The Games Institute is happy to announce that three of its members, Drs. Lai-Tze Fan, Neil Randall, and Susan Roy have been recognized through The Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). The three have been awarded a sum of $412,000 for their respective groundbreaking research focuses.Dr. Fan, head of The Unseen-AI Lab, (and newly appointed Canada Research Chair in Technology and Social Change) moves to expose biases inherited in rapidly-developing Artificial Intelligence (AI). While the field of AI is expanding fast, so too are deep-rooted design flaws including racist facial recognition, sexism in voice assistant programs, and the overall reinforced social inequalities plaguing most facets of human experience.
Dr. Neil Randall, the Executive Director of the GI, continues to focus on the CAVERNs project (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment Research Nodes) within the realm of Virtual Reality. Furthering a strategy for best-practises when incorporating VR into educational scenarios, Dr. Randall wants the newer technology to enhance learning experiences through virtual interactions and communication.
Dr. Susan Roy is an incredibly driven researcher and professor who studies the history of Indigenous-non-Indigenous relationships as well as cultural performance. This has lead her to a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant called Dancers for Life: HIV/AIDS and Dance in Canada, which partners HIV and AIDS awareness with dance companies in Canada. This project is in early stages, but we look forward to learning more!
Congratulations once again to the awardees!