Our Learning and Training Programs

Shift has trained thousands of leaders and practitioners from hundreds of companies, financial institutions and governments to understand and apply the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

Effective human rights due diligence depends on people across an organization understanding what is expected of them and how to apply it in their day-to-day decisions. So, our programs equip participants with the knowledge, confidence and practical skills needed to advance effective human rights due diligence and access to remedy.
We deliver public and in-house foundational training, including self-paced e-learning, regulation-focused clinics, and courses or briefings tailored to different in-house functions or to emerging thematic issues.

Our programs are a mix of paid and freely available opportunities. This enables us to maximise the accessibility of our programs, while investing in high-quality, up-to-date learning experiences.

Our approach /

Our learning programs are shaped by one defining principle: people learn best when they can connect concepts to the decisions they make every day. Our approach combines:

  • Practical interpretation of the UNGPs and related regulations, translating the standards into what they mean in practice across different industries and operating contexts.
  • Experience drawn from implementation, informed by Shift's work supporting companies, financial institutions, governments and multi-stakeholder initiatives around the world.
  • Thoughtful learning design, using case studies, practical exercises, and facilitated discussions that help participants apply learning within their own organizations.
  • Peer learning and external perspectives, bringing participants together with experienced practitioners, guest speakers and subject matter experts to share lessons, discuss challenges and explore solutions.

Current and upcoming programs /

Business and Human Rights Foundations
FocusUN Guiding Principles. Foundational.
FormatTwo virtual sessions, peer exchange, reading and video explainers
DurationTwo sessions over 4 weeks
Date27th October and 10th November
Pricing$900 for up to three company representatives; or $495 per person
Information & RegistrationTo register your interest in this course, or for any questions, please email learning@shiftproject.org

Focus: UN Guiding Principles. Foundational.

Format: Two virtual sessions, peer exchange, reading and video explainers

Duration: Two Sessions over 4 weeks

Date: Autumn 2026

Pricing: $900 for up to three company representatives; or $495 per person

Information and Registration: To register interest in this course please complete this form or email learning@shiftproject.org with any questions.

Build a strong foundation in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) to support your company’s implementation of human rights due diligence and remedy. This introductory course equips participants with a strong understanding of the authoritative international standard of business conduct regarding business impacts on people: the standard now underpinning regulatory requirements and stakeholder expectations globally.

Through two interactive sessions, peer exchange, and learning resources, participants will:

  • Understand the UNGPs, including the core concepts and their architecture - covering policy commitment, embedding, due diligence and remedy.
  • Develop an understanding of risk-based human rights due diligence, with a focus on identifying and assessing salient human rights issues.
  • Learn how a company’s involvement with human rights impacts shapes the nature of action it must take to address those impacts
  • Hear about real-world company practice across action planning, leverage, tracking effectiveness and approach remedy and grievance mechanisms.

The course is designed for colleagues involved in implementing human rights due diligence from any business function, including sustainability, legal, procurement, risk, corporate affairs, human resources and finance.

Business & Human Rights Accelerator (UNGC members only)
Focus Foundational
Format Global online sessions with local peer learning
Duration 3–6 months
Dates Starting February 2027
More Info Please email bhraccelerator@unglobalcompact.org, or click here.
Focus: Foundational Format: Global online sessions with local peer learning Duration: 3–6 months Dates: Starting February 2027 More Info: please email bhraccelerator@unglobalcompact.org, or click here.

Move from commitment to action. Developed and delivered by Shift for the UN Global Compact, this program helps companies build practical human rights due diligence capabilities and embed the UN Guiding Principles into everyday business decisions.

Drawing on Shift’s expertise in human rights due diligence, the programme equips participants to:

  • Explain how their organisation’s business activities can impact people’s human rights and how this connects to business risks
  • Identify, assess and prioritise actual and potential human rights impacts, develop effective responses, and strengthen approaches to stakeholder engagement, grievance mechanisms and remedy.
  • Navigate evolving regulatory and reporting expectations, including aligning due diligence with emerging legislation and communicating progress through recognised reporting frameworks.
  • Build lasting capability and connections through access to practical resources, a global network of peers and experts, and a certificate recognising successful completion of the programme

FI

Due Diligence Regulation Clinic
FocusMandatory due diligence
FormatSeven online group sessions, peer exchange, one-to-one support
Duration4 months
Pricing€6,000 for UNGC members
Information & RegistrationFor more information, click here, or get in touch at learning@shiftproject.org with any questions.

