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At the conference, I will present a short paper titled “An Integrative Process for Making Serious Games”,

The paper addresses a key challenge in serious game design: how and when to involve stakeholders effectively. While existing frameworks provide guidance on design principles, they often lack clarity on stakeholder engagement. Our proposed process introduces an iterative, multi-stakeholder approach across three phases:

Co-discovery – defining game purpose and objectives collaboratively

Co-design – shaping narratives and mechanics with expert input

Co-evaluation – testing and refining with target audiences

In addition to the paper, I also published abstracts for three serious games developed with Echo Games CIC:

Immersed in Conservation – A digital escape room linking global purchasing habits to deforestation.

Unlock Bath: Built from Beneath – A digital escape room exploring the history of the city of Bath from multiple perspectives.

T-Cell Titans – A 2D shooter game helping children understand cancer treatment.

In this role, I’ll be teaching immersive media with a purpose, a subject close to my heart that explores how Extended Reality (XR) and games can be used to address real-world challenges.

In particular, I’ll be coordinating the GRACE Master’s Programme, a two-year European Joint Master’s that brings together students from around the world to push the boundaries of immersive technology and education. The Master is a collaboration between St. Pölten UAS (Austria), Saxion UAS (Netherlands), and Vidzeme UAS (Latvia). Together, we’ve developed a comprehensive programme that integrates XR and gamification with innovative educational methodologies, empowering students to become leaders in immersive media and digital transformation.

Beyond teaching, I’ll be leading research in the field of immersive media with a purpose, continuing to explore how technology can be used meaningfully in cultural, educational, and social contexts.

As Generative AI (GenAI) becomes more widely used in game development—especially for brainstorming and collaborative design—it brings both opportunities and challenges. One of the most pressing issues is the reproduction of biases and stereotypes, often embedded in the training data these models rely on. This is particularly concerning in character design, where misrepresentation can easily go unnoticed, especially in teams lacking diversity or awareness of these issues.

In my paper, I explore how Explainable AI (xAI) can help address this problem. By making the inner workings of AI models more transparent, xAI allows designers to better understand how outputs are generated—and more importantly, to identify and reflect on potential misrepresentations.

To support this, I propose a framework of five objective categories for analysing AI-generated game characters: Age, Face, Body, Hair, and Style.

These categories were developed through a deductive approach and pretested using seven characters generated with DALL·E. The goal is to make the framework as objective and accessible as possible, so even designers with limited experience in diversity and inclusion can use it effectively.

The workshop is divided into three phases:

(1) Discussion on how AI is trained

(2) Work on simple artistic projects, such as comic strips, short stories and short drama pieces

(3) Engage in dialogue with the AI, asking questions to uncover how it arrived at its solutions and what ethical considerations might be at play.

(4) Complete the artistic project using AI.

Escape rooms have become a global phenomenon, evolving into a wide range of formats: physical, digital, and mixed. While they’re often associated with fun and challenge, they’re increasingly being used for education, training, communication, and even data exchange. However, most academic research so far has focused either on physical escape rooms or on their educational potential.

In this article, I aim to fill that gap by offering two key contributions:

A definition of “escape rooms with a purpose”;

The event brought together researchers from IT, social sciences, and humanities to address the complex challenges posed by AI, focusing on how Queer perspectives can provide actionable insights into desirable human-AI futures. It aims to bridge disciplinary boundaries to tackle issues of representation, discrimination, and societal implementation of AI.

Drawing from research and podcasts, the presentation examined the social, legal, and ethical implications of AI-generated art. It highlighted how AI could perpetuate biases and stressed the need for AI to benefit society rather than just profit a few companies. The discussion included how AI could support artists' goals and values, making the relationship between creatives and AI assistive rather than toxic.

The presentation also addressed regulatory measures like the EU AI Act, which mandated transparency in AI systems and allowed artists to reserve the use of their works. However, challenges remained, such as artists' awareness of protecting their work and the global nature of the internet.

The school is a centre of textile excellence (opened in 1973) and offers a range of courses, teaching traditional techniques alongside modern textile practices. They usually teach in Japanese, but every Spring and Fall they offer courses in English to 5 international students. I was lucky enough to be accepted for the Spring term in 2023.

This was a unique experience: I learned so much, both from a personal and professional point of view!

Beginners Course: I have learned the general foundations of dyeing and weaving over 10 days. While I had previous experience with a rigid loom, I never used a floor loom before.

Foundation Kasuri Course: I tried kasuri for the first time. Kasuri is a technique whereby weaving threads are resist-bound with elastic or nylon tape prior to being dyed, in order to create different coloured patterns in woven cloth.

I have also created strong connections with the other 4 international students with whom I walked all around Kyoto (and tried some amazing food!).

The teacher - Emma Omote - is extremely knowledgeble and, above all, patient! We all had different levels of knwoledge - Two of us only had some limited experience using a rigid loom! But she was incredibly supportive and kind. At the end, we all brought home some amazing pieces of hand-dyed and hand-woven fabric.

The event brings together public historians and designers to explore how cultural spaces can incorporate diverse and sometimes conflicting perspectives into co-created exhibitions.

Bristol+Bath Creative R+D offers a suite of support to the region’s businesses, creatives, artists and thinkers to experiment with new and emerging technologies, conduct research, and develop prototype products and experiences to share with the public.