Six networks are being created:
- Creative Territories: Exploring Innovation in Indie Game Production Contexts and Connections led by Patrick Crogan, at the University West of England
- Games and social change: In-between screens, places and communities led by Scott Gaule, at Manchester Metropolitan University.
- Performance and Audience in Movement-Based Digital Games: An International Research Network led by Patrick Dickinson at University of Lincoln
- Guitar Heroes in Music Education? Music-based video-games and their potential for musical and performative creativity led by David Roesner at the University of Kent
- Developing videogames and play for hospitalised children led by Elizabeth Wood at University of Sheffield
- Video Games in the Museum led by Gregor White at University of Abertay Dundee
The AHRC networks are the result of the European Games Workshop jointly organised by the AHRC, the Science and Innovation Network France, the Technology Strategy Board’s Creative Industries and Communications Technology Knowledge Transfer Networks, TIGA (Trade Association for Games Industry), with the support of Nesta. This event sought to directly address one of the main recommendations of the Nesta Next Gen by bringing together arts and humanities researchers and video games developers to explore current research challenges and opportunities for the industry, to promote interdisciplinary approaches and combine academic approaches with commercial industry expertise.
It’s a real shame that we didn’t get one in Northern Ireland (but it’s also becoming par for the course in this blinkered little mini-statelet).