Fritz Family Fellowship Program The Fritz Family Fellowship is a unique program designed to be interdisciplinary from the ground up. Each project is co-designed and mentored by faculty from at least two different parts of the campus, building multiple disciplines into the foundation of the research. Building on expertise from across Tech & Society, the Fritz Family Fellowship cultivates the next generation of leaders with expertise in the social impacts of technology. It builds a network of public-interest scholars and practitioners who learn from and support each other’s work.
Professors Meg Leta Jones (Communication, Culture & Technology) and Laura DeNardis (Center for Digital Ethics) are hiring a Graduate Fritz Family Fellow to join their research project exploring these questions: How can we conceptually map the evolution of privacy dynamics and control mechanisms as family relationships change over time? What connections and distinctions exist between adolescent oversight and eldercare monitoring that might inform contemporary family privacy? What are the key dimensions and elements of “collaborative control” that support strong families and member needs? For 2026-2027, we are focusing on AI in K-12 education and family health spaces.
This project is developing a framework for “collaborative control” in family dynamics, examining how digital control is exercised across different family relationships with a particular focus on two interconnected domains: parental controls for adolescents and digital monitoring for eldercare. By investigating these typically siloed areas together and creating visual mappings of how control mechanisms evolve as family dynamics change, we lay the foundation for a new lens on privacy: family privacy. This project develops conceptual tools to understand how family autonomy is stressed and strengthened by digital technologies, with a specific focus on how “sandwich generation” adults simultaneously manage oversight and engagement for teens and aging parents. The resulting workshops, concept paper, and visual mapping will provide a foundation for future empirical research and practical guidance for technology design that respects both family cohesion and member needs.
Ideal candidates for this research project have…
Experience in field(s) of Communication, Culture & Technology
Technology policy coursework and experience
Event operations experience
Great writing skills, with experience in writing about complex policies and technologies
Great research skills, with experience in law, policy, social science, child development, family studies, gerontology
Only current Georgetown students are eligible. The application will be posted on the GMS student jobs page until filled. Inquiries about this process can be directed to FritzFellows@georgetown.edu.