Focus: Mandatory due diligence

Format: Seven online group sessions, peer exchange, one-to-one support

Duration: 4 months

Pricing: €9,000 (€6,000 for UNGC members)

Information and Registration: Please see here for more information, or email learning@shiftproject.org for any questions.

Prepare for the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and lay the foundations for meeting other due diligence and reporting regulations. This clinic helps participants develop integrated, effective approaches to compliance through expert insight, peer learning and tailored one-to-one advice. Participation is limited to 20 companies per clinic. The program is primarily intended for companies within the scope of the CSDDD that have experience applying the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines.

The clinic will enable participants to:

  • Know the content of key due diligence regulations and how they relate to international frameworks.
  • Understand how to meet human rights due diligence requirements and reporting expectations simultaneously.
  • Identify solutions to challenging and complex aspects of compliance, informed by the work of peer companies.
  • Develop a practical roadmap for strengthening your company’s approach to due diligence.
  • Contribute to a public resource for companies seeking to drive credible and effective compliance.

FI

CSRD Clinic: Making Reporting Efficient and Effective
FocusSustainability Disclosure Regulations
FormatExpert-led workshops and peer exchange; one-to-one advisory support from Shift
Duration3 months
PricingTBC
Registration for 2027To register your interest or ask a question, please email learning@shiftproject.org

Focus: Sustainability Disclosure Regulations

Format: Expert-led workshops and peer exchange; one-to-one advisory support from Shift

Duration: 3 months

Pricing: $8,000 / €7,000

Registration for 2027: To register your interest or ask a question, please email learning@shiftproject.org

Leverage reporting as a driver of better business performance. Through expert insight, peer learning and tailored one-to-one advice, this clinic helps companies build future-proof social reporting that strengthens due diligence, supports strategic decision-making and prepares for an evolving regulatory landscape.

Through a small, peer learning cohort, participants will:

  • Develop a practical understanding of how to connect CSRD reporting with human rights due diligence, business strategy, financial risk, and meaningful indicators of effectiveness.
  • Learn from Shift's unique expertise and the experiences of peer companies to strengthen reporting quality and meet evolving legislative requirements such as the CSDDD.
  • Understand connections between impact materiality, financial materiality and systemic risks of inequality, and how effective, streamlined reporting can address these distinct information needs and related reporting frameworks.
  • Make sustainability reporting a lever for achieving practical impact.

For Financial Institutions /

FI

Inequality Clinic for Providers of Capital

FI

Focus: Inequality and Financial Materiality

Format: Expert-led workshops and peer exchange; one-to-one advisory support from Shift

Duration: 5 months

Pricing: $15000

Registration & Inquiries: Please email learning@shiftproject.org

More Info: Click here

Explore how impacts on people can translate into risks for portfolios and enterprise value; develop strategies for including a lens of inequality in portfolio management processes.

Participants will:

  • Consider the evidence for links between adverse impacts on people, inequality, and disruption of systems.
  • Explore practical strategies for including inequality as a relevant dimension of portfolio decision-making.
  • Discuss emerging practice and take a deep dive into the opportunities and challenges facing financial institutions seeking to lead on this agenda.
  • Contribute to thought leadership through peer learning and collaborative discussions that will inform a published summary of the clinic's key insights.

FI

Navigating the Nexus: Climate, Nature, People

FI

Focus: Climate, Nature & People

Format: Expert-led workshops and peer exchange; one-to-one advisory support from Shift

Duration: 3-months

Pricing: $15,000

Registration & Inquiries: Please email learning@shiftproject.org

More Info: Click here

Break down siloes and build integrated approaches to climate, nature and human rights. This practitioner clinic helps financial institutions strengthen governance, risk assessment, stakeholder engagement and measurement through collaborative peer learning.

Through four workshops and bilateral support from Shift, participants will:

  • Explore different dimensions of the business case for their organisation for integrating climate, nature and human rights into investment and stewardship approaches.
  • Learn about practical tools to identify portfolio hotspots and assess interconnected risks and opportunities across these three domains.
  • Understand how to strengthen approaches to stakeholder engagement by exploring the role of affected stakeholders and frameworks for assessing engagement effectiveness.
  • Learn how to apply practical approaches to tracking performance and outcomes across climate, nature and people.

FI

Social Measurement Training for Financial Institutions

FI

Focus: Measurement and Data

Format: Four workshops; Applying methods with Shift’s support

Duration: 2 months

Pricing: $2,500

Registration & Inquiries: Please email learning@shiftproject.org

More Info: Click here

Work alongside peers to develop indicators measuring the effectiveness of actions taken to address human rights impacts connected to your institution’s operations or those of clients or investees. This training builds on success of Shift’s 2025 Measurement Clinic for investors.

