Games & Technologies (G&T) is an interdisciplinary interest group with participants across multiple academic departments, institutions, and industry. Together, we explore video games, mixed and extended realities (XR, VR, AR, MR), digital play, and other interactive environments. We examine the ways in which these environments are designed, how people engage with them, and how these environments interact with societal and cultural shifts.
We meet fortnightly to discuss relevant literature, provide feedback on members’ research, and collaborate on practice-based projects. The group’s major areas of research include
We are proud to have received funding from TORCH’s Critical Thinking Communities fund for our ethnographic study of a board game cafe in Oxford. We are currently working on our next outline for a collaborative study, which is due to commence in the autumn term. We also occasionally host game jams where members are invited to design games collaboratively. It is important to us to provide a fun, inclusive, and engaging space to explore new ideas and approaches to games, game design, and interactive environments.
If you’re interested in joining the Games & Technologies interest group, feel free to reach out to Amanda Curtis for more information. Our group is open to anyone with an interest in video games, emerging technologies, and related research. We encourage members to publish together and offer support for organising panels for games-related academic and industry conferences.
Associate Professor, Senior Research Fellow
Project role: Academic Lead
Kathryn Eccles has research interests in the impact of new technologies on Humanities scholarship, and the re-organisation of cultural heritage and higher education in the digital world.
DPhil Student
Project role: Interest Group Main Contact
Amanda is a DPhil student researching video games, player creativity, and knowledge practices.
Former DPhil Student
Hubert is a DPhil student at the OII, interested in computational propaganda and social movements online.
DPhil Student
Joanna’s research focuses on junctures between mobile Augmented Reality environments, critical heritage visualisations and post/decolonial historiography.
Former MSc Student
Sarah Chen is a wargamer with a focus on cyber, influence, and narrative game design. She holds a B.A. from Claremont McKenna College in a dual degree of International Relations and Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.
DPhil student, Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics, University of Oxford
A DPhil student whose research focuses on computational neuroscience and how machine learning can be applied to understand the brain’s sensory systems.
Former MSc Student
Alongside her part-time MSc at the OII, Fiona works as a Research Associate for peace data applications and data ethics during violent conflict. She is a graduate of the London School of Economics and the University of Edinburgh.
Former MSc Student
Nitya is interested in exploring digital relationships and health, while focusing on young girls and women from low resource areas. Previously, she was a Senior Design Researcher at a human-centred design consultancy working across emerging markets.
Phd student, Engineering Design Centre (EDC), University of Cambridge
MA student and Intellectrician
An academic and poet based in Oxford. Their research revolves around critical postcolonial and posthumanist approaches to technologies.
Former MSc Student
Saanjh completed her undergraduate degree in sociology from the University of Delhi, in 2022. Using the lens of digital sociology and anthropology, she is interested in making emerging digital ecosystems more democratic, and inclusive.
Former MSc Student
A former OII Social Science of the Internet MSc student, Hannah currently works as a Scrum Master for the Ellen Macarthur Foundation.
MSc student, Edinburgh Futures Institute, University of Edinburgh
A designer and technologist; in addition to studying human-machine relationships at the University of Edinburgh, she leads Plot Twisters, an online game design collective.
