< Back Dr Lorenzo Jamone Queen Mary University of London Supervisor I am a Lecturer in Robotics and Director of the CRISP group (Cognitive Robotics and Intelligent Systems for the People) at the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) of the Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). The CRISP group is part of ARQ (Advanced Robotics at Queen Mary). Since October 2018, I have been a Turing Fellow at The Alan Turing Institute. I am interested in understanding human (and animal) intelligence, by using computational techniques that include computer simulations and real robots. My research topics include: human creativity and creative problem solving, human perception, human-human non-verbal communication, object affordances, tool use, body schema, eye-hand coordination, dexterous manipulation and object exploration, human-robot interaction and collaboration, tactile and force sensing. I am interested in supervising students with an engineering, computer science or behavioural sciences background on the following topics: Creating computational models of human creativity Creating computational models of decisional agents Email l.jamone@qmul.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Applied Games Creative Computing - 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. Email doruk.balci@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisor: Dr Jo Iacovides Featured Publication(s): Digital Playground: The Hidden Politics of Children's Online Play Spaces, Virtual Worlds and Connected Games Game Rules as Player Tools: Introspective Rulebook Method Player Discretion is Advised: Designing for Rule-Changing Play Themes Design & Development Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Dr Alena Denisova University of York Supervisor Alena Denisova is a Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of York, UK. She is actively involved in collaborative and interdisciplinary projects that involve conceptualising and measuring user experience of video games and designing and building educational and persuasive interactive media. Her research explores the role of the `placebo effect’ of technology in shaping player experiences, perceived challenge and uncertainty in video games, and, more recently, emotionally impactful player experiences - understanding how these experiences are shaped with the view to inform the design of games that promote these experiences. Alena is an active member of the games HCI community: she is a co-chair of the IEEE Task Force on Automatic Gameplay Evaluation and a member of the Programme Committee for the annual CHI and CHI Play conferences. She is interested in supervising students that have qualitative, mixed method or design experience that they wish to apply to studying digital games. Possible research topics include exploring what makes choices in games meaningful for players, how perceived uncertainty, risk-aversion, and luck affect decision making in games, and how skill is acquired and advanced throughout while playing video games. She is also keen to work with students who wish to work on games with a purpose. For instance, designing and developing games that promote informed decision-making about moral and ethical choices, such as promoting sustainable lifestyle, reflecting on important real-life issues, developing personally, etc. Email alena.denisova@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Applied Games Design & Development Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Dr Yizhao Jin Queen Mary University of London iGGi Alum Currently a student at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), I have delved deep into the realms of artificial intelligence and game design. With a passion for understanding the complexities behind real-time strategy (RTS) games and their dynamic, unpredictable nature, I have committed myself to contribute novel insights to this domain. Research: My primary research area is Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning (HRL) for Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games. RTS games, known for their intricate mechanics and vast decision spaces, present a formidable challenge for traditional AI approaches. By employing HRL, I aim to develop agents that can not only understand the multi-layered tactics and strategies of these games but also learn to adapt to ever-changing game scenarios efficiently. The main objectives of my research are: Better Generalization: To create agents that can seamlessly transition between different RTS games or various maps within the same game without extensive retraining. This involves understanding common strategic threads across multiple game domains. Efficient Training: RTS games are inherently time-consuming due to their vast decision spaces and prolonged gameplay. My research seeks ways to optimize the training process, ensuring that AI agents can learn faster and with fewer computational resources. Email acw596@qmul.