CDT Students Attend the 2025 Digital Good Network Summer School

left to right: Jenn Layton Annable, Szymon Olejarnik, Lucy Hitcham 

Three of our Horizon CDT PhD candidates — Jenn Layton Annable (2021), Lucy Hitcham (2023) and Szymon Olejarnik (2023) — recently took part in the Digital Good Network Summer School, held from 23-25 June 2025 at the University of Sheffield. This annual event brings together early-career researchers from across the UK and beyond to explore what a “good” digital society might look like and how we can collectively shape it.

Organised by the ESRC Digital Good Network, the Summer School offers a fully funded residential programme designed to develop participants’ research and professional skills through lectures, interactive workshops and interdisciplinary collaboration. Attendees also benefit from valuable opportunities to connect with academics, practitioners and fellow doctoral researchers working at the intersection of digital technologies and society.

This year’s theme focused on methods for the digital good, showcasing innovative tools and approaches from researchers across disciplines. The programme highlighted the importance of interdisciplinary thinking and encouraged participants to explore new ways of understanding digital technologies in context.

Participants shared their own research projects, joined reading sessions, and attended a keynote lecture by Professor Dorothea Kleine, Director of the Institute of Global Sustainable Development (IGSD) at the University of Sheffield. Her talk, “Building better digital futures: sustainability, equity, and co-design justice,” offered powerful insights into how we can create more inclusive and equitable digital spaces.

Reflecting on her experience, Lucy shared:

“It has been excellent attending the ESRC Digital Good Network Summer School for the past three days at The University of Sheffield!
It gave me the opportunity to engage in hands-on workshops and insightful conversations to get a better interdisciplinary understanding about how we can work towards the ‘digital good’. I was able to hear about the exciting research happening across this area and connect with an excellent group of PhD students and ECRs, all of which are doing such interesting work. Thank you to the DGN team for organising this and I am glad to now be part of this Network!”

We’re proud to see Lucy, Jenn and Szymon contributing to important conversations about digital society and representing our CDT at such a forward-thinking event.

You can learn more about the Digital Good Network and its mission here >> ESRC Digital Good Network

Originally posted at https://cdt.horizon.ac.uk/2025/06/26/cdt-students-attend-the-2025-digital-good-network-summer-school/