Meet Game in Lab’s Women in science on the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
Since 2015, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science has been organized by UNESCO. Following the adoption of resolution 70/212 by the United Nations General Assembly, the organization is committed to promoting access and equitable participation of women and girls in science. On this significant day, Game in Lab celebrates the prominent women in science who contribute to the field of Game Studies.
Since 2018, Game in Lab has encouraged and supported research on board games, by welcoming doctoral students, and financing international research projects about board games.
Currently, only 33% of researchers in the world are women according to UNESCO – a figure which demonstrates that there is still a lot of work to be done to counter inequalities in the fields of research and science. Game in Lab aspires to support this effort by seeking parity in the selection of supported academic projects. The program includes 45% women among the appointed researchers.
Elsa Brais, Gray Atherton, Melissa Rogerson, Chloé Germaine, Anick Pelletier, Léa Martinez, Ariela Holanda, Marion Sourd, Rebecca Sayeck, Gabrielle Trépanier Jobin, Vinciane Zabban… are the women in science that Game in Lab will have the pleasure and pride of put in the spotlight each year on February 11.
SPOTLIGHT ON TWO RESEARCHERS
Chloé Germaine, Doctor and co-director of the Manchester Game Center at Manchester Metropolitan University, and Vinciane Zabban, Lecturer at Sorbonne Paris Nord University within the EXPERICE laboratory, are part of Game in Lab’s network of researchers. They respectively study analog games and their role in support for social transformation, and the designers, production and practices of video games.
Chloé Germaine is a reader in the Department of English at Manchester Metropolitan University and co-director of the Manchester Game Centre, a research group specializing in exploring the role of games in society. Chloé is also president of the Game in Lab scientific committee and works with the team to develop their call for projects and evaluate new projects.
Her research focuses on the role of games in climate change. Her project, “Play and the Environment: Games Imagining the Future” (2021-2022), used youth participatory action research methods to explore how board games could help young people communicate their ideas about the future of climate change. Through this work, she developed a research methodology to examine how games communicate and function as cultural actors, called “hacking.” This method was described in the book Ecogames: Playful Perspectives on the Climate Crisis. Chloé also leads research activities on the Horizon Europe/UKRI funded project, STRATEGIES: Sustainable Transition for Europe’s Game Industries. This scientific research program will help European gaming industries realize their potential as drivers of sustainable innovation.
Chloé is also a tabletop role-playing game designer, specializing in gothic horror games. Her most recent project in this area is Rooted in Crisis, a collection of scenarios co-written with climate scientists that aims to raise awareness among diverse audiences of the emotional dimensions and consequences of climate change.
Vinciane Zabban is a lecturer in sociology at Paris Nord University, within the Experice Lab, a pioneer in gaming sciences. She is also a member of the Game in Lab scientific committee since its creation.
For around twenty years, she has actively contributed to making games an object of research for sociology, by being interested in the way in which gaming practices have evolved in our digital environments, but also in the way in which games are designed, and to the trajectories of their creators.
She is particularly interested in the ongoing transformations in the board game world and its professionals. After an investigation into the crowdfunding phenomenon which gave rise to an article published in the journal Sciences du jeux, she is currently leading a research project funded by LabEx ICCA on the growth of prototyping practices, particularly around professional events.
We look forward to seeing you next year to discover new portraits of female researchers!