Participants will:

  • Apply a framework that equips financial institutions to understand whether human rights commitments are translating into better business practices and improved outcomes for people. 
  • Learn about how to design meaningful social indicators and metrics that move beyond tracking activities to measuring the effectiveness of due diligence, stewardship, engagement and investment decisions. 
  • Hear about practical approaches for assessing social performance on specific impacts and risks, such as living wage, land rights and forced labour.
  • Pilot the development of indicators to better measure client or investor progress on human rights impacts.

FI

Inequality Clinic for Providers of Capital
FIs
Focus Inequality and Financial Materiality
Format Expert-led workshops and peer exchange; one-to-one advisory support from Shift
Duration 5 months
Pricing $15,000
Registration & Inquiries Please email
learning@shiftproject.org
More Info Click here
Focus: Inequality and Financial Materiality Format: Expert-led workshops and peer exchange; one-to-one advisory support from Shift Duration: 5 months Pricing: $15000 Registration & Inquiries: Please email learning@shiftproject.org More Info: Click here

Explore how impacts on people can translate into risks for portfolios and enterprise value; develop strategies for including a lens of inequality in portfolio management processes.

Participants will:

  • Consider the evidence for links between adverse impacts on people, inequality, and disruption of systems.
  • Explore practical strategies for including inequality as a relevant dimension of portfolio decision-making.
  • Discuss emerging practice and take a deep dive into the opportunities and challenges facing financial institutions seeking to lead on this agenda.
  • Contribute to thought leadership through peer learning and collaborative discussions that will inform a published summary of the clinic's key insights.

FI

Navigating the Nexus: Climate, Nature, People
FIs
FocusClimate, Nature & People
FormatExpert-led workshops and peer exchange; one-to-one advisory support from Shift
Duration3 months
Pricing$15,000
Registration & InquiriesPlease email
learning@shiftproject.org
More InfoClick here

Focus: Climate, Nature & People

Format: Expert-led workshops and peer exchange; one-to-one advisory support from Shift

Duration: 3-months

Pricing: $15,000

Registration & Inquiries: Please email learning@shiftproject.org

More Info: Click here

Break down siloes and build integrated approaches to climate, nature and human rights. This practitioner clinic helps financial institutions strengthen governance, risk assessment, stakeholder engagement and measurement through collaborative peer learning.

Through four workshops and bilateral support from Shift, participants will:

  • Explore different dimensions of the business case for their organisation for integrating climate, nature and human rights into investment and stewardship approaches.
  • Learn about practical tools to identify portfolio hotspots and assess interconnected risks and opportunities across these three domains.
  • Understand how to strengthen approaches to stakeholder engagement by exploring the role of affected stakeholders and frameworks for assessing engagement effectiveness.
  • Learn how to apply practical approaches to tracking performance and outcomes across climate, nature and people.

FI

Social Measurement Training for Financial Institutions
FIs
FocusMeasurement and Data
FormatFour workshops; Applying methods with Shift’s support
Duration2 months
Pricing$2,500
Registration & InquiriesPlease email
learning@shiftproject.org
More InfoClick here
Focus: Measurement and Data Format: Four workshops; Applying methods with Shift’s support Duration: 2 months Pricing: $2,500 Registration & Inquiries: Please email learning@shiftproject.org More Info: Click here

Work alongside peers to develop indicators measuring the effectiveness of actions taken to address human rights impacts connected to your institution’s operations or those of clients or investees. This training builds on success of Shift’s 2025 Measurement Clinic for investors.

Participants will:

  • Apply a framework that equips financial institutions to understand whether human rights commitments are translating into better business practices and improved outcomes for people. 
  • Learn about how to design meaningful social indicators and metrics that move beyond tracking activities to measuring the effectiveness of due diligence, stewardship, engagement and investment decisions. 
  • Hear about practical approaches for assessing social performance on specific impacts and risks, such as living wage, land rights and forced labour.
  • Pilot the development of indicators to better measure client or investor progress on human rights impacts.

Free to access /

e-learning and online webinars

FIs
Foundations for Investor Respect for Rights

A self-paced e-learning guide for investors who want to build human rights due diligence capacity. The course provides practical guidance, curated resources, and reflective exercises to help investors build internal capability and strengthen engagement with portfolio companies on human rights performance.

Find out more
BHR 101: How Companies Can Operationalize the UNGPs

Build a strong foundation in business and human rights. Developed by the UN Global Compact, OHCHR and Shift, this practical e-learning course combines global standards, real-world examples and implementation insights to help embed the UN Guiding Principles across your organisation..

