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Game in Lab celebrates its women researchers on International Day of Women and Girls in Science
Women in Science
Since its launch in 2018, Game in Lab has encouraged and supported the production of knowledge about board games by funding international research projects on the subject.
According to UNESCO, only 33% of researchers worldwide are women—a figure that speaks volumes about the inequalities that persist (still and always!) in the fields of research and science. Every year, on February 11th, Game in Lab is pleased and proud to celebrate the women scientists we have supported over the years.
Two researchers
Game in Lab highlights Melissa Rogerson, a Human-Computer Interaction researcher and Senior Lecturer at the University of Melbourne, and Rachel Wu, a developmental cognitive neuroscientist at the University of California, Riverside.
Melissa Rogerson
Melissa Rogerson is a researcher in Human-Computer Interaction and Senior Lecturer at the University of Melbourne. She is a recognized specialist in modern board games and hybrid games that combine physical components with digital tools.
Melissa Rogerson’s research explores how players interact with games, what they value in the play experience, and how digital technologies can enrich these interactions without undermining their social and material dimensions.
Her current research focuses on hybrid tabletop play through two projects funded by the Australian Research Council: Hybrid Technologies for Tabletop Play (DECRA, 2024–2026) and Co-designing Innovations in Digital Storytelling with Older Adults (Discovery Project, 2024–2027). These projects examine the design of hybrid technologies and the co-creation of digital systems.
Highly engaged in the scientific community, she regularly publishes in leading conferences and journals in HCI and game studies, and contributes to the organization and evaluation of international research. She is also a member of the Scientific Committee of Game in Lab.
A lifelong gamer, Melissa Rogerson was the first woman to serve on the jury of the International Gamers’ Awards and the second woman administrator of the BoardGameGeek platform. She has also been involved in board game translation and game design, and has long contributed to the board game community, notably as a former co-chair of Boardgames Australia.
Through her career, Melissa Rogerson embodies a close connection between game practice and scientific research, and shows how games provide a privileged lens for understanding human interaction and the uses of digital technology.
To learn more about her research, projects, and publications, visit her website: https://www.melissarogerson.com/.
Rachel Wu
Rachel Wu is a developmental cognitive neuroscientist at the University of California, Riverside. Her research focuses on the mechanisms of attention and learning from early infancy through late adulthood. By combining behavioral and neurophysiological methods, she investigates how individuals select relevant information from their environment in order to learn effectively. Her original approach is grounded in an ongoing dialogue between child developmental psychology and cognitive aging, with the goal of better understanding how to foster cognitive growth across the lifespan.
Rachel Wu’s career also reflects her personal view of learning. Alongside her scientific work, she learns new skills every few years to better understand the challenges faced by adult learners. In the past decade, she has learned how to paint/sculpt/draw, play piano and sing, swim, crochet, speak German, weightlift, among other skills. This lived experience informs her scientific thinking and strengthens her research approach to learning.
As a dedicated professor and researcher, Rachel Wu plays an active role in mentoring and supporting students and early-career researchers, as well as in sharing scientific knowledge with the broader public. Her work has been recognized by numerous distinctions, including a prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from President Biden and a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, highlighting the originality and impact of her research.
Through her career and research, Rachel Wu reminds us that learning is an important privilege, important for adapting to change, with opportunities not available to all. Her work invites us to rethink our expectations about life stages, learning, and our capacity to grow and transform throughout life.
