Calling everyone who cares about digital thriving!
Are you passionate about creating innovative approaches to youth, tech, and wellbeing? The Center for Digital Thriving wants to support your work!
Applications are now open for our Digital Thriving Fellows program
(2025 – 2026 academic year).
Too many conversations about teens and screens oversimplify the real challenges and opportunities young people face today. We want to spark a new conversation…
One that’s not just about youth, but with them.
One that doesn’t simply villainize tech, but approaches it with critical optimism.
One that encourages agency over abstinence.
That’s why this year’s Fellowship is all about mindshifts — meaningful changes in perspective or approach that are directly supportive of youth agency and thriving in a tech filled world.
Your proposed mindshift can be aimed at:
- Adults who directly serve young people (parents, educators, clinicians, practitioners, youth organizations)
- Adults whose work impacts youth (policymakers, researchers, etc.)
- Youth themselves, shifting the way they think and talk about tech and wellbeing
As a Fellow, you’ll join the Center’s supportive community of collaborators from a range of disciplines, backgrounds, and creative pursuits. Together, we’ll explore how to foster digital agency through youth-centered, equity-focused, critically optimistic work.
Apply now if you’re developing ideas, conducting research, or creating projects that can help young people — and all of us — thrive in a world of tech. Your unique perspective and contributions could play a crucial role in shaping a future where young people thrive, however technology fits into their lives.
Access and download the full Call for Proposals here.
Curious to learn more? Register for our Info Session here.
TIMELINE
| Applicants Open → February 14, 2025 – March 15, 2025 |
| Applicant Info Session → February 19, 2025 at 1 p.m. PST |
| Letter of Interest Due → March 15, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. PST |
| Invitations for Full Proposal → Mid April 2025 |
| Full Proposals Due → May 15, 2025 |
| Decisions → June 30, 2025 |
| Fellowship Begins → September 1, 2025 |
Who is eligible?
- Applicants based in the U.S. or residents with a project based in the U.S. Please note that international projects or applicants who reside outside the U.S. are not eligible at this time.
- Individuals who are current, full-time students at the undergraduate or graduate levels are not eligible to apply at this time. This includes current PhD students. Part-time students may be eligible, depending on the circumstances; please reach out for more information.
- The Fellowship program is designed for individuals and not teams. If you plan to carry out a project with support from one or more colleagues, one application should be submitted and, if accepted, one person on your team would need to represent the project as the Fellow.
How do i apply?
Initial “Letters of Interest” will be accepted until March 15, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. All materials should be submitted via our application portal in Qualtrics.
Still have a question?
Check out our FAQs below for questions about our fellowship. For any remaining questions, please reach out to us at digitalthriving@gse.harvard.edu.
frequently asked questions
We created this FAQ to respond to common questions that we received during our inaugural application cycle. If your specific question is not answered below, feel free to add it to this form.
First, it’s important to note that we are a new Center and that this is only our second cohort of the Fellows program! We learned a lot during our inaugural year, and have leaned into the spirit of learning to improve the process. Thank you for your patience as we learn and grow.
Without further ado, here are our current responses to frequently asked questions:
Fellows Cohort
How many people applied last year? How large will the Fellows cohort be?
Last year we received over 200 applicants. We expect that our cohort will include up to 3 – 4 Fellows.
Eligibility
Are students eligible to apply?
Individuals who are current, full-time students at the undergraduate or graduate levels are not eligible to apply at this time. Part-time students may be eligible, depending on the circumstances; please reach out for more information.
Can individuals based outside the U.S. participate?
We have aspirations to expand the program in the future but, at this time, the program is limited to U.S. residents and projects based in the U.S.
Does the fellowship support projects done outside of the U.S.? (I will be based in the U.S. but would like to work internationally.)
At this time, the program is limited to projects being carried out in the U.S.
Will eligibility for the program be expanded to those outside of the U.S. in the future?
Expansion of the program to those outside the U.S. is definitely an aspiration. At this time, we cannot be definitive about if or when this aspiration will be realized.
Does the fellowship program fill the “working” requirement for Optional Practical Training (OPT)? I have an F-1 visa extension for one year; am I eligible for the fellowship?
The program as it is currently conceived would not fulfill the working requirement for an OPT.
If I’m not currently eligible, how can I connect with the Center for Digital Thriving?
- You can sign-up here for our newsletter where we share regular updates about the Center’s work and happenings.
- We periodically post opportunities for regular staff positions with the Center. We post these opportunities on the Harvard employment site and spread the word via our LinkedIn and Instagram.
Is the program only eligible to individuals, or can my colleagues and I apply as a team?
The Fellowship program is designed for individuals and not teams. If you plan to carry out a project with support from one or more colleagues, one application should be submitted and, if accepted, one person on your team would need to represent the project as the Fellow.
Expectations of Fellows
What is the expected time commitment for Fellows?
We expect that Fellows will allocate meaningful time to their projects across the fellowship year. We won’t be setting a specific expectation in terms of hours per week. We recommend that Fellows think about this as part-time work that could be balanced with another role (e.g., part-time employee at an organization).
- Participate in remote meetings with the Center team and Fellows cohort at least once a month.
