TIGA’s Game Education Conference 2025 will once again comprise a full day of keynotes and panel discussions, providing a vital forum for educators and studios to exchange knowledge and ideas to address key challenges, including skill needs, graduate employability, excellence in research and teaching and studio spinouts from higher education.
Agenda:
- 10.00 – 10.30: Registration, networking and refreshments
- 10.30 – 10.35: Introduction
- Dr. Richard Wilson OBE, TIGA CEO
- 10.35 – 10.40: Welcome
- Birmingham City University
- 10.40 – 10.50:
- Keynote: The Hurdles of Managing Large Student Teams: Using our Outcomes to Create Launch Pads for Student Studios and Innovation.
- Speaker:
- Lloyd Savickas, Associate Director of Digital Media and Games Technology, UWE.
- Key learnings:
- Creating opportunity within the confines of university policy
- The challenges when working large student groups in university projects
- How we create a launch pad for student created studios (and achieve student academic success)
- Speaker:
- 10.50 – 11.20: Panel discussion on Incubators and accelerators within universities for start-up studios
- 11.20 – 11.30: TIGA course accreditation
- Speaker:
- Mark Wickham, Associate Professor, Director of Computer Arts and Technology, Norwich University of the Arts.
- Key learnings:
- Accreditation process; what colleges and universities need to show to achieve accreditation.
- The key benefits of accreditation and learnings that TIGA has made over the last 10 years via accreditation.
- Putting into practice TIGA recommendations from accreditation.
- Speaker:
- 11.30 – 11.50: Networking and refreshments
- 11.50 – 12.00: Keynote: An industry perspective – skills requirements.
- 12.00 – 12.30: Panel: An industry perspective – skills requirements.
- 12.30 – 1.00: Panel: Maximising graduate employment opportunities
- Dr Ian Willcock, Head of Screen Department, School of Creative Arts, University of Hertfordshire.
- More speakers to be announced.
- 1.00 – 1.50: Lunch and networking break.
- 1.50 – 2.00: Keynote: Excellence in games research, innovation and teaching
- Speaker: Prof. Christopher Headleand, National Teaching Fellow, Head of Games Institute at University of Staffordshire.
- 2.00 – 2.30: Panel discussion:
- Carlo Harvey, Professor of Digital Arts, School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University.
- Ruth Falconer, Head of Division: Games Tech and Maths, Abertay University.
- More speakers to be announced.
- 2.30 – 3.00: Equality, diversity and inclusion
- Keynote:
- Jon Weinel, Programme Leader for Game Design, University of Surrey.
- Panel discussion:
- Dr. Sharon Coleclough – PhD, SFHEA Staffs, Senior Lecturer, Technical Game Design at University of Staffordshire.
- Chris Janes, Head of Technology – School of Technology, Business and Arts at the University of Suffolk.
- Keynote:
- 3.00 – 3.10 FE colleges and level 3 challenges
- Keynote:
- Joel Cable, Senior Product Manager – Art, Design & Digital and Entertainment Media at Pearson UK.
- Keynote:
- 3.10 – 3.40: Panel
- Rob Reed, Deputy Head of Department, Leeds City College.
- More speakers to be announced.
- 3.40 – 4.00: Networking and refreshments.
- 4.00 – 4.10: Internships, placements and industrial secondments
- Keynote:
- Anna Limpen, Head of School (Students), Principal Lecturer – Computer Games Production at University of Portsmouth.
- Keynote:
- 4.10 – 4.40: Panel discussion
- Speakers to be announced.
- 4.40 – 5.05: Panel discussion: Designing a new games course panel
- 5.05 – 5.10: Closing remarks
- Dr. Richard Wilson OBE, TIGA CEO
- 5.10 – 6.00: Networking
TIGA’s Conference, hosted at Birmingham City University, will discuss a range of subjects, including:
- Skills requirements in the games industry in 2025 and beyond
- Maximising graduate employment opportunities
- Incorporating business and entrepreneurship acumen in course delivery
- Incubators and accelerators within universities for start-up studios
- How education can build better links with the industry
- Excellence in games research, innovation and teaching
- Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
- Further Education and Level 3 challenges
- Internships, placements and industrial secondments
- Designing a new games course
- TIGA Education Accreditation
Tickets are free for TIGA members and are priced at £250 for non-members. Your ticket includes access to the full day of conference sessions, lunch, refreshments, networking.
Confirmed speakers:
Carlo Harvey is a Professor of Digital Arts at Manchester Metropolitan University's School of Digital Arts (SODA), where he leads teaching and research initiatives at the intersection of creative practice and technological innovation. With a strong background in computer graphics, real-time rendering, and immersive media, Carlo has been instrumental in developing industry-aligned curricula that prepare students for the evolving demands of the games and digital arts sectors. His work emphasises the integration of cutting-edge technologies into educational frameworks, facilitating environments where students can engage in authentic, practice-based and research-led learning experiences.
