About The Blended Citizens Project
Hi, I'm Dr Cat
I’m a Mum, expertienced Educational Leader, Teacher, and researcher. 👩🏼🏫
I created The Blended Citizens Project because I saw a disconnect between research and real-life parenting after I completed my PhD at the University of Sydney. I wanted practical tools that felt like they were built for the lounge room, not the lecture hall.
My research explores digital citizenship, drama pedagogy, and ethical education. This isn’t just about theory; it’s about helping families navigate online and offline life with empathy, clarity, and a little bit of humour.
🌱The Blended Citizens Project helps families raise responsible, ethical, and emotionally aware young people. Through picture books, journals, games, and a self-paced parent course, we support meaningful conversations about screen time, digital identity, and growing up in a digitally blended world.
Every family deserves guidance they can trust. Visit our resources page to find simple, research backed tools that make digital parenting easier.
You’re not alone in this.
🌐 Parenting in the digital age is layered. Screens, identity, safety, connection; it’s a lot!
💡 The Blended Citizens Project isn’t about control. It’s about confidence.
🤝 We help families raise ethical, emotionally aware young people with tools that feel real, not rigid.
What We Believe
Connection over control
We don’t rely on rules or fear. We build values and trust.
Reflection before reaction
Games, storytelling, and shared strategies help young people critically think for themselves.
Parents as first educators
You are not expected to be a tech expert, just a thoughtful guide or coach to those you love. We’ve got your back.
Our Mission
🎯 Our mission is to give parents the tools, confidence, and language to raise ethical digital citizens.
🌐 We envision a generation of young people who balance kindness, safety, and identity in a digitally blended world.
Our
Story
About the Blended Citizens Project
The Blended Citizens Project began with the doctoral research Human-Centred Blended Citizens: A Study of Digital Citizenship through Drama Pedagogy (University of Sydney, 2025). In that study, young people explored digital dilemmas through drama, reflecting on identity, empathy, and responsibility. The findings showed that when participants were given space to act, reflect, and question, they began to understand the digital world not as separate from life but as part of being human.
What is a Blended Citizen?
A Blended Citizen is someone who engages thoughtfully and ethically in a digitally blended world. In today’s world, the lines between online and offline no longer make sense. Relationships, creativity, and learning move seamlessly between digital and physical spaces. A Blended Citizen recognises this connection and acts with empathy, awareness, and integrity wherever they are, guided by humanity rather than technology.
At the heart of this idea are the Four Blended Citizen Pillars, which describe how people grow, connect, and act within this blended world:
🪞 Identity
How they come to understand who they are becoming through experiences that shape their sense of self.
🤝 Interactions
How they communicate, collaborate, and care for others in ways that build empathy and connection.
🎯 Actions
The positive and negative choices they make, and how these decisions affect both themselves and those around them
🔐 Cyber Hygiene
How they care for their safety, privacy, and wellbeing through awareness, balance, and ethical habits.
We can learn to alongside them.
These pillars guide the philosophy and practical tools of the Blended Citizens Project, helping families and educators nurture people who are grounded in empathy, ethics, and reflection.
The belief behind the project is simple. Technology is not the problem; how we use it is. When families blend creativity, reflection, and care, they can raise and relate to young people who are kind, capable, and connected in every part of their world.
As parents, we can learn alongside them, because most of us were never taught how to live well in a world that is both digital and deeply human.