Supervisors

You should choose a potential supervisor whose research interests match your own. We encourage you to contact your chosen supervisor for an informal chat – this will also help you to put together your research proposal, which is an integral part of your application. 

You should only apply to the institution at which your chosen supervisor is based once you have been recommended for a place on the IGGI programme. This applies whether you are recommended for a studentship or an alternatively funded place. Please visit the Apply page for further details of the process.

The filters will allow you to select potential supervisors based on their home institution or where they fit into the research themes of IGGI. Please note that University of Essex and Goldsmiths, University of London, are not accepting applications for new IGGI students at this time.

To contact your chosen supervisor, click on their name to send them an email.

Filter Supervisors

  • Professor David Adger
    Professor David Adger Languages, Liguistics and Film

    Inventing new languages for in-game communications; studying their effects on game play and character development

  • Dr Adedoyin Atewologun
    Dr Adedoyin Atewologun Business and Management

    Games with a purpose to model and tackle issues in diversity and inclusion, development of AI characters to support training

  • Dr Mathieu Barthet
    Dr Mathieu Barthet Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Games for Creative Music Education and Participation Using Augmented/Virtual Reality

  • Dr David Beer
    Dr David Beer Sociology

    Sociology of digital data and big data, mobile media and the relations between popular culture and by-product data.

  • Dr Florian Block
    Dr Florian Block Theatre, Film, Television and Interactive Media/ Digital Creativity Labs

    Data-Driven Content Creation in Esports; Data Analytics in Esports; Data-Driven Creativity; Interactive Data Visualisatin for Learning and Public Engagement.

  • Dr Eliane Bodanese
    Dr Eliane Bodanese Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Intelligent sensing and pattern recognition applied to games for healthcare (especially elder-care, mental health monitoring)

  • Dr Anna Bramwell-Dicks
    Dr Anna Bramwell-Dicks Theatre, Film, Television & Interactive Media

    Accessibility; Human Computer Interaction; User Experience; Research Methods; Music and sound

  • Dr Nick Bryan-Kinns
    Dr Nick Bryan-Kinns Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Games & Interaction Design.

  • Prof Paul Cairns
    Prof Paul Cairns Computer Science

    Human-computer interaction and games. Psychology of game players. Research methods.

  • Prof Andrea Cavallaro
    Prof Andrea Cavallaro Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Deep Learning in Games.

  • Dr Tom Collins
    Dr Tom Collins Music

    Lecturer in music technology interested in machine learning applied to music; automatic generation of stylistic compositions; The Web Audio API; discovery of repeated patterns in music; voice recognition and natural language processing for music editing and analysis; musical expectancy and listening choices

  • Professor Simon Colton
    Professor Simon Colton Computing/Digital Creativity Labs

    Computational creativity, content generation, game HCI.

  • Dr Anthony Constantinou
    Dr Anthony Constantinou Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Bayesian Artificial Intelligence for Decision Making in Games; Bayesian game outcome prediction

  • Professor Peter Cowling
    Professor Peter Cowling Computer Science/ Digital Creativity Labs/ York Centre for Complex Systems Analysis

    Director of IGGI and the DC Labs. Strong games industry links. Artificial Intelligence (AI) for mobile and video games – particularly Monte Carlo Tree Search. Gamification/Games for Science and Society.

  • Dr James Cussens
    Dr James Cussens Computer Science

    Machine learning particular Bayesian methods and graphical models. Applying discrete optimisation algorithms to machine learning. Statistical methods in artificial intelligence.

  • Professor Teresa da Silva Lopes
    Professor Teresa da Silva Lopes The York Management School

    Marketing of games. Business models. Games With A Purpose (GW AP).

  • Dr Sebastian Deterding
    Dr Sebastian Deterding Theatre, Film, Television & Interactive Media/ Digital Creativity Labs

    Strong UX and gamification industry links. Gamification, gameful and playful design, motivational design, social norms and interactions around games and play

  • Dr Caroline Di Bernardi Luft
    Dr Caroline Di Bernardi Luft Biological and Chemical Sciences

    Comparing human and computational creativity in game design processes; Improving gaming experience by decoding brain and body physiological responses through machine learning

  • Dr Gaetano Dimita
    Dr Gaetano Dimita Law

    Interactive Entertainment Law, Intellectual Property Law issues in games and AI

  • Prof Anders Drachen
    Prof Anders Drachen DC Labs/ Computer Science

    Game Analytics, data mining, machine learning, game development, business and business intelligence, supply chain analytics, Human-Computer Interaction and Game User Research, user experience.

