Research and higher education 

The Center for Research in Politics and Human Rights (PHR) is an advanced study center that conducts, promotes and supports research and higher education in the political, legal and social sciences.  

Its main interest is human relations, studied through the plurality of cultures and disciplines, with an openness to the complexity of contemporary reality. It has been academically established by the Senate of Sophia University Institute on 5 July 2018 and promoted in collaboration with the international network of jurists and legal practitioners ‘Communion and Law’ and the Toni Weber Foundation”. 

Principle of fraternity 

The PHR arises from the experiences of many years of study of the principle of fraternity in its social and public dimension, carried out in several universities around the world, in close contact with the initiatives of many sectors of civil society. Drawing on this wealth of studies and experience, PHR dedicates specific philosophical, political and juridical courses to the principle of fraternity, as well as permanent research projects. 

International network

The PHR promotes international cooperation in scientific research, both with other research centers and institutes and with individual researchers. In particular, it supports intercultural projects and the increasing involvement of young people in research and high professional qualification. It opens spaces for dialogue and offers advice on the development of new academic training courses. 

Social commitment 

It develops forms of collaboration with social, economic, institutional, political and religious subjects committed to peace and the protection of human rights, to fraternal politics, to a responsible economy, to the promotion of human beings and their resources. Together with these entities, it works to develop concrete forms of fraternity that contribute to the building of the “human family” referred to in the United Nations “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (cf. Preamble and art. 1). To this end, it proposes to contribute to the development of public policies and economic, social and cultural projects. 

The PHR is located at the Sophia University Institute, Via San Vito 28, Loppiano, 50064 Figline e Incisa Valdarno (Florence, IT).