The Games Institute (GI) is an interdisciplinary research centre at the University of Waterloo, advancing the study of interactive and immersive technologies and experiences.
News Bites
Stay up-to-date with the latest GI activities. Our News Bites report on recent conferences, keynote addresses, and recent research activities of our members.
Research Spotlights
For more in-depth breakdowns of ongoing research projects, check out our Research Spotlights for full write ups of events and up close and personal testimonies with our researchers and members.
News
WatSPEED Arrives for Research Demo at the GI
On October 15th, Jennifer Bentley (Manager of Events and Engagement) and Karina Graf (Associate Director, Marketing and Digital Sales) from WatSPEED visited the GI for a demo of select research projects by GI members.
GI Faculty Members Named University Research Chairs
Congratulations to GI faculty members Drs. Lennart Nacke (Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business) and Marcel O’Gorman (English Language and Literature) who have been appointed University Research Chairs at Waterloo.
International Conference on Games and Narrative 2025 Puts out Call For Participation
The Games Institute is excited to announce the CfP for the upcoming International Conference on Games and Narrative 2025 (ICGaN'25). This year’s conference theme is “Adapt, Adopt, Adjust: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Adaptation, Storytelling, and Simulation” asks us to consider the power of adapted and adaptive narratives, experiences, genres, and mechanics.
Blog
From Can Lit to VR Caves: A Spotlight on Games Institute Executive Director Dr. Neil Randall
A Spotlight on Games Institute Executive Director, Dr. Neil Randall
Designing for Accessibility: How a Graduate Student Makes Haptics Research Accessible
It can be very daunting for international students to leave their home countries, communities, friends, and families –upending their lives to further their education. For Ana Lucia Diaz de Leon Derby, finding a community during her master’s degree was crucial to her mental health and well-being.
Critical Play and Interdisciplinary Discourse at the Games Institute
Schmidt’s report outlines how the GI curates an interdisciplinary environment by encouraging staff, students, and faculty to critically play together—and how that act of play creates a common language where research ideas begin to flow. Looking back, the findings of this report continue to ring true today and we hope to continue sponsoring research excellence with this unique method of interdisciplinary creation.