Ian Willcock is a digital artist, researcher and lecturer in Interactive Media and Live Performance in the School of Creative Arts at the University of Hertfordshire and has led the Screen Department there since 2020.
His musical, multimedia and digital-performance pieces have been presented internationally and he has received many prizes and scholarships. He has collaborated on a number of large-scale digital performance and mixed-media installation projects and in 2012 completed his doctorate in Multimedia and Live Performance at De Montfort University. His research interests include immersive experience design, contemporary creative digital practice, and media production methodologies including the effects of AI on employment, working patterns in the creative industries, and on creative pedagogy.
For more details, please see www.willcock.org
Dr. Sharon Coleclough is a Senior Lecturer in Game and Sound. Her work focusses upon representation, narrative, and generic interplay within screen studies. Recently published works examine these areas within telefantasy and game. She also explores the use of sound across media and game, its use as narrative drive and gameplay guide. She is the creator of the Game Changers podcast looking at representation and raising the volume of less heard voices in the game sector.
As a researcher and software developer, his research and artistic interests include gamification, serious games, music, technology, education, immersive and interactive media, digital and sonic arts.
Joel Cable is the Senior Product Manager for Art, Design & Digital and Entertainment Media at Pearson, managing vocational qualifications across Levels 2 and 3. With over 17 years' experience developing creative subject curriculum and assessment, Joel is dedicated to enhancing creative education, working directly with teachers and industry experts to produce qualifications that engage young people and enable progression into the creative sectors.
Joel Cable is the Senior Product Manager for Art, Design & Digital and Entertainment Media at Pearson, managing vocational qualifications across Levels 2 and 3. With over 17 years' experience developing creative subject curriculum and assessment, Joel is dedicated to enhancing creative education, working directly with teachers and industry experts to produce qualifications that engage young people and enable progression into the creative sectors.
Teodora is a professional artist, designer and technologist with over 20 years of teaching experience, awarded De Montfort University's Vice-Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award. As a traditional artist she has participated in national and international exhibitions, contests and print biennials, and has done design work for educational and art-related projects.
Teodora has worked on a 3D reconstruction of the first British spacecraft, sent to Mars in 2003 (Beagle 2) and the development of a virtual simulation of its deployment aimed at finding out the reasons for the spacecraft’s loss of signal - the practice-based project was a collaboration with the University of Leicester, with satellite images provided by NASA.
Lloyd is the Associate Director of Digital Media and Games Technology at the University of the West of England. As a teaching and research career lecturer in games technology his practice and research specialisms are in game design and mobile applications with a professional portfolio encompassing work as a mobile app programmer, award winning course leader and he has worked on several Serious and Transformational Game projects, Mobile Applications and Educational Apps.
With over 30 years industry experience, Zuby Ahmed is an Associate Professor of Game Design, College Academic Lead for Employability and Mobility and a seasoned game developer. After working for studios which included Digital Image Design, Warthog Games, and EA Games, Zuby founded SmashMouth Games (SMG) whilst working in Higher Education. Zuby successfully co-led “Gamer-Camp Studios” for over 10 years at Birmingham City University; one of the UK’s first set of practice-based Masters Courses in game development which were partnered with Industry. Zuby also designed and directed the University’s first set of 2-Year Fast Track Courses in Video Game Design, Development and Digital Art. These courses celebrated 100% student satisfaction rate for the first 5 years in a row, which has had ongoing positive impact on NSS strategy across the institution. With his focus on Employability, he has helped sustain over 90% of graduates proceeding to professional positions within 3 months of impending/fully completing their courses. His graduates progress to become industry leaders, demonstrating major industry-impact for globally renowned award-winning companies including Sony, Sumo, Ubisoft, and Rockstar Games, thus reshaping industry practice.
Jon Weinel is an artist, researcher and educator, whose main expertise is in sound, music and video games. In 2012 he completed his PhD at Keele University, where his research explored psychedelic sounds and visualisations, an area that he continues to investigate through the latest game engine technologies. He has written several books on this subject including Inner Sound: Altered States of Consciousness in Electronic Music and Audio-Visual Media, published by Oxford University Press in 2018. Creative practice using music, visuals and code is at the centre of his work, and his computer artworks and virtual reality projects have been presented around the world at events ranging from demoparties and VJ gigs to research conferences such as SIGGRAPH Asia in Tokyo. Jon is the programme leader for Games Design at University of Surrey, and is actively involved in supporting the next generation of computer art as co-chair of the British Computer Society EVA London Electronic Visualisation and the Arts conference.
Mark is Director of the Computer Arts and Technology Programme at Norwich University of the Arts and has two decades of experience working in higher education. He heads up a team across the award-winning and internationally recognised courses in Animation, Animation and Visual Effects, Games Art and Design, Games Development, Creative Computing, Creative Technology and Robotics, Esports and Computer Science.
