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< Back Dr Poonam Yadav University of York Supervisor Dr Yadav research is focused on making the Internet of Things (IoT) and edge computing-based distributed systems resilient, reliable, and robust. This is an interdisciplinary research area that requires expertise in system design and integration along with knowledge of sensor systems, wireless networking, and domain and contextual understanding. To achieve resilience and reliability in the area of resource constraints and distributed systems, I focus on coordination and collaboration using interactions among machines, humans and data entities. These interactions could be categorized as machine-to-machine (M2M), machine-to-human (M2H), and human-to-data (H2D), and involve many challenges such as collaborative trust, privacy, legibility and accountability. Dr Yadav is an active reviewer of many top-tier ACM/IEEE IoT and networking conferences and journals. Dr. Yadav leads ACM-W UK professional chapter and is featured as "People of ACM Europe" and among the top ten N2Women Rising Star in Computer networking and communications in 2020. Research themes: E-Sports Use of IoT in Games Gamifications Citizen Science poonam.yadav@york.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://poonamyadav.net Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/pyadav/ LinkedIn BlueSky https://github.com/pooyadav Github Themes Design & Development Esports Game Data - Previous Next

< Back 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. alex.flint@york.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://alexflint.tech Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexlflint/ LinkedIn https://bsky.app/profile/alexlflint.bsky.social BlueSky Github 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 Evelyn Tan University of York iGGi Alum Evelyn holds a master’s degree in Industrial-Organisational Psychology from University College London (UCL) and has previously worked in the HR Technology industry where she undertook projects on game-based assessment, virtual team coaching and virtual reality (VR) hiring and training. She has published her work on developing trust in virtual work teams at CHI PLAY 2019, a premier conference for games research. On the Emergence and Development of Team Cohesion in Newly Formed Virtual Teams Evelyn specialises in teamwork and team dynamics. She is interested in uncovering how cohesion emerges and develops, and to identify its predictors. Her goal is to understand how to build high-performing teams that make people want to stay and remain united in the pursuit of their shared objectives. Under IGGI, she studies virtual teams in competitive esport games, specifically newly formed ad hoc teams. By applying theories and principles from psychology, her work can be extended to address the challenges faced by real-world teams with similar characteristics, for example emergency response teams and short-term project teams. By studying team cohesion – its emergence and development – her work addresses the broader challenges of building high-performing teams which retain their members. Please note: Updating of profile text in progress Email Mastodon https://sites.google.com/view/evelyntan Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/evelyntisiantan/ LinkedIn BlueSky https://github.com/ett506 Github Featured Publication(s): Communication Sequences Indicate Team Cohesion: A Mixed-Methods Study of Ad Hoc League of Legends Teams Less is More: Analysing Communication in Teams of Strangers Trusted Teammates: Commercial Digital Games Can Be Effective Trust-Building Tools Themes Esports Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Ross Fifield University of York iGGi PG Researcher Available for placement I am a user-centred games designer and researcher with a background in both practical and theoretical dimensions of play. I hold a BA and MA in Games Design from Falmouth University and have recently been engaged in teaching further and higher education courses in games development. My work sits at the intersection of design innovation, player psychology, and emerging technology, with a particular focus on how people find, engage with, and sustain play in social contexts. Currently undertaking a PhD as part of the iGGi programme, my research investigates the social and psychological factors that influence whether and how individuals choose to play with others. I aim to develop actionable insights that reduce barriers to engagement, support better player matchmaking, and encourage more inclusive and sustainable multiplayer experiences. I am particularly interested in live data applications and their potential to inform adaptive matchmaking systems and enhance game discovery. My practice draws from speculative and disruptive design methodologies, with a commitment to developing future-proof solutions that benefit academic, educational, and commercial communities alike. I maintain professional interests in affective psychology and digital heritage. As a player, I take an agnostic approach to genre, though I have a particular affinity for First Person Shooters, MMOs, sandbox games, and live-action roleplay. I am seeking placement opportunities with studios and organisations that are open to collaboration on live, data-driven projects focused on social play, player engagement, matchmaking and game discovery. My goal is to contribute meaningfully to real-world game development while refining methodologies that support more empathetic, inclusive, and dynamic player experiences. ross.fifield@york.ac.uk Email https://bsky.app/profile/rossfifield.bsky.social Mastodon http://www.rossfifield.com Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/rossfifield/ LinkedIn https://bsky.app/profile/rossfifield.bsky.social BlueSky Github Supervisors: Dr Joe Cutting Prof. Paul Cairns Themes Player Research Previous Next

