Keynote Speakers

Stefano

Stefano Gualeni

Full Professor at the Institute of Digital Games, University of Malta

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Abstract: TBC

Bio: Stefano Gualeni is a philosopher who studies (and designs) games. He is a Full Professor at the Institute of Digital Games (University of Malta), and among his academic monographs are Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Tools (Palgrave, 2015), Virtual Existentialism (Palgrave Pivot, 2020 – with Daniel Vella), and Fictional Games: A Philosophy of Worldbuilding and Imaginary Play (Bloomsbury, 2023 – with Riccardo Fassone).

Stefano also authored two speculative fiction novels that blend philosophical reflection with speculative narrative:: The Clouds (Routledge, 2023) and What We Owe the Dead (Set Margins’, 2025). More about his books and games can be found on his website: www.gua-le-ni.com.

Emily

Emily Brown

Lead Designer on Monument Valley 3 at Ustwo, London

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Abstract: TBC

Bio: Emily is the Lead Designer on Monument Valley 3, released on Netflix games and soon to be released on PC and Consoles. She has over 20 years experience working on titles for Playstation, Xbox and mobile platforms. In 2022 she was recognised by Bafta as part of their Breakthrough program due to her previous work including the 3 time Bafta nominated Alba: A Wildlife Adventure.

Emily’s favourite thing about making games is the magic that happens when a group of people with really different skills and experiences come together to create something from nothing.

Dani

Daniel Hernandez

Research Scientist at Sony AI

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Abstract: TBC

Bio: Daniel Hernandez is a Research Scientist at Sony AI's game AI team, the makers of GT Sophy, a racing agent for the popular Gran Turismo racing game. Daniel graduated from iGGi in 2022 with a PhD In multi-agent deep reinforcement learning, supervised by James Alfred Walker. With a focus in multiagent systems, Daniel's research and engineering efforts are targeted to making games easier to develop, more engaging to play with and ultimately cooler.

Organisers:

General Chairs: Debbie Maxwell, James Walker
Programme Chairs: Alex Flint, Lauren Winter
Website/Marketing Chair: Tamsin Isaac
Poster Chair: Nicole Levermore
Local Chair: Tania Dales
Workshop Chair: Océane Lissillour
Outreach Chair: Ross Fifield
General Management: David Hull, Helen Tilbrook
Industry Liaison: Susanne Binder