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisors: Prof. Greg Slabaugh Prof. Simon Lucas Adapter-RL: Adaptation of Any Agent Using Reinforcement Learning Joint action loss for proximal policy optimization Themes Game AI 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 Elena Gordon-Petrovskaya University of York iGGi Alum Elena specialises in novel forms of 'predatory' monetisation in digital games and its effects on players and is particularly interested in the links of game design to gaming disorder. She uses her background in psychology and human-computer interaction to take a player-centric perspective: developing knowledge bottom-up and working directly with players as the primary stakeholder. Her work spans ethics, wellbeing, and the lived experience of technology and its use. In her work so far, Elena has conducted a qualitative study with 1000+ players to create a taxonomy of microtransactions that players perceive to be unfair, aggressive, or misleading, and carried out a prevalence assessment of these techniques across the most popular desktop and mobile games. Most recently, her work discovered several types of harms which emerge from player interaction with games perceived as 'designed to drive spending'. Additionally, Elena has contributed to government calls for evidence around game regulation, given talks at seminar series and conferences, and collaborated on a variety of related topics, such as loot box spending, esports betting, and changes to gameplay during COVID. Email elepetrovs@gmail.com Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisors: Prof. Sebastian Deterding Dr David Zendle Featured Publication(s): 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 Adapting and Enhancing Evolutionary Art for Casual Creation. The many faces of monetisation: Understanding the diversity and extremity of player spending in mobile games via massive-scale transactional analysis The relationship between psycho-environmental characteristics and wellbeing in non-spending players of certain mobile games Why microtransactions may not necessarily be bad: a criticism of the consequentialist evaluation of video game monetisation The lived experience of Internet Gaming Disorder: core symptoms, antecedents and consequences as based on a qualitative analysis of Reddit posts. Prevalence and Salience of Problematic Microtransactions in Top-Grossing Mobile and PC Games: A Content Analysis of User Reviews Predatory Monetisation? A Categorisation of Unfair, Misleading and Aggressive Monetisation Techniques in Digital Games from the Player Perspective Designing Personas for Expressive Robots: Personality in the New Breed of Moving, Speaking, and Colorful Social Home Robots A large-scale study of changes to the quantity, quality, and distribution of video game play during the COVID-19 pandemic How do loot boxes make money? An analysis of a very large dataset of real Chinese CSGO loot box openings Defining the esports bettor: evidence from an online panel survey of emerging adults The Battle Pass: a Mixed-Methods Investigation into a Growing Type of Video Game Monetisation Casual Creators in the Wild: A Typology of Commercial Generative Creativity Support Tools Not all fun and games: The design and evaluation of a game to increase intrinsic motivation in learning programming Exploring the multiverse of analysis options for the Addiction Stroop "These People Had Taken Advantage of Me”: A Grounded Theory of Problematic Consequences of Player Interaction with Mobile Games Perceived as “Designed to Drive Spending" Themes Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Dr James Walker University of York iGGi Industry Liaison Supervisor Dr James Walker is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science and Digital Creativity at the University of York. A member of the Digital Creativity Labs, and the York Cross-disciplinary Centre for Systems Analysis (YCCSA). His current research focuses on bio-inspired algorithms (including AI and machine learning) and their application to games and game data analytics. He is also a senior member of the IEEE. Email James@digitalcreativity.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Creative Computing Esports Game AI Game Data - 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): The basic needs in games model of video game play and mental health "I just wanted to get it over and done with": a grounded theory of psychological need frustration in video games 01 01V A manifesto for more productive psychological games research All BANG, little buck: Need-related experiences are weakly linked with behavior in the video game domain Awareness and Use of Open Research Practices: An International Survey of Researchers Across Disciplines Building collaborative digital behavioural science: A cross-sector agenda from video games research Commentary: Prediction of problem gambling by demographics, gaming behavior and psychological correlates among gacha gamers: A cross-sectional online survey in Chinese young adults From Breakups to Lethargy: Player Accounts of Third Variables Affecting Video Game Playtime and Wellbeing Fundamental Flaws in the Design and Reporting of Chew and Neo (2024) Ill Health and Grief Fuel Gaming, while Lethargy Slows It: Playtime-Wellbeing Confounds from the Player Perspective Open Play: A longitudinal dataset of multi-platform video game digital trace data and psychological measures Perceived value of video games, but not hours played, predicts mental well-being in casual adult Nintendo players Psychological wellbeing, sleep, and video gaming: Analyses of comprehensive digital traces stage 1 programmatic registered report Self-determination theory in HCI: advancing the field 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 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 Themes Game Data Player Research 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

