Sandra Cortesi

Short CV

Sandra Cortesi is the Rudolf Mößbauer Assistant Professor for Participation and Diversity in Digital Societies at the Technical University of Munich, where she leads the Youth and Media Lab, the Creativity Lab, ain partnership with the TUM Think Tank. Her research examines how young people and other underrepresented communities engage with digital technologies, including AI, and how evidence can inform education, design, and policy. She previously directed Youth and Media at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and continues to collaborate closely with Berkman Klein. Her work integrates participatory, interdisciplinary, and globally comparative approaches to advance child-centred and people-centred digital well-being, skills, and agency.

 

Selected Awards

• 2025. Teaching Award, Best Lecture, IKMZ, University of Zurich (UZH)
• 2025. Shortlisted for «UZH Award for Best Teaching», UZH
• 2024. Teaching Award, Best Research Seminar, IKMZ, UZH
• 2023. Teaching Award Nomination, Best Lecture, IKMZ, UZH
• 2022. Teaching Award Nomination, Best Research Seminar, IKMZ, UZH

Research Interests

Sandra Cortesi examines information quality and news consumption, digital safety and privacy risks, well-being, skills and lifelong learning, agency, and the future of work, alongside youth participation and civic engagement. Her work is strongly application-oriented and translational, committed to generating real-world impact through participatory, multisectoral, and interdisciplinary research.

Selected Publications

• Cortesi, S., Hasse, A., Lombana-Bermudez, A., Kim, S., & Gasser, U. (2020). Youth and digital citizenship+ (plus): Understanding skills for a digital world. Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:42638976
• Cortesi, S. (2022). 15 ways to engage youth within your company and why you should do it. Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/37373479
• Frontiers in Digital Child Safety Working Group. (2025). Frontiers in digital child safety: Designing a child-centered digital environment that supports rights, agency, and well-being (S. Cortesi & U. Gasser, Eds.). TUM Think Tank at the Munich School of Politics and Public Policy at the Technical University of Munich, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and Department of Communications and Media Research at the University of Zurich. tumthinktank.de/en/project/frontiers-in-digital-child-safety
• Gasser, U., & Cortesi, S. (2017). Children’s rights and digital technologies: Introduction to the discourse and some meta-observations. In M. D. Ruck, M. Peterson-Badali & M. Freeman (Eds.), Handbook of children's rights: Global and multidisciplinary perspectives (pp. 417-436). Routledge.

For more publications, please visit: https://sandracortesi.com/publications/