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
The Games Institute Podcast Featured on HigherEdPods
The Games Institute Podcast has been featured on the HigherEdPods platform, a directory for university associated podcast series from institutions like Harvard, Stanford, Zurich, MIT, and many, many more.
Dr. Shana MacDonald Discusses Kate Middleton Photo Controversy on Global News
On March 16, Dr. Shana MacDonald (Communication Arts) spoke with Joe Scarpelli on Global News about the recent social media controversy surrounding Kate Middleton Princess of Wales.
GI members secure over $500,000 in Tri-Agency funding
Congratulations to the following GI faculty members for securing $565,580 in Tri-Agency funding for their research projects!
Dr. Adan Jerreat-Poole (Communication Arts) received an Insight Development Grant for their project "Disabled Feminists and Digital Storytelling: Zine-Making Pandemic Lives" ($21,330).
Dr. Lai-Tze Fan (Sociology and Legal Studies) is a collaborator on the Insight Development Grant "Digital Imaginations and the Decameron Storyworld" ($66,750).
Dr. Lennart Nacke (Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business) received an NSERC Discovery Grant for his project "Engineering Novel Game Technology To Improve People's Lives" ($52,000 per term for five terms totalling $260,000).
Dr. Ville Makela (Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business) received an NSERC Discovery Grant for his project "Developing Technologies for Bringing Physical Objects into Virtual Reality" ($41,000 per term for five terms totalling $205,000 + $12,500 for the Discovery Launch Supplement).
Blog
Dr. Cayley MacArthur and the Quest for the Triple E (EEE) Degrees
Dr. Cayley MacArthur is a long-standing name in the Games Institute (GI) ever since the GI opened its physical doors to researchers and students. She’s spent time here working on her undergraduate and Master’s theses, her Doctoral research, and has officially joined the GI as a faculty member. As Assistant Professor, Dr. MacArthur teaches out of UWaterloo’s Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business. But how did she get here? Well, luckily, Dr. MacArthur took the time to answer questions we had for her about her time at the GI and her hopes of continuing on with her research.
ICGaN 2023 - Isolation and Return Through the World of Hybrid Viewing
From May 15 – 19, 2023, the Games Institute (GI) hosted the second International Conference on Games and Narrative (ICGaN). It focused on the theme Isolation and Return: The Making of Narrative Worlds. Speakers from 40 universities joined from around the world explained how, societally, we have all been forced to consider and rethink personal and communal lives necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The final turnout of the 2023 conference resulted in 17 sessions, 47 unique presentations, 5 keynotes, 3 workshops, 4 academic game streams, and a game jam.
Dr. Cayley MacArthur Gives Keynote Speech at the Jeux & Accessibilité Conference
Dr. Cayley MacArthur (Stratford) delivered the keynote address at the inaugural Jeux & Accessibilité / Game Accessibility conference took place on August 17 – 18, 2023 in Montreal, Québec. Her address - “Can Making Games Inclusively Help to Make More Inclusive Games?” – responded to the conference themes of video game accessibility.