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< Back Dr Henrik Siljebråt Goldsmiths iGGi Alum Henrik has a background in IT/DevOps and a Masters in Cognitive Science from Lund University. Based on established neurobiological correlates of reinforcement learning (RL), I investigate animal learning and decision making using cognitive modeling techniques, such as probabilistic programming and machine learning. Animals somehow manage to create useful representations of incoming sensory information, representations then used for learning and decision making. How these representations of states of the world are integrated into task structure and models of the world is an open question, which I investigate using behavioural experiments with humans and bumblebees and modelling said behaviour using RL combined with hidden state models for representing states and task structure. The potential findings of these experiments have promise to not only elucidate the workings of the animal brain but also provide valuable contributions to artificial intelligence, where improved models of state representations could vastly improve data efficiency and generalizability over current generation systems. Please note: Updating of profile text in progress h.siljebrat@gold.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://henrik.siljebrat.se Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/henrik-siljebrat LinkedIn BlueSky https://github.com/fohria Github Featured Publication(s): On State Representations and Behavioural Modelling Methods in Reinforcement Learning The Effect of State Representations in Sequential Sensory Prediction: Introducing the Shape Sequence Task Towards human-like artificial intelligence using StarCraft 2 Themes - Previous Next

< Back Dr Anne Hsu Queen Mary University of London Supervisor Anne Hsu’s research includes machine learning, artificial agents, natural language processing and learning, human decision making, interaction design, and well-being technology. Her interests include developing interactive systems that use machine learning and understanding of human psychology to improve human behaviour. She is particularly interested in supervising students with a machine learning, design, HCI, or behavioural sciences background on the following topics: understanding and designing for curiosity in games design for behaviour change motivational/educational games Research themes: Game AI Game Design Games with a Purpose Player Experience Gamification anne.hsu@qmul.ac.uk Email Mastodon Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-showen-hsu LinkedIn BlueSky Github Themes Applied Games Design & Development Esports Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Shopna Begum Queen Mary University of London iGGi Administrator iGGi Admin iGGi Administrator at QMUL Shopna is part of the iGGi Admin Team which is responsible for the smooth running of iGGi. In her role as iGGi QMUL Administator she provides administrative services and pastoral care to PhD students and assists the iGGi QMUL Manager in key aspects of the Centre's management. shopna.begum@qmul.ac.uk Email Mastodon Other links Website LinkedIn BlueSky Github Themes - Previous Next

< Back Dr Lina Gega University of York Supervisor 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 lina.gega@york.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://www.york.ac.uk/healthsciences/our-staff/lina-gega/ Other links Website LinkedIn BlueSky Github Themes Applied Games Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Dr Yul HR Kang Queen Mary University of London Supervisor Yul Kang, MD, PhD is a computational cognitive neuroscientist studying how natural & artificial neural networks handle unavoidable uncertainty in sequential decision-making, such as wayfinding during navigation. He uses Bayesian approaches and probabilistic neural representation models, with applications to games, fundamental science, and healthcare. He received his MD in Seoul National University (South Korea), PhD in Columbia University (USA), and did postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge (UK), where he was elected and served as a Junior Research Fellow. His work was published in top-tier journals such as Current Biology and eLife, and was presented as a talk in leading computational neuroscience conferences such as Cosyne and Bernstein Conference. His work was featured in news outlets such as The Independent. His research addresses how the brain handles unavoidable uncertainty (e.g., from ambiguous visual scene) during sequential decision-making (e.g., wayfinding). It helps understand players’ behaviour and predict their uncertainty given a map (and hence difficulty). Since neurological patients often show specific impairments in such tasks, it may help earlier and more specific diagnosis of diseases. Yul is interested in predicting players’ behaviour, procedural generation of levels by predicting subjective uncertainty and