Agnieszka Kitkowska is a new postdoctoral researcher at CTF where she is studying online privacy and decision-making, and barriers that consumers face during digital transactions.
What is your background and what brought you to CTF?
"I have a multidisciplinary background with one master's degree in art and one in computing. Last year, I successfully defended my Ph.D. in Computer Science. I am familiar with CTF, and I wanted to join the research group because it provides the opportunity of being involved in projects reaching beyond academia. CTF consists of experts from multidisciplinary fields, some of whom I had the pleasure to collaborate with before, and having a multidisciplinary background and seeking opportunities to continue my research, I thought the position could help me develop as a researcher. I am confident that the collaboration with colleagues at CTF will enable me to learn how to produce excellent-quality research that incorporates a multidisciplinary approach."
Tell us about your current research?
"I am working on a study that CTF has carried out for the Swedish Consumer Agency (Konsumentverket). We have been looking at barriers that consumers face during digital transactions, and issues related to Terms and Conditions, and the fact that consumers mostly disregard them. So far, our work has had an exploratory nature. Now, we are conducting a sizeable interactive experiment where we aim to partially replicate a study performed in the UK that investigated the display of Terms and Conditions during online purchasing."
What do you hope to achieve with your research?
"Overall, I would like to produce research that provides practitioners and future researchers with valuable knowledge. I hope that, at some point, we can produce systematic findings that will enable a better understanding of different individuals, providing the bedrock for the design of digital solutions that are fair, privacy-protective, and best suited for people. Hopefully, such solutions could improve people's online well-being, enabling them to make more informed online choices in different contexts, e.g., in e-commerce or personal information management."
Who is Agnieszka - can you tell us something about yourself?
"I genuinely enjoy research, and it takes the majority of my time. Learning new things, be it through reading, collaboration, or simply conversations with new people, is something I very much appreciate. Perhaps this is why I spend a lot of time traveling. I also enjoy being outside in nature, playing fast chess, and spending evenings playing computer games."