  • Dr Ildar Farkhatdinov
    Dr Ildar Farkhatdinov Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Game theory to study human-agent/machine/robot multimodal interaction

  • Dr Felix Fischer
    Dr Felix Fischer Mathematical Sciences

    Game theory and optimisation applied to mechanism and market design

  • Dr Dan Franks
    Dr Dan Franks Computer Science/Biology/York Centre for Complex Systems Analysis

    Machine learning, network analysis, graph neural networks, data science, coevolutionary algorithms, gamification and developing games to address scientific questions.

  • Professor Shaogang Gong
    Professor Shaogang Gong Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    computer vision expert

  • Dr Jeremy Gow
    Dr Jeremy Gow Computer Science

    Computational creativity, game analytics and Human Computer Interaction

  • Professor Pat Healey
    Professor Pat Healey Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Intelligent Dialogue Systems for Games, Games and the study of interaction (gestures, social)

  • Dr Pen Holland
    Dr Pen Holland Biology

    Games with a Purpose: physical and digital games to motivate and deliver science education, crowdsource ecological data and as a communication conduit between multiple stakeholders in wicked ecological problems

  • Dr Jon Hook
    Dr Jon Hook Theatre, Film, Television & Interactive Media/ Digital Creativity Labs

    Novel forms of interaction for games (e.g. augmented reality); tools and interfaces for game creation; the intersection of games and live performance.

  • Dr Anne Hsu
    Dr Anne Hsu Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Games & the study of human decision making

  • Dr Weini Huang
    Dr Weini Huang Mathematical Sciences

    Game-based modelling of biological systems, including models of coevolution and host-parasite dynamics

  • Dr Patrik Huber
    Dr Patrik Huber Computer Science

    3D face avatars for games, AR/VR, serious games and social interaction. Immersive 3D player experiences. Psychology of esports players.

  • Professor Sir Colin Humphreys
    Professor Sir Colin Humphreys Engineering and Materials Science

    Serious games for materials design; statistical game AI for modelling ans synthesising novel materials

  • Dr Jo Iacovides
    Dr Jo Iacovides Computer Science

    Human Computer Interaction and Games. Games for learning, persuasion and citizen science. The role of emotion in player experience

  • Dr Maria Ioannidou
    Dr Maria Ioannidou Law

    The effects of AI, big data and developments in games and game technology on consumer behaviour. Legal frameworks for enabling and protecting competition.

  • Dr Lorenzo Jamone
    Dr Lorenzo Jamone Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Artificial intelligence, perception and cognition for Virtual Characters in Games; telepresence and embodiment

  • Dr Yuan Ju
    Dr Yuan Ju Economics

    Mechanism design for economic games. Fair division, bargaining and negotiation protocols. Experimental game theory.

  • Dr Dimitar Kazakov
    Dr Dimitar Kazakov Computer Science

    Adaptive and learning agents for games. Evolution of cooperation, communication and foraging strategies in game environments. Natural language processing and language games. Games and financial forecasting for stock market simulations.

  • Dr Gavin Kearney
    Dr Gavin Kearney Electronics

    Sound and audio processing for virtual environments. Spatial Audio and surround sound. Interactive audio systems. Virtual Acoustics.

  • Dr Lisa Kim
    Dr Lisa Kim Education

    Psychological assessment through gaming (e.g., personality); application of games in educational and organisational contexts

  • Dr Ben Kirman
    Dr Ben Kirman Theatre, Film, Television & Interactive Media/ Digital Creativity Labs

    Unconventional gameful/playful interfaces, locative/pervasive games, critical game design

  • Professor Richard Law
    Professor Richard Law Biology/York Centre for Complex Systems Analysis

    multiplayer games to understand/train sustainable and economic use of shared resources, especially in fisheries.

  • Professor Simon Lucas
    Professor Simon Lucas Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Founding Editor-in-Chief IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games. Co-Founder of IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games. A leading academic in the field with three prizes for games related work and more than 40 publications in the area.

  • Dr Agnieszka Lyons
    Dr Agnieszka Lyons Languages Linguistics and Film

    Analysing in-game communications and chats combined with in game actions and events; multimodal and mediated discourse analysis.

  • Dr Debbie Maxwell
    Dr Debbie Maxwell Theatre, Film, Television & Interactive Media

    Interactive media; user experience; traditional storytelling; knowledge exchange; codesign; ethnography; design methods; community engagement.

  • Dr Cade McCall
    Dr Cade McCall Psychology

    Using virtual environments to manipulate and measure emotion; the social cognition of driving.

  • Dr Fiona McNab
    Dr Fiona McNab Psychology

    Using games to better understand the limitations of working memory, how distractors are ignored and how these change across the lifespan, with implications for cognitive training.

  • Dr Damian Murphy
    Dr Damian Murphy Electronics/ Digital Creativity Labs

    Interactive acoustic environments, room acoustics measurement and simualtion, auralization, acoustic modelling and evaluation, spatial audio rendering.

