Kellogg PhD Fellow Perla Khattar, a doctoral candidate at Notre Dame Law School, is among five Notre Dame graduate students who were competitively selected for the Tech Ethics Graduate Fellowship from the Notre Dame-IBM Technology Ethics Lab. Khattar is pursuing her J.S.D. with a focus on consumer digital privacy.
After a competitive application and evaluation process, the students were selected based on their outstanding research proposals on topics such as fair methods of evaluating human labor in the digital age, the efficacy of privacy policies, and the role of technological advancement in violent conflicts.
"I am excited to be part of the inaugural cohort of graduate research fellows of the Notre Dame-IBM Technology Ethics Lab," said Khattar. "As a fellow, I will lead 'Guardians of Bits and Bytes: Understanding the Ethical Landscape of Big Tech Privacy Policies,' an interdisciplinary project that studies the efficacy of privacy policies in protecting consumer privacy. By researching the intricacies of privacy policies drafted by major technology companies such as Meta, Amazon, Apple, Google, IBM, and others, I seek to understand whether these policies adopt a human rights approach to consumer protection or merely ensure corporate compliance with legal obligations set by local or international law."
“Perla will be an outstanding contributor to the goals of the Lab,” said Kellogg faculty fellow Paolo Carozza, professor of law and Khattar’s J.S.D. faculty advisor. “She unites a deep practical knowledge of the tech and tech policy world with a sophisticated understanding of the normative principles of human rights and human dignity at stake, and pursues them both at a global level.”
During their two-year fellowships, in addition to continuing their dissertation research, Graduate Fellows will form interdisciplinary research collaborations with Notre Dame faculty, mentor Notre Dame undergraduates, and develop their research into a suite of applied deliverables such as discussion-starting green papers.
Graduate Fellows will receive a stipend of $5,000 per semester for participating in the fellowship program. They will be active in the intellectual life of the Tech Ethics Lab and the University Ethics Initiative throughout their fellowships.
“The culmination of my research will be a white paper advocating for ethical practices throughout the lifecycle of consumer data, offering actionable recommendations, and promoting transparency in data management,” added Khattar.
A new call for Graduate Fellowships with the Technology Ethics Lab will launch at the end of the Spring 2024 semester. Learn more about fellowship programs at the Technology Ethics Lab at techethicslab.nd.edu/fellowships.
This story originally posted at law.nd.edu.
The Kellogg Institute for International Studies, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame, is an interdisciplinary community of scholars and students from across the University and around the globe that promotes research, provides educational opportunities, and builds partnerships throughout the world on the themes of global democracy and integral human development.