fun, and using games for diagnosis of psychiatric and neurological diseases. yul.kang@qmul.ac.uk Email Mastodon https://www.yulkang.net/ Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/yul-kang-9b11522b/ LinkedIn BlueSky https://github.com/yulkang Github Themes Creative Computing Game AI Immersive Technology Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Rory Davidson University of York iGGi PG Researcher Available for placement Learning and Strategy Acquisition in Digital Games Given the success and impact of games and the gaming industry, it is unsurprising that it has become the centre of a significant body of academic research and other literature. However, while the cognitive effects of gameplay have been extensively studied, this has typically been done from a “black-box” perspective – that is, looking at the effects of gameplay as a whole upon some other task or metric, such as ability to strategize or proclivity to violence – leaving the inner mechanisms of cognition during gameplay much less understood. In particular, while the idea of learning from games is an area of continued interest in educational psychology, very little literature exists on the subject of how learning in games actually occurs on a cognitive level. This study aims to fill this knowledge gap by examining the ways in which player learning and strategy acquisition occur within games. This examination will have two main hierarchical goals. In the first phase, the study will use experimental methods inspired by analysis of learning methods used in games as well as literature review of more general theories of learning and cognition, such as the dual-process account or the CLARION model, in order to form a model better specialized for the field of digital gaming. In the second phase, it will analyse how such a theory may be put to practical use to inform the design of games and game-like experiences. These two phases can be summed up in the following main research questions: Phase 1: How can strategy acquisition in digital games most effectively be explained as a cognitive process? Phase 2: How can this understanding be put into practice in the development of games with specific desirable characteristics? By linking a more complete understanding of cognition and learning during games with measurable or observable gameplay characteristics, this study will further research on gameplay experience, such as that on immersion. The first phase of research additionally has relevance to the field of AI, in which human responses to difficult and complex problems such as digital games may be mimicked or otherwise used to inform the design of new techniques, as well as to gamification, which attempts to elicit such responses in non-game contexts. rd553@york.ac.uk Email Mastodon Other links Website LinkedIn BlueSky Github Supervisor: Prof. Paul Cairns Featured Publication(s): Automatic Game Tuning for Strategic Diversity Themes Applied Games Design & Development Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Michael Aichmüller Queen Mary University of London iGGi Alum My background lies in physics and statistical mathematics with a later specialization in optimization in the fields of Reinforcement Learning (RL) and Causal Inference. My first encounters with RL occurred during my Masters when studying how to create strong policies in perfect information games using algorithms, such as MinMax, MCTS, DQN, and later AlphaZero variants. My favorite game application remains the board game ‘Stratego’. In the meantime I investigated the estimation of causal parents influencing a target variable from interventional datasets for my Master’s thesis. Specifically, how well Deep Learning estimations could replace exponentially scaling graph search methods with approximations requiring only polynomial runtime. A description of Michael's research: My research focuses on the state-of-the-art in game-playing solutions for imperfect information games (think games like Poker, Stratego, Liar’s Dice etc.). I am particularly interested in the application of No-Regret (and related) methods which seek to learn those actions that provided the most benefit (or least regret) compared to the benefit all possible actions provided on average. These methods learn such via iterative play to find a Nash-Equilibrium (NE), a game-theoretic concept comparable to an optimal policy known from Single-Agent RL, but for all partaking players at once. Particularly, variants of Counterfactual Regret Minimization (CFR) remain the state-of-the-art algorithms for computing NEs in 2-player zero-sum games due to their success in tabular form so far. Yet, prohibitive complexity and memory scaling bars them from large-scale applications. Hence, research of recent years seeks to couple CFR (and other No-Regret methods) with function approximation, such as Deep Learning, to scale up the size of applicable games with already notable successes (Deepstack, Libratus, Pluribus, DeepNash). My research seeks to contribute to this endeavour by first analyzing the specifics of established methods and finding ways to introduce Hierarchical RL concepts to No-Regret learning. Please note: Updating of profile text in progress m.f.aichmueller@qmul.ac.uk Email Mastodon Other links Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-aichmueller/ LinkedIn BlueSky https://github.com/maichmueller Github Supervisor(s): Prof. Simon Lucas Dr Raluca Gaina Themes Applied Games Game AI - Previous Next