< Back Ross Fifield University of York iGGi PG Researcher Available for post-PhD position I am a user-centred games designer and researcher working across the practical and theoretical dimensions of play. I hold both a BA and MA in Games Design from Falmouth University and have experience teaching further and higher education courses in games development. My work explores the relationship between design innovation, player psychology, and emerging technologies, with a particular focus on how players discover, evaluate, and sustain meaningful play experiences. Currently undertaking a PhD through the iGGi programme, my research investigates matchmaking beyond conventional skill-based or algorithmic systems. I am interested in how social context, player motivation, behavioural patterns, and lived experience influence whether a game feels “right” for a player at a given moment. Through this work, I aim to develop more nuanced approaches to player matching and game discovery that better account for the emotional, social, and contextual dimensions of play. My practice draws on speculative and disruptive design methodologies to challenge established, top-down models of game development. I am particularly interested in how live and contextual player data can support more adaptive, empathetic, and sustainable systems for player engagement, retention, and community building. Alongside this, 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 welcome opportunities to discuss research collaboration, applied matchmaking systems, and future-facing approaches to player experience design. 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. Email ross.fifield@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisors: Dr Joe Cutting Prof. Paul Cairns Themes Player Research https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yVD-7mRlk4 Previous Next

< Back Dr Diego Pérez-Liébana Queen Mary University of London Supervisor Born in Madrid (Spain) and living in London (United Kingdom), I am a Senior Lecturer in Computer Games and Artificial Intelligence at Queen Mary University of London. I hold a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Essex (2015) and a Master degree in Computer Science from University Carlos III (Madrid, Spain; 2007). My research is centered in the application of Artificial Intelligence to games, Tree Search and Evolutionary Computation. At the moment, I am especially interested on General Video Game Playing and Strategy games, which involves the creation of content and agents that play any real-time game that is given to it, and research in Abstract Forward Models. I have recently been awarded with an EPSRC grant on Abstract Forward Models for Modern Games. I am author of more than 100 papers in the field of Game AI, published in the main conferences of the field of Computational Intelligence in Games and Evolutionary Computation. I have publications in highly respected journals such as IEEE TOG and TEVC. I have also organised international competitions for the Game AI research community, such as the Physical Travelling Salesman Competition, and the General Video Game AI Competition, held in IEEE (WCCI, CIG) and ACM (GECCO) International Conferences. I also experience in the videogames industry as a game programmer (Revistronic; Madrid, Spain), with titles published for both PC and consoles. I worked as a software engineer (Game Brains; Dublin, Ireland), where I oversaw the development of AI tools that can be applied to the latest industry videogames. I am particularly interested in supervising students with background on applications of Tree Search or Evolutionary Algorithms for strategy games. Research Themes: Game AI Rolling Horizon Evolutionary Algorithms. Monte Carlo Tree Search Statistical Forward Planning methods. Strategy Games. Email diego.perez@qmul.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Game AI Game Data - Previous Next

< Back Dr Michael Saiger University of York iGGi Alum Michael is a game design researcher investigating how we engage players (particularly young people) in the design and development of applied games. He has facilitated co-design workshops across health and education research, designing solutions to research problems. Most recently, he was employed as a game design researcher on an ESRC funded project to design and evaluate a game for teacher recruitment. A description of Michael's research: Michael's research involves the facilitation and involvement of children and young people in the design of mental health games. Through their research, they have co-designed mental health prototypes and explored the factors to impact participation and engagement. Their research has highlighted how there are facilitation barriers and shifts in participant preferences towards how young people want to interact during co-design. Email michael.saiger@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisors: Dr Joe Cutting Prof. Sebastian Deterding Dr Lina Gega Featured Publication(s): "SAM"-School Attachment Monitor for the Assessment of Attachment in Children aged 4-8 Digital innovations in teacher Recruitment: An experimental study Exploring player experience factors for designing persuasive recruitment games Use of Technology in Brief Interventions How Do We Engage Children and Young People in the Design and Development Of Mental Health Games Children and Young People's Involvement in Designing Applied Games: Scoping Review What Factors Do Players Perceive as Methods of Retention in Battle Royale Games? Themes Applied Games Design & Development Player Research - Previous Next