< Back Dr Daniel Hernandez University of York iGGi Alum With the games industry as his target, Daniel Hernandez’s main research objective is to design and implement algorithms that, without any prior knowledge, generate strong gameplaying agents for a wide variety of games. To tackle this “from scratch” learning, he uses, and contributes to, the fields of Multiagent Reinforcement Learning, Game Theory and Deep learning. Self-play is the main object of study in his research. Self-play is a training scheme for multiagent systems in which AIs are trained by acting on an environment against themselves or previous versions of themselves. Such training scheme bypasses obstacles faced by many other training approaches which rely on existing datasets of expert moves or human / AI agents to train against. Daniel’s hope is that further development in Self-play will allow game studios of all sizes to generate strong AI agents for their games in an affordable manner. A storyteller by nature, Daniel has a strong track record of outreach through talks and workshops both in the UK and internationally. By sharing his journey, insights and discoveries he hopes to both inspire and instruct students, researchers and developers to realise the potential that Reinforcement Learning has to improve the games industry. His passionate work on Machine learning goes beyond crafting strong gameplaying agents. He sees the potential of using AI to simplify and automate a wide range of tasks in the games industry. He has led successful projects which used machine learning aimed at automating multiagent game balancing to alleviate the burden of manual game balancing. Daniel received an MEng in Computing: Games, Vision & Interaction from Imperial College London. Wanting to combine the power of AI and the creativity of videogames, Daniel began a PhD journey to explore the misty lands of Multi Agent Reinforcement Learning (MARL). Please note: Updating of profile text in progress Email Mastodon https://danielhp95.github.io Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/dani-hernandez-perez-1106b2107 LinkedIn BlueSky https://github.com/Danielhp95 Github Featured Publication(s): A comparison of self-play algorithms under a generalized framework A generalized framework for self-play training Metagame Autobalancing for Competitive Multiplayer Games Themes Game AI Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Prof. David Beer University of York Supervisor Professor Beer has been researching new and digital media since completing his PhD in 2006. This has included work on social media, mobile devices and algorithms. Over the last decade he has developed work exploring the social implications of data and metrics. His work has explored how automated decision making is impacting upon social connections and has looked at how the data that accumulates about us shaped the way individuals are understood and judged. He has recently conducted a study of the data analytics industry and produced a report into online targeting. His research areas for supervision include: The social power of algorithms Data analytics The power of data and metrics Critical analyses of data visualization The metricisation of everyday life Social media and social media data Online targeting Data harvesting and inequality Research themes: Game AI Game Analytics Game Design Games with a Purpose Computational Creativity Gaming data Algorithms in gaming Gamification and the social world david.beer@york.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://davidbeer.net/ Other links Website LinkedIn BlueSky Github Themes Applied Games Creative Computing Game AI Game Data Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Doruk Balcı University of York iGGi PG Researcher Available for placement I am a game maker interested in the relationship between player creativity and game design. My work is centered around the transformative capabilities of players to invent their own metagames and play-practices, and how to support this through game design. My other interests include: drawing, literature, making zines and browser games, and playing with tools I don’t really understand. Designing for Appropriative Play How do we make games which we want to be messed with, changed fundamentally beyond our expectations in play? How do we make up rules that are intended to be bent, changed or broken? Why would we want that? Play practices that transform structures, subvert expectations and re-define their contexts are celebrated in many aspects of culture and can lead to personal and meaningful experiences. Yet research on this topic from a game design perspective has been scarce. In my project, I am exploring how we can design game systems that invite players to assume ownership of their play-practices through exploring alternative paradigms of game design. doruk.balci@york.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://fuzul.itch.io Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/doruk-balc%C4%B1-19749a151 LinkedIn https://bsky.app/profile/dorukb.bsky.social BlueSky Github Supervisor: Dr Jo Iacovides Themes Design & Development Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Dr Zoe Handley University of York Supervisor Zoe Handley is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Language Education. She is an interdisciplinary researcher, with a background in language technology, who recognizes the value of quantitative as well as qualitative work in this area. Her earlier work focused on the evaluation of speech synthesis for use in language learning and teaching. Since then she has carried out a systematic review of evidence for the use of technology to support English language learning in primary and secondary schools and supervised a number of theses evaluating applications of technology for language learning. These have typically explored the use of web 2.0 and Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) technologies. Further to this she is interested in how learners autonomously use technology to support their learning in contexts such as study abroad. Zoe is currently particularly interested in teacher thinking in relation to the integration of technology to support language learning and developing and evaluating training to support teachers in making decisions about what technologies to integrate into their teaching, for what purposes and how. Zoe welcomes applications from PhD students interested in designing and evaluating educational activities that harness the affordances of digital technologies to create conditions and engage learners in processes that are known to support language learning. zoe.handley@york.ac.uk Email https://sites.google.com/york.ac.uk/pivotal-group/about Mastodon https://www.york.ac.uk/education/our-staff/academic/zhandley/ Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoe-handley-a730b58/ LinkedIn BlueSky Github Themes - Previous Next

