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< Back - Meet me @ Develop:Brighton 2026 - Alex Flint University of York iGGi PG Researcher Available for placement Alex has an academic background in Psychology and Human-Computer Interaction. Their Master’s dissertation comparing measures of perceived challenge and demand in video games was published at CHI 2023. Alex has previously worked on the Research Operations team at PlaytestCloud and as a freelance Games User Researcher. They are also a Student Video Games Ambassador for UKIE, and regularly volunteer at conferences such as CHI Play and the GamesUR Summit. When they aren’t at their desk, you can find Alex figure skating, playing roller derby, or DJing 80’s rock. Alex’s research focuses on levelling up the narrative testing practices of indie video game developers. Narrative testing is a specialised games user research (GUR) practice that requires resources and knowledge not easily accessible to indie developers, meaning they are often disadvantaged compared to their larger AAA counterparts. Thus, Alex's work proposes the direct study of indie developers to level the playing field by democratising narrative testing best practices and empowering non-research team members to conduct GUR activities. Alex aims to achieve this goal by: 1) Defining narrative testing best practices. 2) Identifying key challenges indie developers face when evaluating narrative. 3) Co-designing and evaluating narrative testing prototype(s). 4) Assessing methods for disseminating GUR knowledge. The successful completion of this work will impact how indie studios conduct narrative testing, ultimately leading to the creation of better games. Email alex.flint@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisor: Dr Alena Denisova Dr Jon Hook Featured Publication(s): Comparing Measures of perceived challenge and demand in video games: Exploring the conceptual dimensions of CORGIS and VGDS Faking handedness: Individual differences in ability to fake handedness, social cognitions of the handedness of others, and a forensic application using Bayes’ theorem Themes Design & Development Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Dr Nick Ballou Queen Mary University of London iGGi Alum Hi there! I’m a psychology and human-computer interaction researcher interested in two main topics: how games affect wellbeing, and how we can reform the research ecosystem to be more trustworthy and efficient (aka “open science” or “metascience”). I’m originally from the US, and have bachelor and master’s degrees in linguistics, a topic that prepared me well for social science research, but whose use is relegated to excitedly sharing language fun facts at this point. In my free time, I play tennis, cook and bake, read—and of course play games (mostly deckbuilders, roguelikes, and AAA RPGs). A description of Nick's research: Psychological need frustration—experiences of feeling controlled and coerced, failure and self-doubt, or loneliness and exclusion—is a promising framework for understanding how players engage with video games. Grounded in self-determination theory, one of the most robust psychological theories, need frustration might help explain how and why players (dis)engage with a game and how gameplay impacts well-being. To realize this aim, however, we’re missing key building blocks: 1) a better grasp on when and why need-frustrating situations arise during play; 2) a questionnaire that can assess how much need frustration people experience in games quantitatively; and 3) studies that combine data on need frustration with carefully tracked behavioral data over time, rather than relying on simple self-reports like “how much time did you spend playing video games last week?” My thesis attempts to address all of these one step at a time and is underpinned by a strong emphasis on open and transparent methods. Results so far are promising—contact me to hear more! Email nick@nickballou.com Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisors: Prof. Sebastian Deterding Dr David Zendle Dr Laurissa Tokarchuk Featured Publication(s): Reliving 10 years old: Descriptive Insights into Retro Gaming UKRN Local Network Lead Guidebook Claims for no evidence also need evidence From social media to artificial intelligence: improving research on digital harms in youth The Basic Needs in Games (BANG) Model of Video Game Play and Mental Health (PhD thesis) The Basic Needs in Games (BANG) Model of Video Games and Mental Health: Untangling the Positive and Negative Effects of Games with Better Science The Relationship Between Lockdowns and Video Game Playtime: Multilevel Time-Series Analysis Using Massive-Scale Data Telemetry Affective Uplift During Video Game Play: A Naturalistic Case Study No evidence that Chinese playtime mandates reduced heavy gaming in one segment of the video games industry A manifesto for more productive psychological games research Four grand challenges for video game effects scholars: How digital trace data can improve the way we study games Perceived value of video games, but not hours played, predicts mental well-being in adult Nintendo players Development of the