Mark's work employs a range of artistic and explorative technical creation practices, focusing on the design, sculpture, rigging, and animation of digital characters for game and film. He has over 25 years’ experience creating digital art and is informed by an understanding of technical constraint in computing, combined with an enthusiasm for creative problem solving to enhance production methodologies.
Mark is an Educational Adviser to TIGA, The Independent Game Developers’ Association, a trade association for the video game industry.
Mark's work employs a range of artistic and explorative technical creation practices, focusing on the design, sculpture, rigging, and animation of digital characters for game and film. He has over 25 years’ experience creating digital art and is informed by an understanding of technical constraint in computing, combined with an enthusiasm for creative problem solving to enhance production methodologies.
Mark is an Educational Adviser to TIGA, The Independent Game Developers’ Association, a trade association for the video game industry.
Professor Chris Headleand is a distinguished academic with over two decades of experience in teaching and learning. He currently serves as the Head of the Games Institute at the University of Staffordshire. In recognition of his contributions to education, he was awarded the prestigious National Teaching Fellowship in 2021.
Professor Headleand's research interests encompass Virtual Reality, Serious Games, Artificial Intelligence and Student Engagement. He has a background in design and education, holding a BSc in Design Education, an MSc in Computer Systems, and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from Bangor University. His doctoral research focused on behaviour simulation in video games.
Beyond academia, Professor Headleand has entrepreneurial experience, having founded two companies: a design and software startup and a VR video games studio. He has collaborated with various international organizations, including the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Throughout his career, Professor Headleand has been a proponent of pragmatic and ethical digital innovation. His work in games-based education and simulation is recognized both nationally and internationally.
Rob has worked in education for 30 years, 13 of which have been in Games Education. He has taught narrative design, theory of play, games industry and cinematography. He is currently the Deputy Head for Creative Media and Digital Arts at Leeds City College, where he oversees around 250 games students (as well as 300 doing other, almost as exciting things). He is a writer, musician and performer, with a book of poems published last year and a novel grumbling away on his hard drive. He can not, and will not dance.
I currently teach Data Structures and Parallel Programming (GPGPU) and have previously taught 3D graphics, statistics and programming to a range of cohorts. I hold a BSc in Physics and PhD in Ecological Modelling and my ongoing research interests are the development of modelling and visualisation frameworks to understand complex systems.
My innovations include developing the first theoretical model and visualisation framework for indeterminate organisms. These modelling and visualisation skills have been applied across disciplines to develop interactive visual simulations of urban sustainability, heat loss and gain from built environment and precision agriculture. I am interested in applying games technology including games engines, graphics hardware and related infrastructure, to develop playable models of complex systems. Areas of application are the Water-Energy-Food-nexus, Microbial Ecology and Health and Social Care.
I am interested in the broader applications of game technology to develop intuitive systems models. I am an editorial board member for International Journal of Games Technology & Scientific Reports. I have over 70 peer reviewed articles and have secured significant research income. I am a Co-I and PI on several RCUK and charity-funded grants.
My innovations include developing the first theoretical model and visualisation framework for indeterminate organisms. These modelling and visualisation skills have been applied across disciplines to develop interactive visual simulations of urban sustainability, heat loss and gain from built environment and precision agriculture. I am interested in applying games technology including games engines, graphics hardware and related infrastructure, to develop playable models of complex systems. Areas of application are the Water-Energy-Food-nexus, Microbial Ecology and Health and Social Care.
I am interested in the broader applications of game technology to develop intuitive systems models. I am an editorial board member for International Journal of Games Technology & Scientific Reports. I have over 70 peer reviewed articles and have secured significant research income. I am a Co-I and PI on several RCUK and charity-funded grants.
TIGA CEO Dr Richard Wilson OBE, said:“TIGA’s Games Education Conference is focused on bringing developers and education together to drive excellence in games education. With panels and keynotes on a range of topical issues, our Conference is designed to spark conversation and debate, and to provide a platform for knowledge exchange and creating new opportunities. I would like to thank Birmingham CIty University for generously hosting the TIGA Games Education Conference. We look forward to uniting some of the UK games sector’s most respected academics and industry executives for a full day of discussion and networking on July 3rd. Get your tickets now!”
Dr Mathew Randall, Senior Lecturer, Computer Graphics and Motion Capture at Birmingham City University, said:
“We’re excited to be hosting the TIGA Games Education conference this year and welcoming educators and industry to the STEAMhouse Innovation Centre at Birmingham City University. Like many educators, employability is a key component of what we do, continually striving to deliver authentic game production experiences with curriculums and tools that reflect the industry.”
To see last year’s education conference, please visit here: https://tiga.org/events/tiga-games-education-conference-2024
TIGA also has a limited number of Event Partner packages available. Contact suzi@tiga.org and chris@tiga.org for details.