< Back Dr Timea Farkas Goldsmiths iGGi Alum Timea is a researcher striving to understand how people engage with technologies—broadly defined—in their everyday lives, and how new technologies can enhance people's experiences of play, creative expression, and beyond. She has always been drawn to learning new things, with a background ranging from creative arts through games to science, which allows her to apply an interdisciplinary outlook towards research. She holds an MA in Sonic Arts from the University of Sheffield and has graduated with a First Class (Hons) degree in music composition and technology with a special award for outstanding achievement and collaboration. A description of Timea's research: This research project centres around understanding board game players' relationship with the immersive capabilities of hybrid board games - board games with a digital component - through finding novel interactions which strengthen the sensory elements of tabletop games. By focusing on physical board game pieces as alternative input devices to touch screens, the goal is to explore the design space of analogue-digital hybrids with a player-centric approach. farkasmarimba@gmail.com Email Mastodon Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/timeafarkas/ LinkedIn BlueSky Github Featured Publication(s): Exploring the Design Space of Analogue-Digital Hybrid Boardgames Using a Player-Centric Approach How Boardgame Players Imagine Interacting With Technology The Effects of a Soundtrack on Board Game Player Experience A Grounded Analysis of Player-Described Board Game Immersion Themes Creative Computing Immersive Technology Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Dr William Smith University of York Supervisor William Smith is a Reader in the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition research group in the Department of Computer Science at the University of York. He is currently a Royal Academy of Engineering/The Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellow and an Associate Editor of the journal Pattern Recognition. His research interests span vision, graphics and ML. Specifically, physics-based and 3D computer vision, shape and appearance modelling and the application of statistics and machine learning to these areas. The application areas in which he most commonly works are face/body analysis and synthesis, surveying and mapping, object capture and inverse rendering. A wide variety of tools and areas of maths are often useful in his research such as: convex optimisation, nonlinear optimisation, manifold learning, learning/optimisation on manifolds, computational geometry and low level computer vision (e.g. features and correspondence). He leads a team of five PhD students and one postdoc and has published over 100 papers, many in the top conferences and journals in the field. He was General Chair for the ACM SIGGRAPH European Conference on Visual Media Production in 2019 and is Program Chair for the British Machine Vision Conference in 2020. Research themes: Game AI Game Design Computational Creativity Graphics and rendering Content creation william.smith@york.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/wsmith/ Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-smith-b5421a70/ LinkedIn BlueSky https://github.com/waps101 Github Themes Creative Computing Design & Development Game AI 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 Mastodon Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-j-homewood-36906132/ LinkedIn BlueSky Github Themes Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Dr Nathan Hughes University of York iGGi Alum Nathan Hughes is a player experience researcher who focuses on how player make choices within games. Specifically, the work explores open world games such as Skyrim and the Witcher 3, as these games allow players a vast amount of choice with little restrictions on how and when these are made. However, little research has considered these choices, so little is known about how players experience choice in open world games. Therefore, research questions for this work include; why do players choose not to pursue the main quest? What do players choose to do instead? When and how do they make this decision? His background is in psychology, and so asks these questions from a psychological perspective. The aim is to uncover how the process of choosing unfolds, and how this is influenced. In turn, this may allow reflections on how the decision-making process operates - by analysing choices within open world games, a more controlled (but still intrinsically motivating) setting can be studied. ngjhughes@gmail.com Email Mastodon https://faethfulexplorations.wordpress.com Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-hughes-1035b611b/ LinkedIn BlueSky Github Supervisor Prof. Paul Cairns Featured Publication(s): Clinicians Risk Becoming "Liability Sinks" for Artificial Intelligence Understanding specific gaming experiences: the case of open world games The need for the human-centred explanation for ML-based clinical decision support systems Growing Together: An Analysis of Measurement Transparency Across 15 Years of Player Motivation Questionnaires Contextual design requirements for decision-support tools involved in weaning patients from mechanical ventilation in intensive care units Growing together: An analysis of measurement transparency across 15 years of player motivation questionnaires Opening the World of Contextually-Specific Player Experiences No Item Is an Island Entire of Itself: A Statistical Analysis of Individual Player Difference Questionnaires Ethereum Crypto-Games: Mechanics, Prevalence, and Gambling Similarities Themes Player Research - Previous Next