A Word from The iGGi Director iGGi is a collaboration between Uni of York + Queen Mary Uni of London: the largest training programme worldwide for doing a PhD in digital games. A Word from the Director Welcome to iGGi! Below are a few words about the vision for iGGi, about who funds iGGi and why, and about why i GGi can be a force for good in a sometimes turbulent world. iGGi is short for the “EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Intelligent Games and Game Intelligence” (EPSRC is short for “Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council”). You can see why the name iGGi stuck! In , 120 PhD students spend 4 years learning cool stuff and conducting research in topics related to games and the games industry, working with 100 UK games companies . The big vision for iGGi is to inject research innovations and innovative researchers into the games industry. There is a strong economic argument for this, and there are even stronger social and cultural reasons. So where did iGGi come from and what is the vision that allowed us to win £30 million for games research? In the early 2000s, the games research community went through a huge growth spurt (which continues to this day). The economic, social and cultural power of video games meant that politicians and funders could no longer brush games aside as kid’s stuff. An opportunity arose in 2013 with the announcement of a competition for funding around 100 centres for PhD research in a focussed area of science or engineering. While it was clear that the call would be massively oversubscribed and very competitive, games seemed a good fit given the rise and rise of the financial size of the games market and the growing research community. We had more and more friends and contacts in the games industry. And we had shown that games could be funded at scale via projects such as UCT (£1.5 million) and NEMOG (1.2 million). A group of people from across academia and industry, with an interest in games research, came together to submit a bid and form a consortium. Our joint goal was to “make better games” and “make games better”. My role in this (as ‘Principal Investigator’) was as a synthesiser of ideas, as a recruiter of people who shared and refined these ideas, and as a writer and lobbyist who could package them up for referees who almost certainly lacked enthusiasm for games research. So how can we summarise the iGGi vision? The ‘IG’ in iGGi stands for ‘Intelligent Games’ - using research advances to make better games that provide richer, more fun experiences. The ‘GI’ in iGGi stands for ‘Game Intelligence’ - research which uses games to understand and inform people. In more detail: the following two paragraphs, from the 2013 iGGi bid, were probably among the most carefully written of the text in the whole bid document (redrafted dozens of times): Our vision is twofold: Intelligent Games: iGGi PhDs, investigators and collaborators will use research advances to seed the creation of a new generation of more intelligent and engaging digital games, to underpin the distinctiveness and growth of the UK games industry. We will weave technical and creative disciplines: using games as an application area to advance research in areas including artificial intelligence and computational creativity; human-computer interaction; interactive sound, graphics and narrative; robotics, agents and complex systems. The study of intelligent games will be underpinned by new business models and by research advances in data mining (game analytics) which can exploit vast volumes of gameplay data. Game Intelligence: iGGi PhDs, investigators and collaborators will investigate games as a medium to achieve scientific and societal goals, working with user groups and the games industry to produce new genres of games which can yield therapeutic, educational and social benefits and using games to seed a new era of scientific experimentation into human preference and interaction. We will create new games to conduct large-scale analysis of individual behaviour, leading to better understanding in economics, psychology, sociology, biology and human-computer interaction. We will build games which promote physical and mental health and educational achievement, underpinned by advances in mobile technology and data mining. This vision was refined and updated for the 2018 iGGi resubmission, especially given the enormous advances in machine learning and the cultural and social successes of games, but the text above remains a good overview of the high-level iGGi vision. But a vision is relatively static, and now, of course, iGGi is a community of brilliant, fun, caring, intelligent, curious research students, supported by staff and industry partners. So maybe the best way to find out more about iGGi is to read more about a few of them… I look forward to talking about games research with you! Peter Cowling iGGi Director Professor of AI, Queen Mary University of London

