The Games Institute is currently facing a significant challenge to our model of operations. The budget cuts and hiring freeze have had a direct impact on the level of our staffing and the services we have been providing.
First Person Scholar, the middle-state publication supported and published by the Games Institute, is taking an indefinite hiatus due to a lack of resources. This includes funding cuts to the GI, but also a lack of game studies graduate students with enough funding to allow them time to work on FPS. FPS will remain available as an archive for everyone to access and use.
Drs. Gerald Voorhees (Communication Arts) and Daniel Harley (Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business) have published ADE for Games: Approaches to Anti-Racism, Decolonization, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Games Research and Creation, a book generated from the ADE Speaker Series. This book is available as a free online resource, or a paid physical copy, through Play Story Press.
On January 9th, the Games Institute (GI) welcomed a delegation from the Faculty of Arts including Drs. Alexie Tcheuyap (Dean of Arts), Anna Esselment (Associate Dean, Graduate Studies), and Ana Ferrer (Associate Dean, Research) for a tour of the Institute.
On November 26th, the GI showcased a selection of member research projects at the Tech Horizons Executive Forum event in Toronto, hosted by WatSPEED and CIBC. Pamela Maria Schmidt (Interdisciplinary Project and Communications Manager) and Dr. Emma Vossen (Knowledge Mobilization and Research Impact Officer) represented the GI and the multitude of interdisciplinary research projects that were created by GI members.
On November 22, GI faculty members Drs. Lai-Tze Fan (Sociology and Legal Studies) and Neil Randall (English Language and Literature) participated on the panel “The Practical Side of Interdisciplinary Research” which focused on the “ins and outs of building teams across faculties.”
In 2022, the University of Waterloo Games Institute secured $50,000 of funding over two years from the Ontario government to provide scholarships to students pursuing careers in the gaming and esports industries. Following a successful first round of scholarships awarded to thirteen students (two graduate and eleven undergraduate), the next round of applications is now open!
Dr. John Muñoz (Wilfrid Laurier University) has recently completed a study developing virtual reality (VR) simulations to train police officers in both Canada and the United States.
Congratulations to Dr. Oliver Schneider (Management Science and Engineering) for receiving the 2024 Graphics Interface award for Early Career Researcher!
On November 9th, Toben Racicot (English Language and Literature) and Alaire Racicot were featured in The Record about their latest graphic memoir titled “The Night in Tilly’s Field.”