Hi, I’m Dr. Douglas Zytko. I’m an Associate Professor in the College of Innovation & Technology at the University of Michigan-Flint. My lab does research in the area of human-computer interaction. We use consent as a lens to study and design solutions to unwanted behavior. This includes:
- Computer-mediated sexual violence
- Computer-mediated consent to data collection/donation
- Computer-mediated consent to sex and other interpersonal activity
- Consensual interaction with emerging technologies (XR, AI, robots)
Announcements:
Two of our papers have received Honorable Mention Awards at CSCW 2025! Those papers report on Consent to Computer-Mediated Sexual Activity through Social VR for Dating and Online Dating Romance Scams in Iran.
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Dr. Zytko is quoted in TIME Magazine about the potential implications of ChatGPT allowing erotic interactions with their AI companion chatbots.
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MSNBC has published an op-ed by Dr. Zytko about online dating safety. He is also quoted in the Washington Post and CBS News about the Tea dating safety app.
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Dr. Zytko has been quoted by CBS News about the safety implications of Instagram’s Maps feature.
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We are pleased to report that our paper on limitations of affirmative consent for mitigating unwanted behavior online has won an Honorable Mention Award at CHI 2025!
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Dr. Zytko has been awarded a $567,968 NSF CAREER grant! This 5-year grant will fund research into the design, development, and evaluation of consent technologies to reduce unwanted interpersonal behavior.
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We are excited to announce our $429,397 NSF REU grant! The grant funds undergraduate students to live and do research at UM-Flint themed around digital accessibility, including design and development of accessible consent technology.
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Dr. Zytko’s collaboration with Clemson University researchers on consent in social VR has won a Best Paper Honorable Mention award at CSCW 2023!
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It’s official – our team has been awarded $2.5 million across two grants from the US Army with Dr. Douglas Zytko as a co-PI. The project will pursue foundational advances to rapid prototyping and mixed methods research in VR.
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We are excited to announce our $600,000 NSF grant to study online-to-offline sexual violence through the lens of consent, with lead PI Dr. Douglas Zytko! This project is a collaboration between Oakland University and Wayne State University.
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We are pleased to report that our paper on computer-mediated sexual violence has won a Best Paper award and Impact Recognition at CSCW 2021!
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We are pleased to report that our paper on binge drinking in VR has been nominated for the Lee Dirks Award for Best Paper at iConference 2021!
Feel free to reach out:dzytko@umich.edu