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Academic Pathways into Games iGGi is a collaboration between Uni of York + Queen Mary Uni of London: the largest training programme worldwide for doing a PhD in digital games. Academic Avenues into Games You are interested in pursuing Games as an academic career or would like to complement your CV with an academic degree in Games. But.. ...iGGi is no longer recruiting! "What now??" you ask. iGGi has recruited its last of (a total of) 10 cohorts in 2023 as the 2x5 years of scheduled intakes have been completed, and there is no funding for any further cohorts. Many of you have since contacted us to ask if there are other academic avenues into Games. So we thought we'd dedicate a page (this one) to this very topic, and lay out the options available to you via the iGGi partner universities. At Queen Mary University of London Bachelor Degree: BSc Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Masters Degree: MSc Computer Games PhD: The Game AI Research Group (GAIG) at Queen Mary University of London Also check out our list of suitable supervisors at QMUL on our iGGi Supervisor page (you can filter by location, and/or research theme) At the University of York Bachelor Degree: BSc Interactive Media Masters Degree: MA Digital Media and Culture MA Social Media and Management PhD: For suitable supervisors at UoY check out our iGGi Supervisor page (you can filter by location, and/or research theme) At the University of Essex Bachelor Degree: BSc Computer Games BSc Computer Games (incl. foundation year) Masters Degree: MSc Computer Games PhD: For suitable supervisors at Essex check out our iGGi Supervisor page (you can filter by location, and/or research theme) At Goldsmiths, University of London Bachelor Degree: BSc Games Development BSc Computer Games Programming BSc Creative Computing BSc Digital Arts Computing Masters Degree: MA Games and Playful Design MA Computer Games: Art & Design MA Computational Arts MA/BSc Virtual & Augmented Reality PhD: MPhil/PhD Arts & Computational Technology at Goldsmiths For suitable supervisors at Goldsmiths check out our iGGi Supervisor page (you can filter by location, and/or research theme) Funding Funding your studies can be a challenging endeavor at any level, but given our existing scope of Postgraduate level, the below points relate specifically to financing PhD studies. In the UK, there are six different types of funding sources to consider for financing a PhD: Government Funding through organisations such as the UKRI (iGGi, for instance, is a PhD programme funded by the EPSRC , which is one of UKRI's nine councils) >>> check out the UKRI Funding Finder Postgraduate Research Loans , available to individual PhD students >>> check out gov.uk's Doctoral Loan info page Most universities offer a very limited amount of their own "Studentships " and it is best to contact the respective university (or even the department) directly to find out more Charities and Trusts support individual PhD students through the award of Scholarships and Bursaries >>> check out the turn2us search tool which offers a custom-search-able database of grants you might qualify for Companies may directly investing in research projects that are of business interest to them and partner with a relevant university, or directly sponsor a PhD student And of course, if this is an option available to you, you can try and self-fund your course Games Courses at non-iGGi Universities There are many other universities in the UK that offer games-related courses, the below links are but a small selection, just to give you a starting point. Please note that this is not intended to be a ranking or particular recommendation in any way, and that the listing is merely based on our recent collaborations, interactions, and existing contacts with individuals or specific projects at these institutions. King's College London >> King's Institute for Artificial Intelligence University of Abertay >> Department of Games and Arts University College London >> Cinematic and Videogame Architecture University of the Arts London >> Game Design University of Hertfordshire >> 3D Games Art & Design University of East London >> Game Programming University of Staffordshire >> Games Courses Birmingham City University >> Game Studies You can also check out this games map website from Ukie which lists, among other games-relevant entities, academic institutions that offer games courses.

