Fellowship Program

The Digital Thriving Fellows Program exists to amplify bold ideas that help young people thrive in a tech-filled world. Each year, we support a small group of innovative researchers, educators, practitioners, and creatives who are shaping new possibilities for digital life — always with young people at the center.

Fellows join a growing community of leaders exploring fresh ways to spark conversation, shift perspectives, and build resources that help both young people (and the adults who care for them) thrive.

HOW IT WORKS

Applications: Typically open each spring for 3–4 Fellows.
Selection: Fellows are chosen following a multi-step application process in late spring/early summer.
Fellowship year: Runs from fall through the following summer. Fellows meet monthly as a cohort, join an in-person gathering in Cambridge, and share their work publicly.
Status for 2025: Applications for the 2025–2026 cycle are now closed. Join our email list to hear when the next round opens!

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

APPLY (2025 CLOSED)

MeeT oUR 2025 FeLLOWS

From reimagining online empathy to blending community-centered Pan-African concepts with digital life, our new Fellows are sparking conversations that challenge old assumptions and open up new possibilities.

Here’s a look at their projects:

Teyra Anderson

Teyra’s project, MYA: IRL, is a youth-guided mini-series that captures the real complexities of growing up in a hyperconnected world. Co-created with teens, the series explores how digital life intersects with friendship, family, identity, and selfhood.

Creative Producer and storyteller based in Los Angeles. Teyra builds youth-centered, purpose-driven media projects that amplify underrepresented voices.

Michael Davis

Michael’s project brings mindfulness and cyberpsychology into K–5 classrooms, developing tools that help kids build resilience, regulate emotions, and grow into mindful digital citizens.

CEO and Founder of Merek.io and MindfulBytes, with over two decades in cybersecurity and a PhD in progress in cyberpsychology. Michael develops child-centered approaches to digital mindfulness and safety.

Greg Depow

Greg’s project explores how young people can practice wise empathy to reshape their online experiences — engaging with others’ emotions in ways that foster joy, compassion, and authentic sharing rather than comparing.

Postdoctoral fellow at UC San Diego studying empathy and well-being. Greg’s research examines how youth can navigate social media with compassion and authentic connection.

Ecy Femi King

Ecy’s project, Tech for Togetherness, is an interactive comic guide that blends Pan-African concepts with technology to offer youth fresh frameworks for community-centered digital thriving.

Data scientist, author, and comic artist who pioneered the Fractal Gridding style of storytelling. Ecy’s work combines computer science, art, and Pan-African concepts to make tech more human-centered.

“FORevER FeLLOWS”alUMni

Alija Blackwell

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Alija Blackwell is a futurist and creative technologist. As the Principal Foresight Strategist at the Oneiric Lab, Blackwell’s work maps historical patterns and emerging trends at the intersections of technology, climate, and transformative justice to anticipate pathways to equitable futures.

Most recently, Blackwell has served as a strategist for U.S. and international NGOs, academic and cultural institutions to guide the implementation of long-term operational plans through policy innovation and multimedia narrative strategies to advance social change. Blackwell has led participatory research on youth digital rights using game design and multimedia policy toolkits to combat misinformation and advance youth digital agency. In the past, Blackwell has facilitated speculative design workshops and cybersecurity scenario planning initiatives on global digital governance, human rights, and climate migrations. For their efforts, Blackwell has received honors and awards from the Institute for the Future, UNESCO, U.S. Department of Education, New America, The Aspen Institute, 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics, among other institutions. In their creative practice, they enjoy circus arts and speculative fiction.

Youth Affirming Systems (YAS!) is a speculative platform powered by the imaginations of systems-impacted youth that offers a repository of tools, policies, and practices that school officials, youth-serving organizations, policymakers, and technologists can draw inspiration from to co-create healthy, youth-centered digital ecosystems. Through a series of speculative design workshops rooted in Black and Indigenous futurities, this initiative will:

foster awareness about school monitoring and surveillance technologies
develop a critical optimism about tech through the lens of youth agency and digital rights
build the public imagination for youth-centered tools and solutions that foster well-being by redressing the impacts of school monitoring software and surveillance technologies.

