Carrie James

Carrie James is a co-director and principal investigator at Project Zero. A sociologist by training, her research explores young people's digital, moral, and civic lives. Over the past decade plus, she has led research and educational initiatives focused on ethical issues in digital life, civic engagement and participatory politics in a connected age, and cross-cultural online learning experiences. James directs research for the Democratic Knowledge Project K-12 at the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics (ELSCE) at Harvard University.

With Emily Weinstein, Carrie co-directs the Center for Digital Thriving, an innovation and research center that foregrounds teens’ perspectives and uses co-design approaches to build interventions to help youth (and all people) thrive in a tech-filled world. For many years, they have collaborated with Common Sense Education to build resources focused on digital well-being and digital citizenship.

Also with Emily Weinstein, Carrie is co-author of the book, Behind Their Screens: What Teens are Facing (and Adults are Missing) (The MIT Press, 2022). Weinstein and James are currently writing a book for educators, Teaching for Digital Thriving (Under contract with Wiley/Jossey-Bass). James' past publications include Disconnected: Youth, New Media, and the Ethics Gap (The MIT Press, 2014), and numerous articles in peer-reviewed education and media journals.

James holds a M.A. (1996) and a Ph.D. (2003) in sociology from New York University. She is the parent of two technology-loving kids, ages 13 and 18.