Since its formal recognition as an academic department in the Faculty of Law, the Centre for Human Rights has been able to invest its efforts in both formal academic programmes, on the one hand, and research, advocacy and less formal human rights teaching and training, on the other. In 2008, the Centre continued with the Master’s in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa, again preparing 30 of Africa’s most talented young lawyers to make a difference within the sphere of international human rights law in Africa. An innovation introduced in 2008 was the LLM Partner’s Conference, held just before graduation on 10 December. Academics from participating faculties and LLM students presented work-in-progress and summaries of their dissertations, respectively, at an event aimed at stimulating further reflection among partners about the content and methodology of themes covered in the Master’s programme. The Centre further continued to cultivate continuous and constructive discussions among registered doctoral students on topics in human rights in Africa.