Transparent Engagement
As a school dedicated to solving real world public problems, we recognize the strong value of faculty
engagement with public and private actors outside of HKS. The school seeks to advance and strengthen
our connections to the world of practice in both its scholarship and teaching. We will continue to
promote and support these activities as appropriate.
At the same time, as a school dedicated to advancing the public interest, the reputations of individual
faculty members, the School, the University, and the credibility of our work itself can be damaged by
potential conflicts of interest. To address this, the University and the School have adopted a set of
disclosure and conflict of interest policies. Such policies aim to balance the value of involvement with
the real world actors we seek to understand, the legitimate desire of the public for transparency, and
the autonomy and privacy interests of individual members of the faculty. A simple summary of our goal is "transparent engagement."
This website is one of many tools available to HKS faculty to facilitate public disclosure of their outside professional activities.
Outside Professional Activities For Kathryn Sikkink
Professor Sikkink has worked briefly as a consultant for the Open Society Institute (OSI) for the last six years. Specifically in 2019, she taught for 5 days in a two week training course in Berlin for public policy students who then went on to do internships at OSI partner organizations. There is no direct relationship between OSI and Professor Sikkink's research. OSI has not sponsored any of her research.
Professor Sikkink serves as an international member of the Board of Directors (Asamblea General) for Dejusticia, a Colombia-based research and advocacy organization dedicated to the strengthening of the rule of law and the promotion of social justice and human rights in Colombia and the Global South. She does not receive any payment or salary for her work on the Board of Directors, nor does the organization sponsor her research financially; she attends one to three board meeting a year, either via Skype or in person in Bogota, Colombia, when possible. While the organization does not financially sponsor or support her research, as a human rights research organization, Dejusticia is very interested in the results of her research. She has interviewed Dejusticia leaders for her research, participated in their workshops from time to time, and they assisted her in making public the Spanish translation of her book (Evidence for Hope: Making Human Rights Work in the 21st Century) on their website. Sikkink also serves on the advisory board of Just Labs, a human rights organization also based in Bogota Colombia that does training, consulting, and research for other human rights and social justice organizations around the world. She does not receive any payment or salary for her work on the advisory board nor does the organization sponsor her research financially; she attends one to two board meetings a year, either via Skype or in person in Bogota,