Find out more
In Focus, In Practice Webinars

Join us in free-to-access webinars to hear about our latest applied work and thought leadership on emerging business and human rights challenges throughout 2026 and early 2027.

  • EU Sustainability Legislation is pushing companies to analyse how their business model could be putting human rights at risk. This webinar explores how Shift’s Business Model Red Flags tool can help businesses identify key risks across their operations and supply chains.
  • This webinar explores the tools and processes that can help companies translate commitments to pay a living wage into meaningful action.
  • This session explores what the AI infrastructure build-out means for human rights due diligence. It will outline ways to identify and address impacts in alignment with international standards such as the UN Guiding Principles and EU Sustainability Legislation.
  • In this session Shift explores the concept of leverage within the context of the UNGPs and legislation like EU CSDDD, walking through approaches to build and use leverage, and grounded in real-world examples from many years of supporting company practice.
  • This session explores how to build a human rights strategy and measure its progress under the UNGPs and legislation like EU CSDDD and ESRS. We will share Shift's approach to measuring what matters, informed by our advisory work with companies and investors over the last 15 years.

For more information, please email learning@shiftproject.org

Listing of upcoming Shift training offerings /

Date Event Information & Registration
28th September [Webinar] Business Model Considerations Under Emerging Legislation Register here
6th October [Financial Institutions] Climate, Nature, People Nexus Clinic Contact ashleigh.owens@shiftproject.org
7th October Sustainability Regulations Clinic Register here
26th October [Webinar] Living Wages: from commitment to action Register here
27th October Human Rights Foundations Course Register here
30th November [Webinar] Data Centers, AI and HRDD Register here

In-house training /

For companies, financial institutions and governments

We design and deliver practical, high-impact in-house learning programs that help our partners build the capabilities needed across their organisations to advance business respect for human rights. We are regularly commissioned by organisations to create learning experiences that translate the UN Guiding Principles into practical action, combining strategic insight with real-world implementation experience.

Examples of our work have included:

  • Designing and delivering executive briefings that help leaders apply emerging standards, regulation and leading practice to their business.
  • Developing large-scale digital learning programs for governments, international organisations and multinational companies, reaching audiences across multiple countries and regions.
  • Creating multi-level learning journeys that combine foundational courses with function-specific training and advanced workshops for different business teams.

If you’re considering in-house training, please get in touch at learning@shiftproject.org and we’ll be happy to discuss your needs and how we can support you.

Dr. Christine Chow /

Board Member

She/Her

Linkedin-in
Dr. Christine Chow has more than 25 years’ experience in investment management spanning sustainable investment, corporate governance, technology and AI.

She has held senior leadership roles at UBS Asset Management, HSBC Asset Management and Federated Hermes, where she led global stewardship, thematic research, responsible investment and engagement with companies on sustainability and governance issues. She was the human rights engagement lead at Federated Hermes, where she pioneered its approach to global value chain engagement with electronics companies, and advocated for provenance and traceability of critical minerals.

Christine served as Managing Director at UBS Asset Management, leading on global stewardship, thematic research and impact engagement. Previously, she was Global Head of Stewardship and a board member of HSBC Asset Management UK Limited, and Head of Asia and Global Technology at Federated Hermes EOS. From 2019 to 2025, she served as a board member and then Chair of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN), a global investor-led organisation representing around US$100 trillion in assets under management across more than 40 countries.

Christine is recognised internationally for her work on responsible investment, AI governance and corporate stewardship. She has published influential work on responsible AI and data governance and was a member of the UK Parliament’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence, serving on its Data Governance Task Force. She is the Appointed Advisor of AFRC in Hong Kong, the independent regulator of the accounting profession, and Emeritus Governor of the London School of Economics. Her PhD research on responsible investment was shortlisted for a United Nations award recognising industry relevance and academic excellence.

David Vermijs /

Director

He/Him Amsterdam

Linkedin-in

As Director, David engages with business partners to better identify, prioritize and act on salient human rights issues, embedding the UN Guiding Principles in companies’ decision-making processes.

Specializes in Business Enterprises

As Director, David engages with business partners to better identify, prioritize and act on salient human rights issues, embedding the UN Guiding Principles in companies’ decision-making processes.

David has over a decade of experience advising multinational corporations, governments, NGOs and others on business and human rights. Prior to joining Shift, David provided research assistance to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for business and human rights John Ruggie. As part of his contributions, David field-tested human rights due diligence with a group of Dutch companies and their stakeholders, and he supported research on company-led grievance mechanisms.

