Katie Salen Tekinbaş Awarded Public Voices Fellowship

Katie Salen Tekinbaş, professor and vice chair for graduate affairs in the Department of Informatics at UC Irvine Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS), has been awarded a 2026 Public Voices Fellowship on Youth Well-being and Power from Hopelab.

Hopelab’s mission is to advance the mental health and well-being of young people through uncovering knowledge and evidence, investing in innovators, and funding youth-centered solutions. The Public Voices Fellowship is a year-long program that brings together 25 thought leaders to develop content that amplifies youth mental health and well-being research, efforts in responsible tech, youth-informed policy initiatives, and elevates diverse innovators. The fellowship provides support, leadership skills, and knowledge and is part of a broader initiative with The OpEd Project.

Salen Tekinbaş is a member of the Connected Learning Lab and executive director and co-founder of Connected Camps. Her expertise includes designing youth-powered online play communities and leading work on designing online environments that support adolescent mental health and wellbeing. Recently, Salen Tekinbaş has been leading work on designing caring and care(full) online environments that support adolescent wellbeing. She is working with researchers and commercial platforms to develop innovative approaches to prosocial community design and youth-led moderation.

About the fellowship, Salen Tekinbaş remarked, “This is an amazing honor and provides me with an opportunity to amplify research related to an area I am really passionate about: giving voice to the needs and motivations of adolescents’ wellbeing online. I have already learned so much from the incredible mentors at TheOpEd project and other fellows in the cohort. It is a truly inspiring group!”

– Tonya Becerra