The Human Rights Research Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University is a research institution directly under the university and a national base for human rights education and training, affiliated with the Koguan School of Law. The institute is led by Professor Peng Chengxin, who also serves as the dean of the Koguan School of Law. As early as 2002, the Koguan School of Law at Shanghai Jiao Tong University established the Human Rights Law Research Center, which was renamed the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in 2011, making it one of the earliest specialized human rights research institutions in Chinese universities. In April 2026, Shanghai Jiao Tong University founded the Human Rights Research Institute as a university-level research platform.

Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the Research Institute thoroughly implements General Secretary Xi Jinping's important exposition on respecting and safeguarding human rights. It is committed to building an independent knowledge system for human rights in China and creating a high-end platform integrating theoretical research, talent cultivation, think tank services, and international exchanges. The Research Institute has maintained close cooperation with central government agencies such as the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Education, receiving careful guidance in the fields of theoretical research, policy consultation, textbook compilation, and international exchanges. At the same time, it has jointly established teaching and research practice bases with the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress, the Municipal Higher People's Court, the Municipal Procuratorate, and the Municipal Justice Bureau. Its research results have been transformed and applied in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Jilin, and other places.

Kaiyuan Law School has been ranked among the top 100 law schools in the world by QS for more than a decade. In 2020 and 2021, it ranked among the top 50 in the world in the Times Higher Education Law Rankings (first among universities in Chinese Mainland). It received an A-level rating in the fifth round of discipline assessment conducted by the Ministry of Education. Currently, it has 74 full-time teachers, including 2 senior professors in liberal arts, 12 national high-level talent candidates, and 3 of the top ten outstanding young jurists in China. Its level of internationalization of faculty ranks among the top in the country. In the past five years, it has published more than 50 CSSCI papers and over 60 SSCI papers, and has authored more than 100 monographs. It has undertaken 4 major projects and 9 key projects of the National Social Science Fund, and has won 21 Excellent Achievements Awards for Scientific Research in Higher Education Institutions from the Ministry of Education (including 1 first prize) and 8 first prizes for Excellent Achievements in Philosophy and Social Sciences in Shanghai.

In 2002, it took the lead in offering human rights law courses in China, establishing a coherent curriculum system spanning undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels. Relying on the Ministry of Education's Collaborative Training and Innovation Base for Foreign-related Legal Talents, it has cultivated a group of key players who are actively working in universities, state organs, and international organizations.

We have established substantive cooperative relationships with law schools at world-class universities such as the University of California, Berkeley, Durham University, and the University of Sydney, actively disseminating China's human rights concepts and achievements. Leveraging the university's discipline clusters such as "Big Information", "Big Health", and "Big Ocean", we have collaborated to conduct research on "Algorithmic Discrimination and Equal Rights", and research on "Human Rights Protection in Public Health Emergencies", forming a distinctive feature of interdisciplinary research on "Technology and Human Rights".