Brief Open Research Survey (BORS) to measure awareness and uptake of Open Research practices The Basic Needs in Games Scale (BANGS): A new tool for investigating positive and negative video game experiences How does Juicy Game Feedback Motivate? Testing Curiosity, Competence, and Effectance Registered Report Evidence Suggests No Relationship Between Objectively Tracked Video Game Playtime and Well-Being Over 3 Months How do video games affect mental health? A narrative review of 13 proposed mechanisms Learnings from the case Maple Refugee: A dystopian story of free-to-play, probability, and gamer consumer activism. Four dilemmas for video game effects scholars: How digital trace data can improve the way we study games Cross-cultural patterns in mobile playtime: an analysis of 118 billion hours of human data Pinpointing the problem: Providing page numbers for citations as a crucial part of open science A large-scale study of changes to the quantity, quality, and distribution of video game play during the COVID-19 pandemic Reforms to improve reproducibility and quality must be coordinated across the research ecosystem: the view from the UKRN Local Network Leads ‘I Just Wanted to Get it Over and Done With’: A Grounded Theory of Psychological Need Frustration in Video Games A Manifesto for More Productive Psychological Games Research Understanding whether lockdowns lead to increases in the heaviness of gaming using massive-scale data telemetry: An analysis of 251 billion hours of playtime If everything is a loot box, nothing is: Response to Xiao et al. Awareness of and engagement with Open Research behaviours: Development of the Brief Open Research Survey (BORS) with the UK Reproducibility Network Do People Use Games to Compensate for Psychological Needs During Crises? A Mixed-Methods Study of Gaming During COVID-19 Lockdowns Self-Determination Theory in HCI: Shaping a Research Agenda Themes Game Data Player Research Previous Next

< Back Dr David Gundry University of York iGGi Alum Using Applied Games to Motivate Speech Without Bias (Industry placement Lightspeed Research) Eliciting linguistic data faces several difficulties such as investment of researcher time and few available participants. Because of this, many language elicitation studies have to make do with few subjects and coarse sampling rates (measured in months). It would be ideal if a game could crowd-source relevant linguistic data with frequent, short game sessions. To this end, David’s research is looking into how games shape and elicit players’ linguistic behaviour. The established design patterns of gamification do not apply to a domain that lacks a ‘correct’ answer like language or personal beliefs and attitudes. David’s research shows how a player’s strategic goals will systematically bias data collection. It also shows how to design around this. The conclusion: The player’s choice of how to express a given datum must be strategically irrelevant in the game. David can remember the halcyon days when he had the free time to play games. Now he’s doing a PhD and has a one-year-old. He has an background in linguistics. He loves writing expressive code and designing clever little games. He wants to show that research games can be fun, not just effective. Please note: Updating of profile text in progress Email Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Featured Publication(s): Trading Accuracy for Enjoyment? Data Quality and Player Experience in Data Collection Games Designing Games to Collect Human-Subject Data Validity threats in quantitative data collection with games: A narrative survey Busy doing nothing? What do players do in idle games? Intrinsic elicitation: A model and design approach for games collecting human subject data Themes Applied Games - Previous Next

< Back Dr Adam Katona University of York iGGi Alum Adam did his MSc in mechatronics at Budapest University of Technology and Economics. After graduation, he spent two years working on automated driving at Robert Bosch GmbH, during which he got exposed to both the classical and the machine learning approach of creating intelligent agents. Evolutionary computation continues to surprise us by producing creative and efficient designs. However despite our best efforts, artificial evolution had not produced anything ascomplex and interesting as natural evolution. As our hardware is becoming faster and number of cores in our chips increase, the lack of computational power is becoming less of an excuse. It is starting to become more and more obvious that some fundamental component of natural evolution is missing from our simulations. One possible candidate is the evolution of evolvability. Evolution seems to produce organisms which are well suited for further evolution. The goal of my research is to find mechanisms which allows evolution to increase evolvability, and incorporate these in the design of more efficient neuroevolution algorithms.This research is in the intersection of evolutionary computation, evolutionary developmental biology and neural networks. Email mail.adamkatona@gmail.com Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Featured Publication(s): Illuminating Game Space Using MAP-Elites for Assisting Video Game Design Complex computation from developmental priors Utilizing the Untapped Potential of Indirect Encoding for Neural Networks with Meta Learning Quality Evolvability ES: Evolving Individuals With a Distribution of Well Performing and Diverse Offspring Growing 3d artefacts and functional machines with neural cellular automata Time to die: Death prediction in dota 2 using deep learning Themes Game AI - Previous Next

