The MRZ has been in existence since 1994 (founding director: Prof. Dr Eckart Klein) and is now a central academic institution of the University of Potsdam. It serves to promote interdisciplinary research, teaching and further education as well as policy advice on human rights issues and cooperates in many ways with the faculties of the University of Potsdam. Since 2010 and 2011 respectively, Prof. Dr Andreas Zimmermann, LL.M. (Harvard), holder of the "Chair of Public Law, in particular Constitutional Law, European and International Law as well as European Business Law and International Business Law" and Prof. Dr Logi Gunnarsson, holder of the "Chair of Ethics / Aesthetics" at the Faculty of Philosophy, have been directors of the MRZ. The MRZ regularly holds conferences and issues its own publications. Its interdisciplinary library, which focuses on human rights, is part of the university library and designed for reference use.
