Dakota Root's research asks how digital technology reconfigures the relationship between self and the world from a phenomenological perspective. Her PhD blends philosophical analysis of Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty with practical case studies on virtual reality and machine learning algorithms to explore the digital difference inherent in engagement with these technologies.

Prior to starting PhD in 2022, she completed a MSc in Politics, Economics, and Philosophy at Hamburg University, where her thesis analyzing debates on phone encryption and privacy versus law enforcement access in the United States. She graduated with a BA from Harvard University, where she wrote her undergraduate thesis on NSA surveillance. She has previously worked at the Paris School of International Affairs - Sciences Po as a teaching assistant, and with the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), CATO Institute, and The Harvard Center for European Studies.

Project: The digital reconfiguration of the self: A phenomenological analysis of movement, mediation, and meaning in human-digital relations