< Back David Hull University of York iGGi Manager iGGi Admin I have worked at the University of York since October 1995, almost all of it in the Department of Computer Science. My various roles have included Laboratory and Facilities Manager, Technical Manager and, most recently, Project Manager. Outside work, I have been a change-ringer for almost 50 years, and am currently a member of the band that rings the bells weekly at York Minster. I am also an accredited teacher of bellringing. I do parkrun most weeks, alongside the occasional 10k and half marathon, like to watch cricket, and play the clarinet and piano. Email iggi-admin@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes - Previous Next

iGGi Admin Team (All) iGGi is a collaboration between Uni of York + Queen Mary Uni of London: the largest training programme worldwide for doing a PhD in digital games. The iGGi Admin Team Meet the iGGi Admin Team! The iGGi Admin Team consists of the two iGGi Managers (one per each active site), three iGGi Administrators, and one Administrative Assistant. Filter by Location iGGi Staff / Externals Filter by Role Title - All Staff - David Hull iGGi Manager University of York Manager of iGGi at UoY; local & global iGGi PGR admin; PGR recruitment; PGR Pastoral care; iGGi-global finances; iGGi community; events & training; EPSRC reporting Read More Shopna Begum iGGi Administrator Queen Mary University of London Administrator for iGGi at QMUL; general admin; PGR travel/room bookings; research expenses + purchases; progression monitoring; newsletter; local PGR support; events support Read More Susanne Binder iGGi Manager Queen Mary University of London Manager of iGGi at QMUL; local iGGi PGR admin; Industry liaison; PGR Pastoral care; iGGi-local finances; PR and website/social media, events & training; Supervisor community Read More Oliver Roughton iGGi Administrator University of York Administrator for iGGi at UoY; general admin; PGR + staff travel/room bookings; research expenses + purchases; PGR support Read More Helen Tilbrook iGGi Administrator University of York Administrator for iGGi at UoY; general admin; PGR + staff travel/room bookings; research expenses + purchases; PGR recruitment admin; progression monitoring; alumni; PGR support Read More Nicole Levermore iGGi Assistant - Alumni Liaison University of York Administrative Assistant for iGGi; Alumni Network curation + support; parental leave cover; iGGi case studies; SM support Read More

Alumni (All) iGGi is a collaboration between Uni of York + Queen Mary Uni of London: the largest training programme worldwide for doing a PhD in digital games. iGGi Alumni Our growing community of iGGi Alumni are out there in the games industry, or in research (or, often, both), making the world a better place. We are proud to have as Alumni: Filter by iGGi Theme Accessibility Applied Games Creative Computing Design & Development Esports Game AI Game Audio Game Data Immersive Technology Player Research Filter by former Location Filter by Start Year Michael Aichmüller iGGi Alum Game AI, Applied Games Read More Dr Martin Balla iGGi Alum Game AI Read More Matt Bedder iGGi Alum Game AI Read More Dr Sebastian Berns iGGi Alum Creative Computing Read More Dr Terence Broad iGGi Alum Creative Computing, Design & Development Read More Dr Michelangelo Conserva iGGi Alum Game AI Read More Igor Dall'Avanzi iGGi Alum Player Research, Game Audio Read More Dr Cristina Dobre iGGi Alum Game AI, Immersive Technology Read More Alex Fletcher iGGi Alum Player Research, Applied Games, Game Audio Read More Dr Raluca Gaina iGGi Alum + Supervisor Game AI Read More Dr Carlos Gonzalez Diaz iGGi Alum Immersive Technology, Game AI, Design & Development, Creative Computing Read More Dr Cristina Guerrero-Romero iGGi Alum Design & Development, Game AI Read More Dr Daniel Hernandez iGGi Alum Game AI, Player Research Read More Yu-Jhen Hsu iGGi Alum Game AI, Game Data Read More Andrei Iacob iGGi Alum Player Research Read More Evgenii Kashin iGGi Alum Creative Computing Read More Dr Jozef Kulik iGGi Alum Accessibility, Player Research Read More Dr Chris Madge iGGi Alum Player Research Read More Guilherme Matos de Faria iGGi Alum Game AI Read More Dr Cristiana Pacheco iGGi Alum Creative Computing Read More Dr Nuria Peña Pérez iGGi Alum Applied Games Read More Dr Michael Saiger iGGi Alum Applied Games, Design & Development, Player Research Read More Dr Henrik Siljebråt iGGi Alum Read More Stefan Stoican iGGi Alum Game AI Read More Dr Ozan Vardal iGGi Alum Design & Development, Game Data, Esports Read More Dr Joseph Walton-Rivers iGGi Alum Player Research Read More Dr Kyle Worrall iGGi Alum Available for post-PhD position Game