On Wednesday September 20th, GI Members turned out for The Urgency of Social Justice event at the Arts Quad on main campus for an event presented by the Gender and Social Justice (GSJ) program.
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.
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.”