Dr Lina Gega

University of York

Qualified both as a nurse and a psychological therapist, Lina is a senior member of the Mental Health and Addictions Research Group (MHARG) at the University of York, where she leads research under the Digital Mental Health Theme. She has published widely on computer-based therapies and virtual environments. Lina's work on technology-mediated interventions and training formed an impact case study was submitted to 2014 Research Excellence Framework as part of Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience.

Lina’s current work focuses on interventions to improve health and quality of life for children and young people with mental health problems. She has led the development and evaluation of a purposeful game to treat phobias in children, and of an innovative virtual environments system to assist psychological therapy and skills training. She co-leads the digital theme for the Closing the Gap (CTG) Network, funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The Network’s digital theme explores how technologies, including gaming, can be used to improve the physical health of people with severe mental illness, especially schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder.

An experienced University teacher, supervisor and examiner, Lina welcomes students with a design, engineering or behavioural sciences background who are interested in applied games research in the field of mental health, with a focus on:

• development and ‘proof-of-concept’ studies of purposeful games to improve mental health outcomes and social communication skills in children and young people.

• adaptation and evaluation of gamified applications to improve physical health outcomes with people whose motivation and information processing are affected by severe mental illness.

Research themes:

• Game Design

• Games with a Purpose

• Player Experience

• Gamified Mental Health Interventions