diff --git a/backend/src/models/User.js b/backend/src/models/User.js
index 9ad07cf11..060359682 100644
--- a/backend/src/models/User.js
+++ b/backend/src/models/User.js
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ module.exports = {
   coverImg: { type: 'string', allow: [null] },
   deleted: { type: 'boolean', default: false },
   disabled: { type: 'boolean', default: false },
-  role: 'string',
+  role: { type: 'string', required: true, default: 'user' },
   publicKey: 'string',
   privateKey: 'string',
   wasInvited: 'boolean',
diff --git a/backend/src/models/spec/User.spec.js b/backend/src/models/spec/User.spec.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d1aa79b7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/models/spec/User.spec.js
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import Factory from '../../seed/factories'
+import { neode } from '../../bootstrap/neo4j'
+
+const factory = Factory()
+const instance = neode()
+
+afterEach(async () => {
+  await factory.cleanDatabase()
+})
+
+describe('role', () => {
+  it('defaults to `user`', async () => {
+    const user = await instance.create('User', { name: 'John' })
+    await expect(user.toJson()).resolves.toEqual(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        role: 'user',
+      }),
+    )
+  })
+})
diff --git a/backend/src/schema/types/type/User.gql b/backend/src/schema/types/type/User.gql
index 314f03521..b984f2d79 100644
--- a/backend/src/schema/types/type/User.gql
+++ b/backend/src/schema/types/type/User.gql
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ type User {
   deleted: Boolean
   disabled: Boolean
   disabledBy: User @relation(name: "DISABLED", direction: "IN")
-  role: UserGroup
+  role: UserGroup!
   publicKey: String
   invitedBy: User @relation(name: "INVITED", direction: "IN")
   invited: [User] @relation(name: "INVITED", direction: "OUT")