attend.

How to apply?

To apply for places for participants from your organisation on the Human Rights Policy Academy, please click on the Apply button and follow the instructions. To complete the form, you’ll need to be someone within your organisation who has the authority to book a training course and/or to have support from a relevant senior leader.

After completing the form, you will receive an email confirmation of your application and an invoice. However, please do not process or pay the invoice until we have confirmed the place(s) for your organisation. Once we have confirmed the place(s) for your organisation, the invoice should be paid within five working days. If we are unable to confirm the place(s) for your organisation, we will cancel the invoice.

If you require a purchase order to be raised by your finance team to pay for the course, please also ensure the Purchase Order is with us within five days of our confirmation to you of the place(s) for your organisation.

Please also ensure the correct invoicing address is entered on the application form, so that it will be displayed on the invoice we issue to you to share with your finance/procurement team.

Please note that applications for this course close at 10am on Wednesday 6 May 2026. To complete your application for the course, please click on the Apply button and follow the instructions.