< Back Dr Guifen Chen Queen Mary University of London Supervisor Dr Guifen Chen is a Lecturer in Neurobiology at QMUL. Her work focuses on the neuronal basis of multisensory integration, spatial cognition and memory. Her lab uses state-of-the-art techniques such as immersive virtual reality and in vivo electrophysiological/probe recording in mice. Her research is currently supported by funding from BBRSC and the Royal Society. Dr Chen completed her undergraduate studies in both biology and computer science at East China Normal University in China. She then pursued PhD in neuroscience, conducting research at both East China Normal University and Boston University in the USA. Following that, she undertook postdoctoral research at University College London in the UK. Her work has been published in high-impact journals such as Nature Communications, eLife, and Current biology. Email guifen.chen@qmul.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Creative Computing Design & Development Immersive Technology Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Tamsin Isaac University of York iGGi PG Researcher Tamsin has been a lifelong gamer ever since receiving her first Game Boy and has long been fascinated by how people engage with games emotionally, socially, and behaviourally. She joined the iGGi CDT in 2023 after completing a BSc and MSc in Psychology at the University of Plymouth, where she developed a growing interest in player motivation, disengagement, and live-service game design. Her PhD research focuses on limited-time events (LTEs) in digital games—temporary content designed to encourage engagement and re-engagement in live-service games. Through this work, she explores how LTEs shape player behaviour, routine, anticipation, disengagement, and return play across platforms and genres. Tamsin’s research combines large-scale content analysis with qualitative diary-and-interview methods to investigate both the structure and lived experience of LTEs. She is currently developing a cross-platform taxonomy of LTEs using data from over 2,600 Steam and Google Play games, alongside player-focused research exploring how individuals decide whether events are “worth” participating in during everyday play. Her work aims to support more ethical, sustainable, and player-friendly approaches to live-service game design by helping researchers and developers better understand how event structures influence player experience and long-term engagement. She is open to collaboration opportunities with game studios interested in live-service systems, player behaviour, engagement design, and event analysis using player data or design insights. When not researching or analysing games, Tamsin enjoys baking, reading, playing cosy indie games, and quietly grinding dailies. Email tamsin.isaac@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisor: Prof. Paul Cairns Themes Applied Games Design & Development Player Research https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n32ngtGYNQ8 Previous Next

< Back Dr Alan Pedrassoli Chitayat University of York iGGi Alum Available for post-PhD position Alan is a researcher that focuses on audience experience within esport broadcast. His Machine Learning background allows him to extract complex patterns from game and game related data in order to derive meaningful insights that can be utilised in broadcast. Having worked in the esport industry, both as a software engineer as well as researcher, Alan has experience with both technical and research problems. His research aims to explore the factors that improve the audience experience within esports. This is catered to esport broadcast of all levels, from highly produced professional tournaments to regular streams by content creators and it could be in the form of: Measuring and representing different forms of audience engagement. Exploring the different ways to visualise and utilise Machine Learning to enhance and integrate existing broadcast pipelines. Investigating how community-led narratives can be generated through data. Email alan.pchitayat@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisors: Dr James Walker Prof. Anders Drachen Featured Publication(s): AI vs. the Algorithm: Measuring success on Twitch Applying machine learning to enhance esport broadcast narratives Beyond the Spotlight: Co-Designing AI for Theatre Audience Communication How Could They Win? An Exploration of Win Condition for Esports Narratives Applying and Visualising Complex Models in Esport Broadcast Coverage From Passive Viewer to Active Fan: Towards the Design and Large-Scale Evaluation of Interactive Audience Experiences in Esports and Beyond Beyond the Meta: Leveraging Game Design Parameters for Patch-Agnostic Esport Analitics Data-Driven Audience Experiences in Esports Metagaming and metagames in Esports What are you looking at? Team fight prediction through player camera Echo Suite of Software (Showcase Brochure) Automatic Generation of Text for Match Recaps using Esport Caster Commentaries WARDS: Modelling the Worth of Vision in MOBA's DAX: Data-Driven Audience Experiences in Esports Themes Design & Development Esports Game Data - Previous Next

< Back Dr Dan Franks University of York Supervisor Dr Franks is an interdisciplinary researcher and data scientist interested in AI and machine learning. He is experienced in developing and applying evolutionary computation and machine learning methods to understanding behaviour. He is an internationally recognized leader in interdisciplinary research, has published in top journals such as Science and PNAS. Some of his papers are in the top 1% of all papers for media coverage (altmetric), and his work is regularly covered by The New Scientist, National Geographic, Wired, The BBC, The Guardian, The Times, among others. As Reader in the York Centre for Cross-disciplinary Systems Analysis, Dan works on applying AI, machine learning, and agent-based modelling, to problems in other disciplines. Particular interests involve the development of machine learning methods for creating intelligent AI and for understanding complex systems. Research themes: Game AI Game Analytics Email daniel.franks@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Game AI Game Data - Previous Next