From 2008 to 2010, David was the lead consultant on an 18-month project, the Business and Human Rights Initiative, under the umbrella of the Global Compact Network Netherlands. The initiative was a collaboration between 10 Dutch multinationals – ABN AMRO, AkzoNobel, Essent, KLM, Philips, Rabobank, Randstad, Shell, TNT and Unilever – and led to the publication of a ground-breaking business guidance tool, How to Do Business with Respect for Human Rights, in 2010. Through his work at Shift, David led the update of this publication from 2014 to 2016 with the support of the Dutch government under their National Action Plan on implementing the Guiding Principles.

Another major guidance tool David has helped develop addresses due diligence on child labor, published by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) in 2015. The guidance was the result of a multi-year, multi-stakeholder, multi-country project led by David involving the ILO, IOE, companies, unions, NGOs and other stakeholders.

David was previously a Research Fellow at the Corporate Responsibility Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School, including assisting in teaching on business and human rights, global governance, corporate governance and leadership. David sits in a personal capacity on the board of the Dutch Social and Economic Council International Corporate Social Responsibility Committee. He has a Masters in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and a Bachelor of Arts in Business from Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands. David is a Dutch national, speaks English and Dutch and is proficient in Spanish and German.

Anna Triponel /

Senior Associate

She/Her London

Linkedin-in

As a Senior Associate with Shift, Anna advises companies, lawyers, investors and business associations on how to put the Guiding Principles into practice.

As a Senior Associate with Shift, Anna advises companies, investors and business associations on how to put the Guiding Principles into practice. Trained as a lawyer, Anna focuses particularly on working with legal professionals on their role in implementing the Guiding Principles and has led work on analyzing regulations in various jurisdictions and how they align to the Guiding Principles. She also has particular expertise on the UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework. 

Prior to joining Shift, Anna provided input to the work of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for business and human rights John Ruggie as a legal consultant. During this period, Anna also opened the New York office of the Public International Law & Policy Group, where she advised government officials, opposition leaders, human rights victims and civil society organizations on human rights, constitutional reform and transitional justice in Burma, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Somaliland, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Anna was previously a mergers and acquisitions associate at the law firm of Jones Day in New York, where she advised a broad range of multinational companies on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint venture, private equity and venture capital transactions. She founded and led the law firm’s International Law Pro Bono Group. She began her career as an advisor to the World Bank, advising on development governance structures to better meet the Millennium Development Goal of achieving universal primary education.

Anna is a (non-practicing) lawyer qualified in New York, England & Wales and France. She is a frequent expert speaker and writer on business and human rights and is the recipient of various professional awards, including the Empire State Counsel Award for changing the lives of those unable to afford counsel and the Seymour-Reuben Award for shaping international law. Anna has a Masters in International Law from American University Washington College of Law and a degree in common and civil law from the University of Paris X. She has been awarded the Business Sustainability Management certificate from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and the MBA Essentials certificate from London School of Economics (LSE). Anna is a British and French national and speaks English and French.

Martyn Platt /

Head of Human Resources

He/Him

As Head of Human Resources, Martyn leads Shift’s global people strategy and oversees all aspects of HR across the organization.

As Head of Human Resources, Martyn leads Shift’s global people strategy and oversees all aspects of HR across the organization. He ensures that Shift’s systems, policies and practices foster a thriving, inclusive and values-driven culture that supports our mission to embed respect for people’s dignity at the core of business practice.

Martyn brings over a decade of HR leadership experience across mission-driven and international organizations working at the intersection of business and society. Prior to joining Shift, he was Director of People Development & Culture at the PRI and earlier worked with Business in the Community. In these roles, he developed and embedded HR business partnering models, guided the organizations through significant growth and transformation, and partnered with senior leaders to design and implement people strategies that supported the delivery of their mission. Most recently, he served as a consultant with the WeProtect Global Alliance, where he supported the establishment of their HR function.

He is a Chartered Member of the CIPD and holds a Level 7 Diploma in Human Resource Management, as well as an ILM Level 7 Certificate in Executive Coaching and Mentoring, reflecting his strong focus on leadership development and coaching. Martyn studied German and International Relations at the University of Exeter, including a year at the University of Würzburg in Germany. He later worked on education projects in Nicaragua, strengthening his global outlook and commitment to people-centred change.

Martyn is based in the United Kingdom.

Brianna Peterson /

Senior Advisor

She/Her Rome

Linkedin-in

As a Senior Advisor at Shift, Brianna advises financial institutions and companies on how to put the UNGPs into practice, with a particular focus on the nexus between human rights and climate change.