Training iGGi is a collaboration between Uni of York + Queen Mary Uni of London: the largest training programme worldwide for doing a PhD in digital games. Training The training programme is an essential part of the iGGi PhD. It helps students acquire the knowledge and skills they need to do great research -- research that can change both video games and wider society. The programme has a practical focus on the design and development of games. By deepening our PGRs' understanding of games, we aim to motivate and enable PhD research that has real relevance to how games are made and played. Page Index: The Modules - Bringing Researchers Together - Training Requirements The Modules Because iGGi offers a four year PhD programme, the PG Researchers (PGRs) are able to commit substantial time to this training during their first year. There are four modules, with delivery shared by the University of York and Queen Mary University of London: Game Design (York) PGRs learn how to conceive, design, prototype and playtest their own games, be it for entertainment or a 'serious' purpose like health, education, or research. Game Development (QMUL) The module provides hands-on training developing video games using industry-standard game engines. iGGi PGRs work together to prototype a new game in one week . It also introduces a range of state-of-the-art technologies for game development, such as novel interaction techniques, AI opponents and collaborators, and procedural content generation. Methods and Data (York) PGRs learn various methods for empirically studying games and players, including standard HCI methods and data science techniques for gaining insights from large game data sets. Research Impact & Engagement (QMUL) PGRs learn how to engage industry, players, and other societal stakeholders early on in their research, how to conduct responsible research and innovation that is overall beneficial to human wellbeing, and how to present their work online, to the media, and industry. Video Placeholder - to display Game Dev YouTube playlist >> For iGGi news and updates, including event announcements, follow us on social media Bringing Researchers Together A key aim of this training is to bring new researchers together as a well-connected cohort who will carry on learning from, and supporting each other throughout their studies. This has helped us build a strong iGGi community of researchers across four universities and multiple research fields, with a common goal of doing world class PhD research on games. Each module is delivered in two two-week blocks, with the exception of the remotely-supervised individual project. Six weeks of the training takes place in the Autumn of the first year, and another eight weeks is scheduled throughout the rest of first year. For researchers in receipt of an iGGi EPSRC studentship, travel and accommodation is provided for York researchers to study in London, and vice versa. Training Requirements Completing the training programme, including passing the modules, is a compulsory part of the iGGi PhD programme. The Game Development module does assume some knowledge of programming, at least the equivalent of an introductory class.

We are "Welcoming inclusive Games & Games inclusivity (WiGGi). Our members are staff and students working within the iGGi programme, which is an interdisciplinary team of researchers working in video games research. iGGi WiGGi - Welcoming inclusive Games and Games inclusivity - Introducing WiGGi We are Welcoming inclusive Games and Games inclusivity (WiGGi). We strongly believe that working in video games, whether that be in an academic setting or in industry, should be an inclusive and friendly environment where underrepresented groups (ethnic or cultural minorities, minority genders, religious background etc) especially can thrive and be heard. WiGGi holds the advocacy for these underrepresented groups in video games at the forefront of its agenda, making sure that events we plan, organisations we partner with and the topics we address are topical and engaging for people of a range of backgrounds. Our members are staff and students working within the iGGi programme, which is an interdisciplinary team of researchers working in video games research. We hold meetings every Wednesday, as well as roundtable discussions we call ‘Firesides’ every so often to talk with a range of people about a given relevant topic. For example, one of our Firesides discussed ‘Video games for positive change’. Get involved We would love to partner with more organisations that share a similar goal, or invite in more video game researchers or industry to take part in our events. If you would like to know more or get involved in some way, please contact us via our email: . WiGGi Members Tania Dales Tamsin Isaac Susanne Binder Prakriti Nayak Océane Lissillour Nicole Levermore Lauren Winter Dr Raluca Gaina Alex Flint BLOG Fireside Chat on Video Games for Positive Change Our most recent fireside discussed ‘Video games for positive change’. Our fireside chat on video games for social change was an engaging and thought-provoking discussion. We delved deeply into the representation of women in video games and explored how these portrayals impact our gaming experiences. This focus sparked an exchange of diverse perspectives, highlighting how inclusive representation can shape and transform player engagement. Each participant brought unique insights on how characters and narratives influence players’ connection to games and reflect broader social themes. Through this dialogue, we gained a richer understanding of how thoughtfully crafted games can inspire change and foster empathy, creating a more inclusive gaming culture for everyone.