< Back Dr Fiona McNab University of York Supervisor During a postdoc at the Karolinksa Institute in Stockholm, Fiona investigated working memory and attention, providing empirical support for a role for the basal ganglia in the control of access to working memory and identification of changes in the dopamine system related to working memory training. At The Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL, with a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship, she designed the working memory game in the large-scale smartphone study; “The Great Brain Experiment ”, leading to studies of different types of distraction in younger adults as well as in healthy ageing. In 2013 she moved to Birmingham University, where she conducted fMRI and behavioural studies of attention and working memory, and behavioural studies of the effects of competition on working memory. Fiona is now a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of York. She is using fMRI and behavioural studies to investigate what limits working memory, how different types of distractors are successfully ignored and how working memory changes through development, with healthy aging, as well as in certain patient groups. Part of her work uses data from a new set of working memory games, which are currently available to play (York Memory Games, YORMEGA ). She is particularly interested in supervising students on the following topics: Understanding the limitations of working memory and the role of attention using games Understanding age-related changes in cognition using games, Cognitive training using games. Research themes: Game Design Games with a Purpose Player Experience Gamification Games for Cognition Research Games for Cognitive Training Email fiona.mcnab@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Applied Games - Previous Next

< Back Océane Lissillour University of York iGGi PG Researcher Available for placement I started my journey as an undergrad in psychology specialising in ergonomics. It was then that I realised that I could study video games for a living. This led me to relocate myself to the south of France to, mostly enjoy the sun, but also undertake my dream MSc in Technological Innovation and Cognitive Psychology. As part of my master’s internship I had the pleasure to work in collaboration with researchers from the CLLE, a laboratory branch of the national research centre. This helped me develop my knowledge and awareness of video games and motivational processes and convinced me that if I could survive the bureaucracy of the French Government I could probably do a PhD. Afterwards, I moved on to work in Aeronautics for a brief time but landed back to academia in 2024 to join the wonderful iGGI community as a postgraduate researcher. A description of Océane's research: My research focuses on the act of taking a regular activity and ‘gamifying’ it by applying mechanics commonly found inside video games (such as points). This technique has been widely applied within research but its psychological aspects have seldom been studied. The aim of this thesis is to assess the efficacy and applicability of this technique, particularly the score element mechanic. It focuses on understanding the functionalisation of numerical values in games as this has not been studied previously in the literature. This research hopes to contribute to the better understanding of the impact of the design of points on motivation and behaviour. It has been proposed in precedent literature that the use of gamification will provide a partial solution to the critical decline in learners’ motivation and engagement the schooling system faces today. Email oceane.lissillour@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisors: Dr Abi Evans Prof. Sebastian Deterding Themes Design & Development Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Connor Watts Queen Mary University of London iGGi PG Researcher I am a machine learning research engineer and software developer with commercial experience deploying and maintaining models for start-ups and larger organizations. I have experience researching and developing novel algorithms, as well as designing custom environments for application in domains such as combinatorial optimization, finance and games. Email c.watts@qmul.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisor: Dr Paulo Rauber Themes Game AI - Previous Next

< Back Dr Athanasios Vasileios Kokkinakis University of York iGGi Alum Videogame Correlates of Real-Life Cognitive Traits Video-games have been increasingly gaining momentum and popularity, both with the public but also with the scientific world who has seen their usefulness in multiple areas. Researchers have been making bold claims of Videogames increasing Intelligence monopolizing the public’s attention and taking it away from what Videogames are excellent at; serving as diagnostic tools examining constructs such Reaction Times, Memory and fluid Intelligence. The sharp decline of the aforementioned concepts has been linked to multiple diseases such as the prodrome of Schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s and Dementia. Moreover, their measurement has been linked to important life outcomes such as Academic Achievement, Time in Unemployment, Unwanted Pregnancies and Mathematical Achievement among others. In my doctoral thesis I have correlated these constructs with the massively played video-game League of Legends. By cross-validating Psychometric measurements with Video-game metrics we can possibly identify at risk populations and stage Health Interventions or even identify “gifted” children or children that lag behind at an early age and place them in appropriate training curricula. He acquired his BSc in Psychology from the University of Bangor and he then went to complete his MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of York. In his first experiment he attempted to see whether “expert video-gamers” would show less Attentional Resources when compared to a control group of non-gamers and whether a short training session of approximately a week had any effects on the non-gamer group. His MSc, although not related to gaming, gave him valuable experience with EEG and MEG which he hopes to incorporate into his future experiments. In his most recent experiments he correlated psychometric Intelligence with Videogame Scores, more specifically League of Legends Tiers. He believes that these scores may give us insight on multiple developmental trajectories for instance healthy aging. Email athanasios dot kokkinakis *at* z)!gmail*com Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Prof. Alex Wade Prof. Peter Cowling Featured Publication(s): Data-Driven Audience Experiences in Esports Metagaming and metagames in Esports Videogame Correlates of Real Life Traits and Characteristics. Exploring the relationship between video game expertise and fluid intelligence Temporal and spatial localization of prediction-error signals in the visual brain What's in a name? Ages and names predict the valence of social interactions in a massive online game MEG adaptation resolves the spatiotemporal characteristics of face-sensitive brain responses Predicting skill learning in a large, longitudinal MOBA dataset Automatic Generation of Text for Match Recaps using Esport Caster Commentaries WARDS: Modelling the Worth of Vision in MOBA's DAX: Data-Driven Audience Experiences in Esports Time to die 2: Improved in-game death prediction in dota 2 Themes Esports Game AI Player Research Research Gate Google Scholar Previous Next