Specializes in Financial Institutions

As a Senior Advisor at Shift, Brianna advises financial institutions and companies on how to put the UNGPs into practice, with a particular focus on the nexus between human rights and climate change. Brianna combines environment and climate change expertise with experience developing and implementing human rights policies, due diligence approaches and sustainability reporting.

Before Shift, Brianna spearheaded innovative sustainability initiatives at Sustainable Development Technology Canada and Export Development Canada (EDC). At EDC she led the development and implementation of exciting new portfolio approaches for climate change and human rights risk management, as well as aligning EDC’s corporate reporting with international reporting frameworks, such as the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures and the UNGPs Reporting Framework.  She also led EDC’s international sustainability negotiations and engagements, including as co-Chair of the Equator Principles Climate Change Working Group.

Prior to joining EDC, Brianna worked for nine years as a diplomat with Canada’s foreign ministry, including four years at the United Nations General Assembly where she led environment and development negotiations, advocacy and outreach on behalf of the Government of Canada, including for the creation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Brianna has also advised international financial institutions including the World Bank Group, institutional investors, bilateral development agencies, and small- and medium-sized enterprises on the practical application of environment, climate change, human rights standards.

Brianna has an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from Queen’s University and a Master’s degree in Environmental Change & Management from the University of Oxford.

Ashleigh Owens /

Director | Financial Institutions Lead

She/Her New York City

Linkedin-in

As Shift’s Director / Financial Institutions Lead, Ashleigh leads our work with financial institutions and supports other partners across industries, leveraging her breadth of experience to tackle cutting-edge issues and entrenched challenges on the road to implementation of the UN Guiding Principles.

Specializes in Financial Institutions | Valuing Respect

As Director / Financial Institutions Lead, Ashleigh engages directly with financial institutions, companies and investors as they embed respect for human rights into their operations and business relationships. She also leads on pieces of research under our Valuing Respect Project, which is focused on developing better ways to evaluate business respect for human rights. Ashleigh has a breadth of experience approaching the Guiding Principles from business, legal and academic perspectives and brings a holistic view to Guiding Principles implementation.

Ashleigh was previously Executive Director at Ernst & Young’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services. At EY Japan, she led a team of consultants supporting policy-making, educational program and governance design, stakeholder dialogue and due diligence strategies for multinational and domestic companies across a variety of industries.  As founder of the EY Human Rights Network, she led the enhancement of EY’s human rights capabilities across EY’s global network. In her role she was a frequent speaker and moderator of dialogues at multi-stakeholder fora and functioned as a connector between civil society, government and corporate actors with a common goal of empowering business to respect rights.

From 2012 to 2014 she conducted research at the United Nations University in the field of Sustainability Science, specializing in business and human rights. She prepared research for the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights and spent time at the UN Global Compact New York and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Ashleigh later sat on the UN Global Compact’s Human Rights and Labour Working Group and drafted the Global Compact’s 2015 Guide on How to Develop a Human Rights Policy.

Ashleigh is a lawyer qualified in Australia and England & Wales and specialized in intellectual property law, labor law and public international law. She has advised governments and companies on state human rights obligations, companies on the nexus between bilateral investment treaties and human rights and fellow lawyers on integrating the Guiding Principles into legal advice. In 2007 she won the Intellectual Property Society of Australia & NZ prize.

Ashleigh has authored or contributed to a number of publications including: Business and Human Rights: Corporate Japan Rises to the Challenge (joint publication between EY Japan and Global Compact Network Japan), Corporate Social Responsibility Can Save Japan (Op-ed in Japan Times), Cumulative Human Rights Impacts (in UN Global Compact/ Maplecroft Business Dilemmas Forum) as well as several legal publications on intellectual property law in Australia and English translations of Japanese High Court judgments. She is also a member of the Advisory Board for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)’s Division for Prosperity.

Ashleigh has degrees in Law and Asian Studies from the University of Western Australia, with studies also conducted at the University of Vienna and Sophia University in Japan. She has a Masters of Science in Sustainability from the United Nations University and has undertaken the institution’s Leadership for Sustainability program. Ashleigh is an Australian national, and is fluent in Japanese.

Rachel Davis /

Vice President and Co-Founder

She/Her Sydney

Linkedin-in

As the Vice President and Co-Founder of Shift, Rachel helps shape our strategy and oversees a range of our collaborations with companies, governments, investors, civil society and other partners. Rachel is also responsible for driving our work on standards advocacy and with sports associations.