Audio, Creative Computing Read More Dr Memo Akten iGGi Alum Game AI Read More Dr Nick Ballou iGGi Alum Player Research, Game Data Read More Dr Jen Beeston iGGi Alum + Supervisor Accessibility Read More Dr Valerio Bonometti iGGi Alum Player Research Read More Dr Tom Cole iGGi Alum + Supervisor Game AI, Design & Development Read More Dr Maximilian Croissant iGGi Alum Player Research, Design & Development Read More Callum Deery iGGi Alum Design & Development, Player Research, Accessibility Read More Dr Timea Farkas iGGi Alum Player Research, Creative Computing, Immersive Technology Read More Dr Charline Foch iGGi Alum Player Research, Design & Development Read More Janet Gibbs iGGi Alum Read More Dr James Goodman iGGi Alum Game AI, Design & Development Read More Dr David Gundry iGGi Alum Applied Games Read More Dr Phoebe Hesketh iGGi Alum Player Research, Esports Read More Sam Hughes iGGi Alum Player Research Read More Dr Yizhao Jin iGGi Alum Game AI Read More Dr Adam Katona iGGi Alum Game AI Read More Dr Shringi Kumari iGGi Alum Player Research Read More Emily Marriott iGGi Alum Player Research Read More Dr Mihail Morosan iGGi Alum Game AI, Design & Development, Player Research Read More Dr Alan Pedrassoli Chitayat iGGi Alum Available for post-PhD position Design & Development, Game Data, Esports Read More Dr Dino Ratcliffe iGGi Alum Game AI Read More Dr Oliver Scholten iGGi Alum Game Data Read More Dr Florence Smith Nicholls iGGi Alum Game AI, Creative Computing, Design & Development, Game Data Read More Dr Evelyn Tan iGGi Alum Player Research, Esports Read More Lizzie Vialls iGGi Alum Game AI Read More Dr Matthew Whitby iGGi Alum Player Research, Design & Development Read More Peter York iGGi Alum Game AI, Esports Read More Dr Myat Aung iGGi Alum Game AI Read More Dr Adrián Barahona-Ríos iGGi Alum Creative Computing, Game Audio Read More Dr Daniel Berio iGGi Alum Game AI Read More Dr Ivan Bravi iGGi Alum Game AI, Player Research Read More Dr Tara Collingwoode-Williams iGGi Alum Player Research, Applied Games Read More Dr Joe Cutting iGGi Alum + Supervisor Player Research, Applied Games, Design & Development Read More Dr Kevin Denamganaï iGGi Alum Available for post-PhD position Game AI Read More Luke Farrar iGGi Alum Immersive Technology Read More Dr Madeleine Frister iGGi Alum Design & Development, Player Research Read More Dr Daniel Gomme iGGi Alum Game AI, Player Research, Design & Development Read More Dr Christian Guckelsberger iGGi Alum + Supervisor Game AI Read More Dr Thryn Henderson iGGi Alum Design & Development Read More Rob Homewood iGGi Alum Player Research Read More Dr Nathan Hughes iGGi Alum Player Research Read More Dr Nathan John iGGi Alum Game AI, Design & Development Read More Dr Athanasios Vasileios Kokkinakis iGGi Alum Game AI, Player Research, Esports Read More Dr Laura Helsby iGGi Alum Player Research, Applied Games Read More Andrew Martin iGGi Alum Game AI Read More Dr Sokol Murturi iGGi Alum Game AI Read More Dr Elena Gordon-Petrovskaya iGGi Alum Player Research Read More Dr Charles Ringer iGGi Alum Game AI, Game Data, Esports Read More Lisa Sha Li iGGi Alum Player Research Read More Dr Ryan Spick iGGi Alum Game AI Read More Dr Marko Tot iGGi Alum Game AI Read More Rokas Volkovas iGGi Alum Game AI Read More Dr Piers Williams iGGi Alum Game AI Read More Pilar Zhang Qiu iGGi Alum Applied Games Read More

< Back Dr Andrew James Wood University of York Supervisor I am an interdisciplinary researcher at the University of York. My background is in Mathematical Physics but my interests are now in applying computational and mathematical techniques to interesting problems, mostly in Biology. This includes such topics as collective motion (particularly in interaction networks and the role of noise) and microbiology (particularly in metabolism, industrial biotechnology, spatial structure and plasmid dynamics) as well as modelling naval conflicts and glycosylation. I have a natural interest in games and am interested in the interface between games and science, be that in using games to do, or disseminate, science or in utilising mechanisms and insights from research to inspire games. Research themes: Game Analytics Game Design Games with a Purpose Gamification Email jamie.wood@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Applied Games Design & Development Game Data - Previous Next

< Back Dr Piers Williams University of Essex iGGi Alum Partial Observability as a game mechanic There is a wide variety of different types of games, each providing its own unique challenge to artificial intelligence. Not all games provide full access to the environment, creating interest and difficulty by hiding particular pieces of information from the player. Other types of game expect teamwork from the players rather than being solely adversarial. Some games use both restrictions, and it is this type of game that this thesis concentrates on. Piers graduated from the University of Essex with an MSc in Computer Science. His interests lie in the field of Artificial Intelligence and in particular Multi-Agent Systems. Please note: Updating of profile text in progress Email Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Featured Publication(s): Hexboard: A generic game framework for turn-based strategy games Evaluating and Modelling Hanabi-Playing Agents Monte carlo tree search applied to co-operative problems The 2018 hanabi competition Artificial intelligence in co-operative games with partial observability Ms. Pac-Man Versus Ghost Team CIG 2016 Competition Cooperative games with partial observability Themes Game AI - Previous Next

