Bryn Shaffer is a PhD student with the UBC School of Information. Her research focuses on game studies, human-computer interaction, labour, and citizen science. Her dissertation involves building a citizen science video game for collaborative annotation of astronomy data, and investigating the connections between learning, research, and digital play. In her spare time she makes indie horror games. 

Nora Perry (she/her) is a third year PhD student and sessional lecturer in the Language and Literacy Education Department at the University of British Columbia. She also holds an MA from the same department in which her thesis centred on gender roles and video games for young children.

Siyun Pan is a PhD student in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. Her research explores popular culture, fandom, and media in contemporary China, with a particular focus on fan productions and the urban mediascape.

Mabon Foo (he/him/his) is a graduate student at the University of British Columbia who is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in English Literature. His research centers around new forms of media, in particular phenomenological, queer and postcolonial approaches to videogame studies.

Christal Rose Hazelton is a graduate student in UBC’s School of Creative Writing. Her areas of interest are narrative and representation in North American video games, pop culture, and children’s media.

I’m a 4th-year PhD candidate in Computer Science at UBC, researching human–computer interaction with a focus on reflective technologies, digital communication, and play.

Kayla McIntyre (they/she) is a PhD student at UBC in the department of Theatre and Film. Kayla’s work explores queerness and (dis)ability in game-based performances.

I’m a PhD student at UBC Computer Science, supervised by Karon MacLean. I develop physical, multi-player games played through small, remotely-connected robot “swarms”, with the goal of promoting healthy online social interactions.

Dakota Brown (she/her) is pursuing an MA in Children’s Literature at the University of British Columbia. She holds a BS.Ed. in Secondary Education and a BA in English from the University of Idaho.

I am a trans refugee from the land of the Huetar people (so-called Costa Rica). I am currently pursuing a Master’s degree at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia.

I am a Biomedical Engineer and Master of Arts student in Science Education at UBC. My research explores how culturally grounded digital storytelling can support STEAM education by integrating game-based learning, serious games, and Indigenous pedagogies such as the First Peoples Principles of Learning.

Cynthia Liu is a diasporic North American Chinese writer (she/hers). Her MFA receives support from a British Columbia Arts Council fellowship and she is a 2025-2026 Critical Play Lab Fellow in UBC’s Pop Culture Cluster.

My name is James Gibson and I am a computer programming, game design, and 3D modeling teacher working through the public school system in Victoria, BC.

Grace (she/her) is a gender, race, and sexuality historian with a passion for analyzing historical representation and revisionism in popular culture.

Stephanie Broder (they/them) is an illustrator, writer, and arts educator with a particular passion for graphic narratives. They are fascinated with comics, video games, and the potential of participatory storytelling through gameplay and multimedia narrative projects.