On August 10th, Nima Zargham, a PhD candidate from the University of Bremen, presented and hosted an informal presentation and discussion on his recent research about human-agent speech interaction.
Congratulations to GI member Dr. Lai-Tze Fan (Sociology and Legal Studies) who was recently announced as a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Technology and Social Change for her work with inclusive artificial intelligence (AI).
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.
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) earlier this year, the second round is now open for applications.
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.
PhD Candidate Sabrina Sgandurra (English Language and Literature) presented at the Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) 2023 Conference which ran from June 19 – 23 which took place in Seville, Spain.
First Person Scholar is looking to grow its team!
Dr. Kishonna Gray, an External Faculty Member of the GI, has recently been interviewed by the gaming review site Kotaku in “The Brilliant Scholar Who’s Challenging Racism in Game Design.”
Dr. Michael Barnett-Cowan (Kinesiology and Health Sciences) has recently made media appearances on the Morning Edition with Craig Norris and CTV News regarding his research on virtual reality (VR), cybersickness, and his work with the Multisensory Brain and Cognition (MBC) Lab. The focus on cybersickness comes from new research delving into why some people do get sick in VR while others don’t. Barnett-Cowan says it has to do with how the brain processes information from a real-world environment to a digital recreation. This creates a sense of cognitive dissonance that makes people more prone to feelings of nausea when using VR.
On May 15-19, the GI held its second biennial conference on games and narrative. This year, the conference invited presentations on the theme of “Isolation and Return: The Making of Narrative Worlds.” It was a fully hybrid conference that was made possible with the use of Dr. Neil Randall’s Storyboard Lab, which involved several Cisco screens to create an immersive experience. Around 40 participants joined the conference online while another 30 participated in person.