In 2022, The Games Institute (GI) ran its first-ever seed funding competition. Thus far, the GI Seed Program has supported eight interdisciplinary collaborations with $110,000 of funding over one year. In addition to the funding, researchers used the GI labs, equipment, and staff support to meet their goals.
The seed grant recipients have combined their varied expertise to tackle real-world problems facing indigenous communities, healthcare workers, children with speech difficulties, mothers facing homelessness, citizen scientists, and more by creating local solutions to global problems.
On April 19th, 2024 the seed funding recipients presented their work at the symposium Disrupting Disciplinary Divides for Digital Futures!
This seed grant program fulfills a goal the GI has had for quite some time. As a research center, the GI always supports research, but rarely do we get an opportunity to initiate it through direct funding. We are very pleased to fund this set of proposals, all of which were excellent in conception and quality. I congratulate the recipients, and I thank them sincerely.
The Future of Social VR
The Future of Community Care
Marillac Place - Gamifying the “Praise with a Raise” Program
Dr. Cayley MacArthur (Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business), Dr. James Wallace (School of Public Health Sciences), and Veen Wong (School of Public Health Sciences).
The Future of Digital Feminism
Exploring Digital Feminist Futures: Creating Media Tools and Interventions for the Resistance
Dr. Brianna I. Wiens (English Language & Literature), Dr. Shana MacDonald (Communication Arts), Dr. Cayley MacArthur (Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business), Sid Heeg (School of Environment, Enterprise, and Development), Kate Bradley (History), and Thuvaraka Mahenthiran (Psychology).
The Future of Machine Learning
Free-range Gamesourcing Annotated Rhetorical Figure Data
Dr. Randy Allen Harris (English Language and Literature), and Dr. Olga Vechtomova (Management Science and Engineering).
The Future of First Nations First Responders
Dr. Hector Perez (School of Public Health Sciences), Dr. Lili Liu (School of Public Health Sciences) Dr. Antonio Miguel-Cruz (University of Alberta), Dr. Noelannah Neubauer (School of Public Health Sciences), Isabella Rose Chawrun (School of Public Health Sciences), and Cathy Conway (Project Manager).
The Future of Voice Assistants
Emily Shiu (Psychology), Leo Qi (Computer Engineering), and Dr. Katherine White (Psychology)
The Future of Healthcare in VR and XR
Interactive Training Tool for Injury Assessment of a Human Joint
Dr. Oliver Schneider (Management Science and Engineering), Dr. Mark Hancock (Management Science and Engineering), Rob Burns (Kinesiology and Health Sciences), Marco Moran-Ledesma (Systems Design Engineering), and Emily Shiu (Psychology).
The Future of Privacy in XR
Privacy in Immersive Extended Reality: Exploring User Perceptions, Concerns, and Coping Strategies
Hilda Hadan (Systems Design Engineering), Dr. Lennart Nacke (Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business), and Dr. Leah Zhang-Kennedy (Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business).