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On September 27th, the Ken Seiling Waterloo Region Museum unveiled a new exhibit to the publicDibaajimowin | Stories From this Land.” The exhibit was assembled by Anishinaabe curator Emma Rain Smith, an MA student from Waterloo. The exhibit highlights Indigenous contributions to the region’s history with an emphasis on Urban Indigeneity. GI members Dr. Aynur Kadir (University of British Columbia) and PhD student Sid Heeg (Environment, Enterprise, and Development) took part in the design, curation, and research associated with the exhibition. The entire project is the result of the collaborative work between researchers, activists, and community members from the region, including the University of Waterloo and Wilfred Laurier University. 

On July 5th, Drs. Lili Liu (School of Public Health Sciences), John Muñoz (Systems Design Engineering), and Michael Barnett-Cowan (Kinesiology and Health Sciences) were brought together to share their knowledge and expertise on how games and interactive technologies are being used in the healthcare industry. The panel was hosted and moderated by the Games Institute’s Research Communications Officer Dr. Emma Vossen.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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).