< Back Dr David Zendle University of York Supervisor David Zendle is an active researcher into the effects of both video games and gambling, and is the author of several key references on the topic of video game monetisation. His most well-known publications deal with the potential effects of loot boxes. His recent work focuses on understanding the diversity of ways that video game play impacts wellbeing, and involves the analysis of large-scale datasets of player behaviour and spending. David is an academic affiliate of the Behavioural Insights Team and holds a research position within the NHS. He is particularly interested in building evidence-based policy in the domain of video game regulation, and has provided oral testimony on video game effects to a variety of government investigations across the globe. David is particularly interested in supervising students with an industry, economics, legal, or behavioural sciences background. He is interested in work on the following topics: The long-term effects of video game play (both positive and negative) Video game monetisation Video game regulation and policy Dark video game design Research themes: Game Analytics Game effects Game policy Email david.zendle@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Game Data Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Rob Homewood Goldsmiths iGGi Alum Personalised Aesthetics for Games The worldwide games industry is a huge market and as the spectrum of people who spend time playing games increases, there is more and more competition to create games that capture the attentions of a wide audience. Whilst games have been traditionally designed with specific cultural demographics in mind, a game that could dynamically match the cultural values of a range of demographics would maximize its potential market. Robert’s research looks at developing techniques for procedurally generating dynamic game assets that can be viewed as being relevant at a ‘per player’ level. He aims to do this by actively profiling a player’s social networks and building up a picture of the cultural references with which they identify. This knowledge could then be used to create game assets that match an aesthetic the player would likely feel comfortable with, allowing a more flexible decoupling between game mechanics and aesthetic during the design process. Designers could then focus on creating interesting game mechanics that could work in a variety of settings and the system would fill in the aesthetic detail based on the requirements of the individual player at run-time. Having studied in five countries, Robert is currently undertaking a PhD at Goldsmiths, University of London where he is part of the EPSRC funded IGGI (Intelligent Games and Games Intelligence) program. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Game Design and Production Management from the University of Abertay Dundee which included a year of studies at the George Mason University Computer Game Design Program. He also spent a year studying Serious Games at Masters level at the University of Skövde in Sweden (which has the longest running Serious Games program in the world). Robert has an active interest in the media arts field and has exhibited his work in three countries. Please note: Updating of profile text in progress Email Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Dr Matthew Whitby University of York iGGi Alum Matthew Whitby is a games designer, and player experience academic investigating how games can shape how perspectives on a small or grand scale. In particular, his work considers how we can make the development of perspective challenging processes easier for game developers. Previously, Matthew has published his undergraduate dissertation within the Games Journal, which explored the creation and design of Games Installations. Games that make full use of their surrounding space, and in fact incorporate the real world with its digital counterpart. In addition, he’s worked with Motek Medical, a rehabilitation company based in Amsterdam, where he developed socially focused multiplayer applications. More recently, he attended CHI Play 2019 to present the foundational study of his PhD titled: “One of the Baddies All Along: Perspective Challenging Moments in Games”. He continues to develop this idea forward, while developing games (both digital and table-top) in his spare time. Matthew’s work hopes to answer; how games can challenge a player’s perspective, and if this is a phenomenon that can be intentionally designed for? Email matt_whitby@hotmail.com Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisor(s): Prof. Sebastian Deterding Dr Jo Iacovides Themes Design & Development Player Research - Previous Next