Adrienne
Joe

she/her

Adrienne Joe is a fellow at the Center for Digital Thriving. She is currently a Lead Technologist at Booz Allen Hamilton, where she builds and deploys AI and machine learning-based decision support tools for the Pentagon’s Chief Digital AI Office (CDAO).

Through the fellowship, Adrienne is developing 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. Leaning on her background as a user experience strategist, she is conducting UX research to inform the tool’s development and establish its effectiveness. Adrienne’s work explores the intersection of philosophy and technology, highlighting the nuanced ways in which our values affect tech use. By using Generative AI to promote positive digital habits, she aims to help youth develop greater agency, self-awareness, and resilience in their digital lives.

Adrienne holds a BA with Honors in Economics and Public Health from Williams College. She currently resides in Washington DC, where she enjoys playing tennis, biking around the city, and discovering the best Mediterranean restaurants.

Molly
Josephs

she/her

Molly Josephs is an educator who runs the youth dialogue and podcasting program, This Teenage Life (TTL). She started TTL with teens while working at High Tech High, inspired by many summers in cross-conflict dialogue at Seeds of Peace camp.

For her CDT Fellowship project, Molly will be producing a podcast series with teens from around the U.S. and the globe. Through storytelling, they will explore their experiences with social technologies, investigate the nature of digital thriving, and surface the qualities of digital havens.

The goal of this series and related resources is to create conditions for more youth-driven communities where young people use technology to authentically connect across differences through dialogue and creative expression.

Molly currently teaches middle and high school computer science and biology in New York City. She studied ecology and evolutionary biology at Brown University, and received her master’s degree in school design and leadership at Harvard.

Chrystal Koech

she/her

Chrystal Koech is the Senior Director of Digital Operations and Strategy at Facing History and Ourselves. She is a proud alumna of the Harvard Graduate School of Education with a Master’s in Education—Technology, Innovation, and Education and a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from Tufts University.

She combines academic rigor with hands-on expertise, specializing in guiding non-profit organizations through digital operations, strategy, transformation, and change management.

With nearly a decade of experience, Chrystal designs operational solutions, creates meaningful digital experiences, and builds digital talent and culture. She leads a team of talented professionals who provide the organization with product management and support services. She has played a central role in launching a range of digital products, including reimagining Facing History & Ourselves’ traditionally in-person professional learning and redesigning FacingHistory.org.

Currently, as a fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Center for Digital Thriving, she is developing a comprehensive framework to help make sure that digital products and platforms are designed to support the digital well-being of young people. This initiative underscores her commitment to creating equitable, inclusive digital experiences that empower all learners.

FaQ

Here are some of the questions we get most often about the Fellowship:

Who is eligible to apply?

U.S.-based individuals with youth-centered, equity-focused projects. (Not open to current full-time students or teams.)

What kinds of projects are a good fit?

Anything that puts youth at the center and approaches tech with critical optimism — from podcasts and curricula to apps, research, or creative media.

What’s the time commitment?

Think of it as part-time work. Fellows continue their other roles while dedicating meaningful energy to their project, joining monthly calls, and traveling 1–2 times to Cambridge for short convenings.

What are Fellows expected to create?

At least one public-facing resource (e.g., podcast, article, app, framework, curriculum) and at least one presentation that shares their work with others.

Do you have a preference on the stage of the project or product?

We don’t have a preference at this point! We’re open to supporting ideas at a variety of stages (e.g., early/idea stage vs. building on an existing project/product).

If I’m not currently eligible, how can I connect with the Center for Digital Thriving team?

Sign-up for our newsletter for regular updates from the Center! We occasionally post opportunities for regular staff positions via Harvard and LinkedIn.

HOW IT WORKS