Conference Host

Mattia Thibault

Assistant Professor in Translation in the Creative Industries at Tampere University
His research projects “LudoSpace” and “ReClaim” focused on urban gamification and bottom-up and punk ways to use playfulness for good. In 2017 he earned a PhD in Semiotics and Media at Turin University, where he worked as research fellow in 2018. He has been visiting researcher at Tartu University (EE), The Strong Museum of Play (NY, US), Helsinki University (FI), Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (NL) and Waag Technology and Society (NL). He often hides tiny rubber dinosaurs in public spaces.

Ville Kankainen

Doctoral Researcher, Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies, Tampere University
He is currently finishing his PhD dissertation on creative online practices in tabletopgaming cultures. Kankainen has been teaching and publishing on various game research topics since 2014, and his current research is focused on analog gaming cultures, post-digital aesthetics, hybrid play and game design praxeology. Picture Credit: Jonne Renvall 

Riikka Aurava

Doctoral Researcher, Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies, Tampere University
Riikka Aurava (MA) is finishing her PhD on game jams in formal education. She has a background as a teacher, and is interested in TTRPG’s and their materiality, and audiences and communities in game cultures.

Jaakko Stenros

University Lecturer, Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies, Game Research Lab, Tampere University

He has published ten books and a hundred articles and reports, and has taught game studies for well over a decade. Stenros studies play and games, his research interests include norm-defying play, game rules, queer play, role-playing games, pervasive games, game jams, and playfulness.

Çağlar Genç

Postdoctoral Researcher, Gamification Group, Tampere University

He is a product and interaction designer. He received his Pd.D. (2019) in interaction design at Koç University, Arçelik Research Center for Creative Industries (KUAR), İstanbul, Turkey. Dr. Genç joined the Gamification Group and Tampere Univesity as a postdoctoral researcher in September 2022. His current research focuses on designing transhuman expressions and communication with augmented human technologies within the scope of UNITE Flagship.

Tiago Hirth

University of Lisbon -Ph.D. Student at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Tiago Hirth has helped organise various conferences and events, his main academic interests reside in maths, recreations and informal education.

Lisa Rougetet (Ph.D)

Université de Bretagne Occidentale

Lisa Rougetet teaches at the University of Brest and is deeply involved into recreational mathematics and its history.

Ilaria Truzzi

Università degli Studi di Milano

Ilaria got her master degree in classical archaeology at the University of Milan, with a dissertation about the evidences of gaming practices found in Empuries (Catalunia).

Marco Tibaldini

University of Genoa 

Fellow Researcher at the University of Genoa, department of Education.

Fatih Parlak

Cappadocia University

Fatih received his PhD in Comparative Literature program at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2019 with a dissertation dedicated to early modern board games. He is Assistant Professor at Cappadocia University (Türkiye), and head of the department of English Literature. He is also the assistant editor of the Board Game Studies Journal.