Shaping fair digital rules

Understanding how digital technologies are governed is increasingly central to democratic societies. On 1 January 2025, Rachel Griffin joined RC Trust as a postdoctoral researcher for a two-year appointment, bringing a sharp analytical focus on regulation, power, and justice in digital ecosystems to the Compliant and Accountable Systems group led by Prof. Dr. Jat Singh.

Rachel Griffin recently completed her PhD at Sciences Po Paris, complemented by visiting fellowships at the Hertie School of Governance and the Weizenbaum Institute in Berlin. Her doctoral research examined EU platform regulation with a particular emphasis on structural injustice. She analysed how European regulatory frameworks address challenges such as online violence, algorithmic bias, and the growing influence of large technology platforms on culture and politics.

A central thread in her work is the question of how societies identify and respond to the risks associated with digital technologies. During the final year of her PhD, Rachel worked on a grant-funded research project investigating the role of risk management obligations in EU platform regulation and the political processes through which technological “risks” are defined, prioritised, and governed. Her research highlights that regulation is never purely technical, but deeply shaped by social values, institutional power, and competing political interests.

At RC Trust, Rachel is keen to build on these critical theoretical perspectives and extend them to emerging regulatory fields, particularly AI regulation. Working within the Compliant and Accountable Systems group, she aims to explore how legal frameworks, technical systems, and societal expectations interact – and how regulation can better account for issues of justice, accountability, and public trust.

Collaboration across disciplines plays a key role in her approach. By engaging with colleagues from computer science, law, and the social sciences, Rachel’s work contributes to RC Trust’s broader mission: grounding debates on digital governance in both technical realities and societal concerns.

With Rachel Griffin joining the team, RC Trust further strengthens its profile in European digital regulation research – at a time when questions of platform power, accountability, and responsible innovation are more pressing than ever.