The Games Institute acknowledges that we are living and working on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (also known as Neutral), Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River.
Welcome to the Games Institute
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
- Sep. 19, 2023ADE Committee Speaker Series Continues with 8 Fall Events
Drs. Gerald Voorhees and Daniel Harley, in association with the Anti-Racism, Decolonization, and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (ADE) Committee at the Games Institute, are continuing their SSHRC-funded ADE for Game Communities: Workshop and Speaker Series with an additional 8 events this term. The Speaker Series is creating opportunities for meaningful equitable change in games academia and industry that requires active and inclusive community-building.
- Sep. 11, 2023Esports Scholarships Continued
- Aug. 11, 2023HCI Games Group Members Awards Announcements
Congratulations to Drs. Sebastian Cmentowski and Reza Hadi Mogavi, two post-doctoral fellows from the HCI Games Group, led by Dr. Lennart Nacke (Stratford), for being awarded the Provost’s Program for Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scholars and the Lupina Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship respectively! Mogavi joins the group as the second postdoctoral fellow to receive the Lupina award in the group after Dr. Eugene Kukshinov won the award in 2022.
Events
Blog
- Sep. 26, 2023ICGaN 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.
- Sep. 12, 2023Physiological Measure for Games and VR: Novel Tools and Approaches
On August 9, 2023, Dr. Ifi Mavridou and Dr. John E. Muñoz (J&F Alliance, Adjunct) spoke at a panel on the use of physiological monitoring, biofeedback equipment, and tools for VR applications and research. Both researchers are experts in this field, with Mavridou talking about the creation and design of hardware and Muñoz about design and the use of software, they presented their experiences on what these tools can offer for research in games and more. The applications that both Mavridou and Muñoz work with are cutting edge and provide researchers with a toolkit on how they can design and approach their studies. This approach personalizes and tailors the study design not only to make it easier for researchers but also for study participants to jointly design and study immersive experiences.
- Sep. 12, 2023Dr. 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.
Meet our people
Leah Zhang-Kennedy
Assistant Professor, Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business
Leah Zhang-Kennedy is an Assistant Professor in interaction design and user experience research, a member of the Games Institute and the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute. Leah's research aims to understand and improve people’s digital experiences, knowledge, and technology practices, with particular focuses on computer security, online privacy, and digital literacy. She directs the Safe Interactions Lab at the Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business, University of Waterloo.