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Thursday, October 20, 2022

Lord of the Rings at the GI: A Critical Reflection on "The Rings of Power"

If you have spent more than an hour at the Games Institute, you have probably found yourself drawn into a conversation about Lord of the Rings (LOTR) in some capacity, even if it’s not your cup of tea! Executive Director, Dr. Neil Randall has been writing and teaching about Tolkien since the late 80s as part of his Fantasy Literature classes, and his enthusiasm for LOTR is infectious, leading many students to pursue research in this area and many more LOTRs debates to play out during lunch at the GI.  

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

President Vivek Goel Visits the Games Institute for an Open House

On Wednesday, October 5th the Games Institute opened its doors to the public for its annual Open House. Guests were able to explore the entire 9000-square-foot GI space, including lab spaces, to discover the interactive and immersive technologies research conducted in the GI’s collaborative interdisciplinary environment.

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Games Institute Seed Grant interdiscipinary cross campus collaborations

The Games Institute (GI) is pleased to announce the recipients of its first-ever seed grant funding competition. In total, the GI Seed Program will support eight interdisciplinary initiatives for a total of $110,000 over the next year. The competition promoted interdisciplinary collaborations in teams of researchers spanning many different disciplines and research areas.

The seed grant recipients will combine their varied expertise to tackle real-world problems facing indigenous communities, health care workers, children with speech difficulties, mothers facing homelessness, citizen scientists, and VR, XR and social media consumers.

Monday, July 11, 2022

Dr. Brianna Wiens on Collaborative Feminist Research

Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Brianna Wiens took an unconventional path to the GI starting as a PhD student at York University who visited the GI as part of a crew filming a documentary about qCollaborative (qLab)—a feminist design research lab with members from multiple Canadian universities, including UW.

The cover of Ruberg's book featurring detailed line drawings of both sea shells and sex tech
Wednesday, July 6, 2022

UC Irvine professor Dr. Bo Ruberg presents research from their new book "Sex Dolls at Sea" at the Games Institute

On April 19th Dr. Bo Ruberg presented “Imagined Histories of Sexual Technologies” at the Games Institute to an audience of internal and external researchers. Dr. Ruberg is an associate professor at the University of California, Irvine, whose research explores gender and sexuality in digital media and digital cultures.

Dr. John Munoz
Wednesday, July 6, 2022

Dr. John Muñoz on Bridging the Gap Between Academia and Industry

Dr. John Muñoz (J&F Alliance) may be one of the most versatile researchers the GI has ever housed. Just when you think you have heard about everything he has done (working with NASA, creating virtual reality (VR) games, using mind-controlled devices for biofeedback, and working with robots, to just name a few), John brings up another project, in a completely different field than the rest of his work.

Dr. Katja Rogers
Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Dr. Katja Rogers on Serendipitous Collaborations and her New Job at the University of Amsterdam

Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Katja Rogers (HCI Games Lab) first met her supervisor and GI faculty member, Dr. Lennart Nacke (Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business), at CHI Play in 2016.

Dr. Stuart Hallifax
Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Dr. Stuart Hallifax on his journey from an MA in France to UX at Ubisoft Montreal

Dr. Stuart Hallifax (HCI Games Lab) would describe his life as “falling backwards into every opportunity he’s been given.” So, how did he fall backwards into joining the GI? Stuart’s journey started in Leon, France, where he studied artificial intelligence for his Master’s in Computer Science.

Sunday, June 12, 2022

The GI Welcomes Nine Students from Ukraine

In Spring 2022, UWaterloo welcomed thirty-four Ukrainian students whose, education had been disrupted by the war, to continue their studies at Waterloo. They were sponsored by the Waterloo Artificial Intelligence Institute (Waterloo.AI).

Saturday, June 11, 2022

Dr. Hector Perez on Innovating Interdisciplinary Research

Before coming to Waterloo, Dr. Hector Perez held positions as a research assistant at a Mathematics Research Centre, as a project manager and later as executive assistant to the Vice-President of Administration and Finance at the University of Guanajuato in Mexico. He has travelled extensively (often teaching wherever he goes) and speaks five languages, in addition to understanding a few more.