Specializes in Standard Setters | Sports and Human Rights

Rachel is one of Shift’s co-founders and has led work at Shift over the last decade on standard-setting, human rights and sports, financial institutions, conflict and international law.

As Vice President, Rachel shapes our strategy and oversees a range of our collaborations with companies, governments, investors, civil society and other partners. Rachel leads Shift’s work to influence standard-setters of all kinds to integrate the UN Guiding Principles into the rules that govern business, including engaging with governments and the European Union on mandatory human rights due diligence.

Rachel also has unique experience advising and leading efforts to drive respect for human rights into the operations of global sports governing bodies. Rachel was the Chair of FIFA’s independent Human Rights Advisory Board while it operated, between 2017 and 2021. She has advised the International Olympic Committee on human rights since 2018, including co-authoring recommendations for the IOC on a comprehensive human rights strategy with former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein.

Rachel has more than a decade of experience in implementing the Guiding Principles with a wide range of organizations, including public and private financial institutions and companies from diverse business sectors and geographies, and she frequently leads and facilitates engagements with senior audiences around the world. She is the co-author of the leading study of the costs of company-community conflict in the extractive sector.

Prior to co-founding Shift, Rachel was a senior legal advisor from 2006-2011 to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on business and human rights, Harvard Professor John Ruggie. She played a pivotal role in the development of the Guiding Principles, advising on all aspects of the relationship between the Guiding Principles and national and international law.

Rachel is also a Senior Program Fellow with the Corporate Responsibility Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School and has experience at the highest levels of the Australian legal system and internationally, having clerked at the High Court of Australia and at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. She has a particular interest in Indigenous peoples’ rights, having advised the Australian Federal Attorney-General’s Department on Indigenous affairs and acted as Ruggie’s liaison with the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues during his UN mandate.

Rachel has a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School and Bachelors degrees in Law and Politics from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, where she also lectured and published in law. She is a (non-practicing) lawyer qualified in New South Wales.

Federico Burlon /

Director

He/Him London

As Director at Shift, Federico engages with business partners to better identify, prioritize and act on salient human rights issues, embedding the UN Guiding Principles in companies’ decision-making processes.

Specializes in Business Enterprises

As Director at Shift, Federico engages with business partners to better identify, prioritize and act on salient human rights issues, embedding the UN Guiding Principles in companies’ decision-making processes.

Prior to joining Shift, Federico was Head of Delivery at Impactt. Federico managed a portfolio of clients, supported by a team of consultants. He led human rights assessment and remediation projects in the construction, energy, food and shipbuilding industries. This resulted in positive outcomes such as the return of passports and reimbursement of recruitment fees to workers and the strengthening of companies’ employment practices. Federico led Impactt’s engagement with the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy in Qatar as external monitor of worker welfare in the construction of venues for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He also developed Impactt’s Diagnostics community of practice, delivering for clients as well as building internal capacity to execute human rights assessments around the world, with a focus on worker voice.

Prior to Impactt, Federico was a Sustainability Manager at Tesco plc. He contributed to the roll out of Tesco’s ethical trading programme to the goods-not-for-resale value chain. Federico engaged with hundreds of product and services suppliers and internal purchasing and sourcing teams to raise awareness of human rights issues and to prioritise and address the findings from third-party social audits. He also worked on climate change to develop a roadmap to achieve Tesco’s carbon reduction commitments related to direct and supply chain emissions.

In prior roles, Federico worked with a variety of human rights organisations in the United Kingdom and United States.

Federico holds a MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and a BA in Political Science and International Studies from Macalester College, with a focus on human rights law and international migration. He is a United World College Adriatic alumnus and is from Argentina.

Erika George /

Board Member

She/Her

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Erika George is Director of the Tanner Humanities Center and Samuel D. Thurman Professor of Law at the University of Utah. She has conducted leading research and is a passionate advocate for women’s rights, children’s rights, gender equality and environmental justice. 

Professor Erika R. George is the Associate Dean for Equity, Justice, & Engagement, Professor of Law, and Ernest Haddad Faculty Scholar at Boston University School of Law and a leading expert in business and human rights.

Professor George is the author of “Incorporating Rights: Strategies to Advance Corporate Accountability” (Oxford University Press, 2021), which examines the evolution of demands for corporate responsibility to respect international human rights. She was a founding member of the editorial board of the Business and Human Rights Journal (Cambridge University Press) and since 2022  has served on the board of Shift. 

