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
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.
Innovate and Inspire: The Games Institute and Engineering Outreach's VR Workshop Ignites Passion for STEM Among Youth
The Games Institute (GI) in collaboration with Engineering Outreach recently hosted a collaborative event that turned the GI into a vibrant workshop for young virtual reality (VR) enthusiasts.
Dr. Geneva Smith Joins the GI as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow as Part of the Provost’s Program for Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scholars
On July 2nd, the Games Institute (GI) welcomed its latest postdoctoral fellow Dr. Geneva Smith. Dr. Smith, who is also an instructor of Game Design in Communication Arts and will be co-supervised by Drs. Lennart Nacke (Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business) and Mark Hancock (Management Science and Engineering).
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.