Jenny Goldschmidt is Emeritus Professor in Human Rights Law . She was Director of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) since 1 October 2007- 1 October 2014. She was appointed professor in human rights law since 1 January 2004. From 1994-2003 she was president of the Equal Treatment Commission and also part time professor Equality and Legal Pluralism at Leiden University. Before, she was professor Legal Women's Studies at Utrecht University.

The topic of her dissertation was "National and indigenous constitutional law in Ghana: their development and their relation to each other" (Leiden, 1981).