< Back Dr Gavin Kearney University of York Supervisor Dr Gavin Kearney is a highly experienced researcher, lecturer and content creator specialising in spatial audio and surround sound. He joined the University of York as Lecturer in Sound Design in January 2011 and was appointed Associate Professor in Audio and Music Technology in 2016. He has written over 60 research articles and patents on different facets of immersive and interactive audio, including real-time audio signal processing, Ambisonics, virtual and augmented reality and recording and audio post-production technique development. He has undertaken innovative projects in collaboration with Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix, BBC, Dolby, Huawei, Abbey Road and Google amongst others. With the latter, he helped define the Google spatial audio pipeline through development of the SADIE binaural filters and decoders used worldwide. He is also an active sound engineer and producer of immersive audio experiences, working to develop new techniques and workflows for immersive music production in collaboration with Abbey Road Studios. He is Vice-Chair of the AES Audio for Games Technical Committee and was Co-Chair of the 2019 AES Immersive and Interactive Audio Conference at York. Gavin is particularly interested in supervising students with an audio background who wish to explore the following areas relating to audio for games Intelligent sound design Virtual Acoustics Spatial Audio Binaural sound Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality Immersive audio experiences for next gen mobile platforms Ambisonics and spherical acoustics Using audio to enhance player emotional state (as well as projects on health and well-being) Game Audio for therapy Accessibility through Game Audio Email gavin.kearney@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Accessibility Applied Games Game AI Game Audio - Previous Next

< Back Dr Terence Broad Goldsmiths iGGi Alum Terence Broad is an artist and researcher working on developing new techniques and interfaces for the manipulation of generative models. His PhD focusses on how pre-trained generative neural networks can be repurposed and reconfigured for authoring novel multimedia content. He is completing his PhD at Goldsmiths, University of London and is also a visiting researcher at the UAL Creative Computing Institute. His research has been published in international conferences, workshops and journals such as SIGGRAPH, NeurIPS, Leonardo and xCoAx. He was acknowledged as an outstanding peer-reviewer by the journal Leonardo. Terence is a practicing artist and often uses the techniques he has developed in his research in the creation of his artworks. His art has been exhibited and screened internationally at venues such as The Whitney Museum of American Art, Ars Electronica, The Barbican and The Whitechapel Gallery. He won the Grand Prize in the ICCV 2019 Computer Vision Art Gallery. Email t.broad@gold.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Featured Publication(s): Co-Designing Fashion with AI: A Small-Data Approach to Generative Garment Design Expanding the Generative Space: Data-Free Techniques for Active Divergence with Generative Neural Networks XAIxArts Manifesto: Explainable AI for the Arts Using Generative AI as an Artistic Material: A Hacker's Guide Is computational creativity flourishing on the dead internet? Interactive Machine Learning for Generative Models Envisioning Distant Worlds: Fine-Tuning a Latent Diffusion Model with NASA's Exoplanet Data Automating Generative Deep Learning for Artistic Purposes: Challenges and Opportunities Network Bending: Expressive Manipulation of Generative Models in Multiple Domains Active Divergence with Generative Deep Learning--A Survey and Taxonomy Network Bending: Expressive Manipulation of Deep Generative Models Amplifying The Uncanny Transforming the output of GANs by fine-tuning them with features from different datasets Searching for an (un) stable equilibrium: experiments in training generative models without data Autoencoding Blade Runner: Reconstructing Films with Artificial Neural Networks Light field completion using focal stack propagation Autoencoding video frames IoT and Machine Learning for Next Generation Traffic Systems Themes Creative Computing Design & Development - Previous Next

< Back Dr Jeremy Gow Queen Mary University of London iGGi Training Coordinator & Industry Liaison Supervisor Jeremy Gow is a game AI researcher with a focus on computational game design, exploring ways in which AI can help us understand players and games, enhance the game development process, and contribute to the creation of game content. He has been a lecturer at EECS and a member of the Queen Mary Game AI group since 2018. He has a background in artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction research, and a PhD in AI from the University of Edinburgh. He is particularly interested in supervising students with a game development or AI background on the following topics: Automated playtesting and QA AI-based game development tools Modelling player experience AI for the design of agents and procedural generators Computational creativity in games Research themes: Game AI Game Analytics Game Design Computational Creativity Email jeremy.gow@qmul.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Creative Computing Design & Development Game AI Game Data - Previous Next

< Back Peter York University of York iGGi Alum PhD student working in analytics and machine learning for esports broadcast and understanding. In particular working with Weavr on various projects related to broadcast and learning tools for Dota 2. Please note: Updating of profile text in progress Email Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Featured Publication(s): Data-Driven Audience Experiences in Esports Metagaming and metagames in Esports DAX: Data-Driven Audience Experiences in Esports A generalized framework for self-play training Themes Esports Game AI - Previous Next