Tuesday 23 September 2025: 2022 Ramsay Postgraduate Scholar Jennifer Tridgell is an international lawyer from Sydney specialising in technology law and policy, diplomacy and human rights. She was previously Senior Legal Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief and has worked for leading international law firms, the International Criminal Court, and NGOs. She also has served as the youngest ever global board member of the International Law Association in its 152 year history.
With her scholarship she is studying a PhD (International Law and Computer Science) at the University of Cambridge in the UK, researching global governance of open-source software. Alongside her award-winning research, she has presented at major international conferences and served as Managing Editor of the Cambridge International Law Journal, Executive Director of the Cambridge Pro Bono Project, on OpenUK’s Legal Advisory Board, and the ILA’s Executive Council. She has undertaken visiting doctoral research programs in the US (Harvard) and Italy (European University Institute), and even competed in a Varsity indoors match in a new extracurricular pursuit, Ultimate Frisbee.
Reflecting on her Scholarship, Jennifer says she is grateful for the opportunities it has given her to pursue her PhD, explore research collaborations overseas, and join a community of scholars with diverse skills, extracurricular interests and career paths. She is particularly grateful for the Centre’s ongoing support, investment and interest in its scholars, which she says sets it apart from other programs, and was evident in a recent leadership and professional development workshop hosted for scholars in Berlin.
Currently in the final stages of her PhD, Jennifer hopes to continue working at the intersection of international law and computer science, designing and implementing effective legal and policy frameworks for the governance of existing and emerging technologies including open source artificial intelligence.
In her own words:
Receiving the Ramsay Postgraduate Scholarship was very meaningful for me. It was my passport to undertake this exciting and enriching epistemic adventure called a PhD at the University of Cambridge. Beyond my academic pursuits, it has also helped me build an incredible network of colleagues and fellow Ramsay scholars, many of whom I would now describe as friends.
Amongst the Ramsay postgraduate scholars, there is a strong sense of community. That is fostered in no small part by the Ramsay Centre’s ongoing support, investment and interest in their scholars – which my friends on other coveted scholarships have remarked upon with a tinge of envy. Highlights have included a recent leadership and professional development workshop hosted in Berlin, and their sponsorship of a trip to Washington DC mere days after the 2024 US Presidential Election, during which we met Australian Ambassador to the US, His Excellency. Kevin Rudd. My thanks to Sarah Davis for organising the latter with me.
Essentially,I see the scholarship as an opportunity to think critically and differently in a manner befitting future leaders, in the pursuit of intellectual curiosity, epistemic rigour and community investment. That is simultaneously what drew me to the scholarship, and has been my experience amongst my scholar cohort hailing from vaslty different fields – from theoretical physics to classical music, law and politics – with diverse skills, extracurricular interests and career paths. I value our exchanges which help break down intellectual silos.
The highlight of my time doing the PhD has been the inspirational people whom I have met, and the rich opportunities for travel and collaboration. Eager to explore new horizons, I have undertaken two visiting doctoral researcher programmes – Harvard in (the other) Cambridge, USA and European University Institute (the EU’s official social science university) in Florence, Italy. Memorable moments include when I audited Professor Cass Sunstein’s (of ‘nudge’ theory fame) class on effective law and policymaking, experienced American and Italian traditions ranging from Halloween and Thanksgiving to Cetilar Run Notturna di San Giovanni, running – and slightly melting – with 2,000+ exercise enthusiasts through central Florence late one summer evening.
Cambridge is also a very special place, a golden sandstone-clad meeting place of leading minds, deeply steeped in history and culture. A friend recently mused that in such beautiful places like Cambridge and Florence that hold great resonance in the public psyche, some people can fall prey to the psychosomatic condition of ‘Stendhal Syndrome’ – feeling symptoms of light-headedness, rapid heart rate and weakness as they are overwhelmed.
Moreover, since Cambridge has a collegiate system, students benefit from the diverse networks and exchanges from their membership of both a college (Pembroke) and a Faculty (or in my unique case, two: Law, and Computer Science and Technology). In that same spirit of embracing the novel, I joined new extra-curriculars, including drawing, rowing and Ultimate Frisbee, even competing in the Varsity Indoors match with our domestic fr(enemy) Oxford.
I embarked on my PhD after working as a public international lawyer, specialising in human rights, diplomacy and tech policy and regulation. Through my interdisciplinary and empirically grounded doctoral research, I seek to bridge pertinent gaps that emerge in exploring the “global governance of free and open source software” (FOSS): between international law and computer science, and the worlds of academia and practice.
I believe it’s impossible to discuss the future global digital ecosystem and its governance, both in Australia and abroad, without talking about FOSS. FOSS is created by a global village of contributors for everyone to use for any purpose. It is everywhere and the foundation for almost everything digital; studies estimate it underpins approximately 75 to 95 percent of all software. Geopolitical debates about ‘digital sovereignty’ also increasingly invoke FOSS as an invaluable tool for furthering digital security, resilience, autonomy and competitiveness, even as the technology trade wars escalate. Yet despite growing attention from policymakers, FOSS governance is historically underexplored and poorly understood – making my thesis timely and important.
There have been several academic highlights these past three years, including winning a prize at Open Forum Academy Symposium, Harvard for the Best Young and Promising Academic Researching Open Innovation and Open Technologies. I have also presented research at leading forums in international law and computer science, including ACM FAccT (a top interdisciplinary conference), State of Open Con, and the European Society of International Law’s Annual Conference. I participated in the UN Summit ‘OSPOs for Good,’ an invitation only high-level convening on how to leverage FOSS to realise UN Sustainable Development Goals. I value that I am now regularly, and organically approached as a trusted expert in this field, advising on different dimensions of FOSS governance for advocates and policymakers across domestic, regional and international spheres. Recently, I co-authored a landmark report – subsequently picked up by local media – that makes a robust case for the European Union to invest at least €350 million over 5 years in a FOSS maintenance fund.
I aim to submit my PhD in 2026. In the meantime, I’m wrapping up my fieldwork by interviewing leading members of the FOSS community, lawyers, policymakers, UN officials, civil society and corporations, to develop governance solutions that are practical and grounded in technical realities. By strengthening and safeguarding FOSS as a critical digital common, we hopefully can make our world more equal, open, democratic, safe and secure for everyone, everywhere.
Post PhD, I want to continue working at the intersection of international law and computer science, especially in designing and implementing effective legal and policy frameworks to address the most critical challenges of this digital age. That work is impactful and meaningful. While I definitely hope to engage Australia, that work could take place across a number of different cultures, countries and continents. So, watch this space…
Overall, it has been a very busy, wonderfully enriching and productive few years, and I certainly feel like I am making the most of this unique opportunity. I am grateful for the support of my friends, family, supervisors and, of course, the Ramsay Centre for making this valuable professional and personal journey possible.
Interested in a Ramsay Postgraduate Scholarship? Our scholarships support young Australian leaders to study at the world’s best overseas universities and are valued at up to AUD$90,000 p.a. https://ramsaypostgradscholarship.com/
To read more about Jennifer Tridgell and her cohort of 2022 Ramsay Postgraduate Scholars go to: https://ramsaypostgradscholarship.com/scholars/
Media contact: Sarah Switzer 0407 816 098 / sarah.switzer@ramsaycentre.org