- Travel to Cambridge 1 – 2 times during their fellowship term for in-person convenings (2 – 3 days in length). We expect that the first convening will be in the fall of 2025 (likely October).
What are the expectations for deliverables?
Fellows are expected to:
- Make their work-in-progress visible to others via at least one public presentation to a key audience at a relevant venue (e.g., K – 12 school, university, professional conference, tech company) during their fellowship term.
- Develop at least one translational, public-facing resource or “product” (e.g., publishable report/paper, curriculum/course, publication, podcast, campaign, design framework, app, convening, curriculum/course module, youth-centered program) based on their project.
- Share progress reports roughly at the midpoint and conclusion of their fellowship, as well as one year later.
About the Selection Criteria & Application
How will you assess applications?
We will assess applicants in three phases:
- Phase One: Between mid-March – early April 2025, CDT staff will review Letters of Intent.
- Phase Two: In mid-April, 2025, CDT will notify all Letter of Intent applicants and invite approximately 8 – 10 applicants to submit a full proposal by May 15.
- Phase Three: CDT staff will review full proposals and conduct interviews with finalists. Full proposal applicants will be notified of decisions by June 30, 2025.
Four criteria will guide our initial review of applications:
- Alignment with the year’s theme of “Mindshifts for Youth Digital Thriving,” displaying potential for impact in shifting conversations among adults who serve young people, adults whose work has an impact on young people, and/or among young people themselves.
- Work is *youth-centered, equity-focused, and/or embodies critical optimism about tech
- Fellows’ identities enrich Center diversity
- Topics complement & extend the *current work being carried out at the Center for Digital Thriving
*See further details below.
Will the selection process involve an interview?
Depending on the pool of finalists, we may conduct interviews in order to support our final decisions. If we do so, this will likely happen in June 2025.
What do you mean by Mindshifts for Youth Digital Thriving?
A mindshift for youth digital thriving is a meaningful change in perspective or approach to addressing the challenges and opportunities young people face while growing up in a tech-filled world. It also represents a move away from conventional, often alarmist or negative views about teens and technology, towards more empowering, empathetic, and collaborative strategies. These mindshifts encourage adults, young people, and society to reframe the ways we think about technology and its connection to thriving in a digital age.
What do you mean by youth-centered work?
By youth-centered, we mean that the proposed project has relevance for and/or is aimed at supporting young people. This plays out in our work as we partner with young people on an ongoing basis in our research and co-design activities, and our Youth Voice Playbook (in collaboration with Hope Lab, In Tandem, and Character Lab) includes additional context on this line of work.
What age range do you have in mind for what constitutes youth?
From birth through young adulthood (ages 0 – 20s).
What do you mean by equity-focused work?
Work that is carried out with and for groups that have been historically underrepresented or systematically ignored. (This plays out in our own work as we carry out our research and co-design activities with youth from different contexts, backgrounds, and identities — paying special attention to the perspectives of youth with distinct strengths and vulnerabilities, including histories of marginalization.)
What do you mean by critical optimism?
This term reflects the belief that: 1) there are benefits as well as harms associated with a tech-filled world that require critical attention on the part of researchers, educators, policymakers, tech designers, and others; and 2) we see power in solutions-minded, future-oriented, & genuinely hopeful approaches to technology and youth well-being.
What are the current Fellows cohort projects?
To give you a better idea of the kind of innovative work of our current fellows, here are brief descriptions of their projects:
- A speculative platform that uses participatory research and speculative design workshops with teens to address school monitoring and surveillance technologies, fostering youth digital agency and rights.
- A Generative AI tool designed to help young people identify their core values and provide real-time guidance for restructuring negative thoughts into positive actions online.
- A podcast series featuring teens from around the U.S. and globally, exploring their experiences with social technologies and investigating the nature of digital havens.
- A comprehensive framework ensuring digital products are designed with young people’s well-being at the forefront, making the online world more inclusive and empowering for all.
You can find more information about our fellows on our website: https://digitalthriving.gse.harvard.edu/fellows/
What is the current work underway at the Center for Digital Thriving?
Our current work includes both research and resource development activities.
On the research side, we are conducting a listening tour about digital thriving, a study about adolescents’ perspectives on artificial intelligence, and a national survey of educators to better understand their pain points around AI school policies. We are also directly supporting research being led by colleagues, including a) a study of the impacts for youth well-being of new state legislation restricting social media access and b) a randomized controlled trial of the impact of digital well-being resources. We have a project on youth and generative AI in its beginning stages, too.
On the resource development side, our team is developing an educator professional development course, designing new digital sell-being resources for parents and for schools (with Common Sense Education), and developing an online professional development course for educators on mindsets and resources that support youth digital wellbeing. Across our core work, we collaborate with youth, educators, clinical psychologists, and other practitioners whose work is relevant to the mission of thriving in a tech-filled world.
Do you have a preference on the stage of a project or product (e.g., early/idea stage vs. building on an existing project/product) that a Fellowship would support?
We don’t have a preference at this point!
Whom should I contact with more specific questions about my eligibility or application?
Please email us with more specific questions at digitalthriving@gse.harvard.edu.
