Postdoctoral Fritz Fellow – Digital Competition Policy Research

Apply here.

Job Overview

The Georgetown Initiative on Technology and Society is seeking a Postdoctoral Fritz Research Fellow to work with the Knight-Georgetown Institute (KGI) and the Institute for Technology Law & Policy (Tech Institute) with research interests at the intersection of economics, law, and technology. As a postdoc, you will work predominantly on research, spearheading a project that examines the novel tools and strategies enforcers of competition law have developed for shaping the development of digital markets. We expect this position to render multiple co-authored publications. We seek candidates with a Ph.D. in law, economics, computer or data sciences, management, public policy, or an associated discipline. 

Along with their mentored research, this fellow will join a cohort of Fritz Family Fellows working at the intersection of technology and society. Each fellow will work on a different project co-designed and mentored by faculty from at least two different parts of the campus. Ultimately, the Fritz Family Fellowship aims to cultivate the next generation of leaders with expertise in the social impacts of technology, and build a network of public interest thinkers who learn from and support each other’s work.

This position will predominantly focus on research. 

Research

The Postdoc Fellow is expected to engage predominantly in research. The Postdoc Fellow will be part of a project led by Filippo Lancieri (Tech Institute) and Alissa Cooper (KGI) and supported by two junior Fellows (a law student and a masters student). The fellowship team will be working to better understand which enforcement approaches are the most effective at enabling competition in digital markets. 

From the United States to the European Union to other jurisdictions, competition policy has a long list of failures when attempting to change digital market realities. This project seeks to assess how an increasing recognition of these failures has led competition authorities to develop novel strategies and tools for enforcement, including the enactment of stricter legal obligations, extensive market studies, establishing specialized internal units, and hiring staff with expertise in non-traditional fields for competition authorities. This opens doors for high-level, comparative research aiming to map these different approaches and understand whether and how they end up actually changing competition dynamics. 

While many jurisdictions have scrutinized concentration in digital markets, we will focus our initial efforts on the enforcement strategies of competition authorities selected in collaboration with the Postdoc Fellow, including enforcement and implementation of the Digital Markets Act in the European Union and/or the digital markets competition regime in the United Kingdom. We anticipate that conducting this analysis will involve a mixed-methods approach focusing on one or two different but highly relevant digital markets (e.g. online search, mobile app stores, social media). Specific project aims related to this investigation include understanding: 

• What practices have competition authorities in different jurisdictions adopted to address and understand the novel challenges presented by competition enforcement in digital markets?
• How did competition authorities structure the implementation and enforcement of these new tools and strategies? What different kinds of expertise have they brought together? What kinds of procedures have they changed? 
  
• And, most importantly, have these new strategies effectively changed (or, at least, are they on a path to changing) outcomes related to market competition, including levels of concentration, barriers to entry, and consumer experimentation with smaller providers? 

The Postdoc Fellow is expected to provide support for all aspects of the project, including overall design, project management, mentorship of the two junior Fellows, qualitative data collection and analysis, quantitative data collection and analysis, and authorship of written outputs. The ideal candidate will have demonstrated experience with at least several of the following: multidisciplinary teams that bridge different fields of knowledge, specific research related to the implementation of the Digital Markets Act or an associated digital regulation, and publication in the fields of economics, law, computer science, management, or business.

The Postdoc Fellow is expected to run bi-weekly meetings with the fellowship team and attend weekly KGI meetings, as well as participate in KGI events and the broader Georgetown Tech & Society community. 

Knight-Georgetown Institute

The Knight–Georgetown Institute (KGI) serves as a central hub for translating research into practical resources that policymakers, journalists, and private and public sector leaders can use to tackle information and technology issues in real time, ranging from artificial intelligence to the spread of misinformation and disinformation.

KGI helps policymakers and tech industry leaders address pressing issues related to technology, policy, and ethics and make informed decisions on how technology is used to shape, produce, and share information across platforms. The institute will also train the next generation of leaders to shape the future of information and technology for the common good.

The Tech Institute

The Tech Institute is a hub for policymakers, academics, advocates, and technologists to study and discuss how to center humans and the social good, using technology as a tool. We train the next generation of lawyers and lawmakers with deep expertise in technology law and policy and provide non-partisan insights to policymakers on issues relating to new and emerging technologies. With the leading academic program for law and technology in the United States, we also foster interdisciplinary approaches to solving complex technology law and policy problems. The Tech Institute also identifies and creates opportunities for technology to improve access to justice.

Fellowship details

Fellowships are for one academic year and summer (August 1, 2025 – July 31, 2026, with a possible earlier start date), with the general expectation of renewal for one additional year. Fellows will receive a stipend of $90,000 and a $5,000 research fund plus full benefits. 

Georgetown University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action employer fully dedicated to achieving a diverse faculty and staff. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, sex, sexual orientation, age, religion, national origin, marital status, veteran status, disability or other categories protected by law. 

Application Materials

To apply, submit the following items through Interfolio. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with interviews beginning in mid-May.

• Cover Letter indicating interest in, fit for the position, and an outline of the research plan for the fellowship (maximum 3 pages)
• Curriculum Vitae
• List of publications
• One illustrative publication
• Two references who may be contacted by the search committee (reference letters are not required at this stage)