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MEMORANDUM TO: Senate Graduate and Research Council

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MEMORANDUM TO: Senate Graduate and Research Council CC: Kathy Winter, University Secretary and Privacy Officer Neil Randall, Executive Director, Games Institute (GI) Bernard Duncker, Associate Vice-President, Interdisciplinary Research Sheila Ager, Dean of Arts Jean Andrey, Dean of Environment Mark Giesbrecht, Dean of Math Bob Lemieux, Dean of Science Mary Wells, Dean of Engineering Lili Liu, Dean of Health FROM: Charmaine B. Dean Vice-President, Research and International DATE: Tuesday February 2, 2021 SUBJECT: Support for the Games Institute (GI) for 5-Year Renewal - For information - I am pleased to inform you that the Research Leaders Council has recommended to me that the Games Institute, a university-level institute, be renewed for another five year-term. I have accepted this recommendation and am pleased to bring forward to Senate Graduate and Research Council a consideration of renewal of the Games Institute. January 20, 2021 Bernard P. Duncker Associate Vice-President, Interdisciplinary Research University of Waterloo Dear Dr. Duncker: The Games Institute requests a five-year renewal, from 2021-2025, of its mandate as a Senate- approved centre/institute. The attached renewal document highlights the Games Institute’s achievements over the past five years and its plans for the next five. If you need any further information, please contact me. Sincerely, Neil Randall Executive Director, The Games Institute 1 Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Games, Interactive and Immersive ........................................................................................................... 3 Research Process and Research Merit ...................................................................................................... 4 Research Ecosystem .................................................................................................................................. 4 The Next Five Years ................................................................................................................................... 6 Institutional Background ............................................................................................................................... 7 Vision, Mission and Goals ......................................................................................................................... 8 Governance ............................................................................................................................................... 9 Membership ............................................................................................................................................ 12 Research Facilities ................................................................................................................................... 17 Research Direction ...................................................................................................................................... 17 Game and Interactive Media Studies ...................................................................................................... 17 Game and Interaction Science ................................................................................................................ 18 Interactive Media for Understanding ..................................................................................................... 18 Achievements and Results .......................................................................................................................... 20 Academic Networks ................................................................................................................................ 20 Research Groups ..................................................................................................................................... 23 CFI lab infrastructure .............................................................................................................................. 28 Conferences ............................................................................................................................................ 29 Knowledge Dissemination Productions .................................................................................................. 30 Selected Projects ..................................................................................................................................... 35 Campus Collaborations ........................................................................................................................... 39 Student Experience ................................................................................................................................. 42 Future Directions ........................................................................................................................................ 47 The Network for the Virtual Future ........................................................................................................ 47 Games Institute Research Clusters in the Next Five Years ..................................................................... 48 Interdisciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity ............................................................................................... 50 Financials ..................................................................................................................................................... 56 Games Institute Income and Expenses 2015/16 to 2019/20 ................................................................. 56 Five-Year Financial Forecast .................................................................................................................... 57 APPENDICES ................................................................................................................................................ 60 Appendix 1. Membership .................................................................................................................... 60 Appendix 2. Games Institute Events ................................................................................................... 65 Appendix 3. Member Biographies of Games Institute Advisory Board .............................................. 71 Appendix 4. Games Institute Communications Products and Channels ............................................. 79 Appendix 5. Member Statements ....................................................................................................... 83 Appendix 6. Publications ................................................................................................................... 128 Appendix 7. Support Letters ............................................................................................................. 129 2 Introduction The Games Institute conducts research across the broad field of interactive immersive technologies and experiences. This field includes games, but it has expanded to incorporate virtual and augmented reality, large interactive and collaborative displays, smartphones and tablets, and any other device where game- like interactions drive the user experience. The field is constantly looking to the future, to emerging technologies and their resultant applications and experiences, and the Games Institute is dedicated to exploring, critiquing, and designing the forward trajectory of the field. The Games Institute (Games Institute) was initially approved by Senate in 2010 and operated under the Faculty of Arts. It was renewed by Senate in 2015 and, in late 2017, became a University Institute, operating under Policy 44 and the purview of the Vice-President, Research and International. Games, Interactive and Immersive From its beginnings, the Games Institute viewed the exploration of games as expansive and multimodal. Videogames are created and produced by companies ranging from the large (Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Blizzard) to the very small (too numerous to mention). The best-known games feature rich, sophisticated graphics, themselves the subject of research in the humanities and computer science alike. The lesser- known games capture the attention of scholars around the globe in attempts to tell rich stories, to convey complex social and political issues, and to use a medium typically based solely in entertainment to deal with issues in physical and mental health, activism and social justice, climate impact and artificial intelligence. This is the study of games as forms of art, as guides for understanding, and as immersive computer programs with demanding interfaces and strong human-computer interaction. While games remain a major focus in its research, the interests of Games Institute researchers span many types and purposes of interactive immersive technologies and experiences. Affordable virtual reality (VR) headsets brought a new focus, as did the appearance of augmented reality (AR) games and applications. Both of these technologies place the viewer removed from the physical world--VR replacing the physical world completely and AR creating an interactive layer on top. For Games Institute researchers, these technologies brought new light to the study of both all-virtual and hybrid real-virtual settings and interactions. Applications ranging from games with empathy-inspiring experiences to innovative means to understand
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