Before joining BU Law in 2024, Professor George spent over two decades at the University of Utah as the Samuel D. Thurman Professor of Law. She directed the Tanner Humanities Center for four years and worked to enhance engagement and expand and diversify audiences for public humanities programs during her tenure. She also advocated for academic freedom and the right to read. Along with the former poet laureate of Utah, she co-founded the PEN America Utah Chapter to protect access to information and prevent censorship. 

Professor George is an elected member of the American Law Institute, an American Bar Foundation fellow, a trustee of Earthjustice, and serves on the Executive Board of the American Bar Association Center for Human Rights.

She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Society of American Law Teachers’ M. Shanara Gilbert Human Rights Award and the Salt Lake City Human Rights Commission Human Rights Award.

Professor George earned her BA with honors from the University of Chicago, a MA in International Relations from the University of Chicago, and a JD from Harvard Law School. She also clerked for Judge William T. Hart of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. She was a litigation associate at the law firm of Jenner & Block in Chicago before joining Human Rights Watch as a research fellow.

We recorded an interview with Professor George when she joined Shift’s Board in February of 2022. It is available here.

Erika George is Director of the Tanner Humanities Center and Samuel D. Thurman Professor of Law at the University of Utah. Prior to joining the University of Utah, Professor George served as a law clerk and litigation associate at prominent firms in both Illinois and New York. She also worked as a fellow and later consultant at Human Rights Watch, where she conducted investigations in South Africa on women’s rights, children’s rights, violence, the right to education and abuses related to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. She wrote a book-length report, Scared at School: Sexual Violence Against Girls in South African Schools, which received widespread media coverage in South Africa and internationally. She currently serves as special counsel to the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch.

Her scholarship has appeared in the California Law Review, the Michigan Journal of International Law, the New York University Journal of International Law and Policy, and the annual proceedings of the American Society of International Law.

Professor George has served on the Executive Committee of the U.S. Department of State Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan and as a member of the board of the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah. She is an Editor for the blog globaljusticeblog.com.

We recorded an interview with Professor George when she joined Shift’s Board in February of 2022. It is available here.

John Ruggie /

Founding Chair / In Memoriam

John Ruggie is the author of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

In Memory of John Ruggie

John served as the founding Chair of Shift from 2011 to 2021. He was the Berthold Beitz Research Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He also taught at the Berkeley and San Diego campuses of the University of California, and at Columbia University where he became Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs. From 1997-2001 John served as UN Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Planning in the cabinet of Kofi Annan; from 2002-2005 as Special Advisor to the Secretary-General for the Global Compact; and from 2005-2011 as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Business and Human Rights.

A Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, he received numerous awards from academic and professional societies for his contributions to social science, public policy and the development of international law. In addition to serving as Shift’s Board Chairman, John was also on the Board of Arabesque Asset Management Holding Company as well as Unilever’s Sustainability Advisory Council. His book, Just Business: Multinational Corporations and Human Rights, has been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.

Caroline Rees /

President and Co-Founder

She/Her New York City

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As Shift’s President, Caroline leads our strategic development and drives our thought leadership work on key challenges and opportunities in advancing corporate respect for business and human rights.

As the President and Co-Founder of Shift, Caroline leads our organizational strategy and development and drives our thought leadership work on key challenges and opportunities in advancing corporate respect for business and human rights. Caroline speaks extensively at events around the world and frequently facilitates dialogue and debate amongst companies, governments, investors and civil society. In recent years, Caroline has focused on improving corporate human rights reporting as a catalyst for better human rights risk management, and on improving the data and methods used in evaluating companies’ social performance as part of ESG (environmental, social and governance) analysis. She has written and spoken extensively on the relevance of business respect for human rights, and the UNGPs specifically, to movements that seek to advance sustainability, equality, ESG investing, stakeholder capitalism, and human and social capital.

Caroline previously spent 14 years with the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. From 2003 to 2006 she led the UK’s human rights negotiating team at the UN and she ran the negotiations to establish the mandate of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on business and human rights. The success of this initiative led to Professor John Ruggie’s appointment and from 2007-2011 Caroline was a lead advisor on his team and deeply involved in the drafting of the Guiding Principles.

From 2009 to 2011 Caroline was also the Director of the Governance and Accountability Program at the Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School and she remains a Senior Program Fellow there. Caroline is a member of the Imperatives Board of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Board of the Capitals Coalition, the Unilever Sustainability Advisory Council, and the Steering Committee of the Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures.

Caroline’s prior British foreign service career covered Iran, Slovakia, the UN Security Council in New York and the European Union in Brussels. Caroline has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from Oxford University and a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Caroline is a British national and speaks English, French and German.