The Georgia Institute of Technology is inviting applications for a PhD position in the Digital Media program, with a focus on ethics, social values, and technology studies. The position is supervised by Assistant Professor Richmond Wong, whose research group, the Creating Ethics Infrastructures Lab, investigates the social, cultural, and organizational contexts of technology design. The lab's work is highly interdisciplinary, drawing from human-computer interaction (HCI), science and technology studies (STS), design, and the social sciences and humanities.

Research topics include: the work required by practitioners to address social values and ethics in technology design; the creation of governance mechanisms and policy levers for ethical design; technology non-use, resistance, and alternative use practices; and the study of urban transit infrastructures and their relationship to technology companies. The lab also explores the experiences of tech workers, especially those active before 2000, through oral histories and design research.

Methodologically, the group emphasizes interpretivist qualitative research, including interviews, focus groups, ethnographic observation, and discourse analysis, as well as qualitative design-based methods. The research aims to understand how ethical and social values are addressed in technology organizations, and to imagine new forms of governance and policy that support responsible technology development.

Applicants should have experience or interest in critically-oriented HCI research, STS, or related disciplines, and a strong commitment to qualitative research methods and collaborative, human-centered research environments. The lab values limited use of generative AI tools in research and writing. The program is ideal for students interested in the intersection of technology, ethics, policy, and society.

The application deadline for the Georgia Tech Digital Media PhD program is December 8, 2025. For more information about the program and application process, visit the Georgia Tech Digital Media admissions page. Prospective students are encouraged to review the lab guide and research group website to better understand the research environment and expectations.