  • Dr Jenna Ng
    Dr Jenna Ng Theatre, Film, Television & Interactive Media

    Film and interactive media; digital media convergence; machinima; game aesthetics, narrative, affect

  • Prof Ioannis Patras
    Prof Ioannis Patras Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Deep Learning in Games, Affect Analysis for Games, Games with a purpose

  • Dr Diego Perez
    Dr Diego Perez Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Computational Intelligence for Games. Reinforcement learning. Evolutionary Computation. General Video Game AI

  • Dr Manuela Perrotta
    Dr Manuela Perrotta Business and Management

    Games and the study or learning, innovation and work in organisations

  • Dr Jon Pitchford
    Dr Jon Pitchford Biology

    multiplayer games to understand/train sustainable and economic use of shared resources, especially in fisheries.

  • Professor Massimo Poesio
    Professor Massimo Poesio Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Expert in natural language processing, Games With a Purpose (GWAP).

  • Dr Stefan Poslad
    Dr Stefan Poslad Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Game theory based gamification, applications to smart cities, travel and lifestyle

  • Dr Matthew Purver
    Dr Matthew Purver Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Computational linguistics applied to games: human-like conversational characters, analysing dialogue between players

  • Dr Philip Quinlan
    Dr Philip Quinlan Psychology

    Integrating learning to read in gaming apps. In particular helping boys learn to read

  • Dr Joshua Reiss
    Dr Joshua Reiss Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Procedural audio for games, intelligent game audio engines

  • Dr Søren Riis
    Dr Søren Riis Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Deep Reinforcement Learning in Games and Mathematics

  • Dr Catherine Rogers
    Dr Catherine Rogers Law

    Ethical and legal aspects of advanced AI and games technology, including creative AI and intelligent synthetic characters.

  • Prof Mark Sandler
    Prof Mark Sandler Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Semantic Audio for Games

  • Guy Schofield
    Guy Schofield Theatre, Film, Television & Interactive Media

    Video game artist turned researcher. I am interested in supervising PhDs in storytelling, cinematics, and game design for games, specifically VR.

  • Dr Paul Schweinzer
    Dr Paul Schweinzer Economics

    Mechanism design for economic games. Experimental game theory.

  • Dr Siamak F. Shahandashti
    Dr Siamak F. Shahandashti Computer Science

    Gamification of Security and Privacy Decisions, Privacy and Security Issues in Games, Security and Robustness of Games with A Purpose (GWAP)

  • Dr Karen Shoop
    Dr Karen Shoop Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Games and novel wearable technology, games for artistic invention

  • Dr Stephen Smith
    Dr Stephen Smith Electronics/York Centre for Complex Systems Analysis

    Manager of Complex City Apps. Games With A Purpose (GW AP). Interactive tasks for the assessment of neurodegenerative diseases.

  • Dr William Smith
    Dr William Smith Computer Science

    Content capture for animation and games, photorealistic rendering, 3D graphics.

  • Professor Susan Stepney
    Professor Susan Stepney Computer Science/York Centre for Complex Systems Analysis

    Gamification: Using games to do and publicise complex systems science.

  • Dr Tony Stockman
    Dr Tony Stockman Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Audio-based games, games for people with visual impairment

  • Dr Laurissa Tokarchuk
    Dr Laurissa Tokarchuk Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Physically interactive mobile and wearable games. Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) especially in relation to improving learning and cognition. Reinforcement Learning, Evolutionary Computation and Games.

  • Professor Marian Ursu
    Professor Marian Ursu Theatre, Film, Television & Interactive Media/ Digital Creativity Labs

    Strong creative industries links. Interactive media. Interactive narratives. Intelligent audio-video-centred communication.

  • Professor Alex Wade
    Professor Alex Wade Psychology/ Digital Creativity Labs

    Expert in human neuroimaging. Ongoing collaboration with Riot Games to evaluate personality traits from huge quantities of gameplay data.

  • Dr James Walker
    Dr James Walker Computer Science

    AI and Machine Learning for Games and Game Analytics. Adaptive Autonomous Systems

  • Dr Jez Wells
    Dr Jez Wells Electronics/Music

    Music signal modelling and effects processing, public engagement.

  • Dr Jamie Wood
    Dr Jamie Wood Maths/Biology/York Centre for Complex Systems Analysis

    Using games to do as well as disseminate science. Current interests in animal behaviour and synthetic biology.

  • Dr John Woodward
    Dr John Woodward Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

    Genetic Programming and Games, Games and Real-World Simulations and Problem Solving

  • Dr David Zendle
    Dr David Zendle Computer Science

    Positive and negative effects of gaming. Effects of gambling in games. Effects of loot boxes in games. Effects of in-game content on players (e.g. violence). Effects of toxic behaviour on players.

Ready to apply?

Once you have identified your potential supervisor, we would encourage you to contact them to discuss your research proposal.

Learn More