Launch of the Youth Digital Cultures Lab and the Youth for Tech Futures (YTF) Fellowship 2026

Over the past few months, exciting work has been taking shape at the Youth Digital Cultures Lab (YDCL). Launched as a space for research, dialogue and co-creation, YDCL brings together young researchers to critically engage with the digital systems shaping our lives today.

A central part of this work is the Youth for Tech Futures (YTF) Fellowship — a programme designed to support youth-led research on how young people in India experience, navigate, and imagine technology. Through the fellowship, our first cohort has begun exploring questions around digital inclusion, power, participation, AI, data governance, and community-centred technology.

Our first cohort of YTF Fellows (2026)

The YTF Fellowship brings together ten fellows from across India, representing diverse academic and professional backgrounds including public policy, education, healthcare, design, engineering, research, media, and development practice.

Ayush Aggarwal, Anurag Eswara, Cherish Rajpurohit, Vrinda Gandhi, Agam Jain, Aditi Mishra, Nihal Vummaneni, Jyoti Pardhi, Ayesha Thatte, and Rupsha Ghosh form the 2025-2026 inaugural cohort. 

Learn more about our fellows here: https://www.youthdigitalcultureslab.com/youthfortechfuturesfellowship

Their work reflects YDCL’s commitment to grounding technology conversations in diverse experiences. Over the coming months, fellows will be conducting original research exploring how young people engage with digital systems and how more inclusive and responsible technological futures can be imagined and built.

Immersion Days in Bangalore

The fellowship began with in-person Immersion Days in Bangalore (Jan 9–12, 2026) — four days of conversations, workshops, and collaborative learning. Fellows engaged with speakers and practitioners working across technology, policy, social sciences, design, and grassroots innovation.

Sessions explored themes such as responsible and inclusive AI, meaningful digital inclusion, online privacy and agency, open-source ecosystems, participation and power in technology, and building technology grounded in community realities.

Speakers across the Immersion Days included:

Sunayana Sitaram (Microsoft Research India), Deepti George (Yutadhi), Khushboo Agrawal (Karya), Shiva Vishwanathan (Catenate Corp, DesignUp Conference), Sai Rahul Poruri (FOSS United), Sriya Sridhar (Shiv Nadar School of Law, The Pranava Institute), Kumar Subham (India House), Sarayu Natarajan (Aapti Institute), and Akhila Somanath (Tech4Good Community).

Guided by an Advisory Council

YDCL and the YTF Fellowship are supported by an Advisory Council of mentors bringing experience across design, ethics, education, and financial inclusion.

YDCL Advisory Council Members

We introduce them briefly here and will be sharing more about their work in a dedicated blog on the YDCL website soon.

• Shiva Vishwanathan — Founder, Catenate; Director, DesignUp Conference

• Anijo Mathew — Dean and Professor, Institute of Design (ID), Illinois Tech, US

• Dorian Peters — Assistant Professor, Ethical Design, Institute for Technology and Humanity, University of Cambridge, UK

• Jayshree Venkatesan — Senior Director, Consumer Protection & Strategic Industry Engagement, Center for Financial Inclusion

What’s Next

The Immersion Days was just the starting,  over the coming weeks, we will be sharing insights from fellows’ work, our virtual sessions, reflections from the lab, and conversations emerging from YDCL.

Stay tuned to learn more about what we’ve been building — and what comes next at the Youth Digital Cultures Lab.