TIGA Games Education Conference 2025

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.

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

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)

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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 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!”

“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.