Centre for Games and Play

Core Group

Prof. Dr. Joost Raessens (Staff)

Function: Professor of Media Theory, Department of Media and Culture Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Utrecht University.

Research: Ludification of culture; games and XR for change in relation to global issues such as climate change, forced migration, and space exploration; playful identities; play as a conceptual framework for the analysis of media use.
j.raessens(at)uu.nl / website


Prof. Dr. Jeffrey Goldstein

JeffreyFunction: Affiliated Researcher at the Research Institute for History and Culture, Faculty of Humanities, Utrecht University.
Research: Applied media research; media psychology; violent video games; psychology of humor; toys, play and child development.
j.goldstein(at)uu.nl / website


Dr. René Glas 

ReneFunction: Assistant Professor, Department of Media and Culture Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Utrecht University.

Research: Control, agency and ownership issues in/around digital games; cheating; “gamification”; digital game history; participatory culture; fan culture; World of Warcraft…
r.glas(at)uu.nl / website


Dr. Michiel de Lange

Michiel2Function: Assistant Professor New Media Studies, Department of Media and Culture Studies, Utrecht University; co-founder of The Mobile City.
Research: Mobile and locative games; urban games; play and identity; play as conceptual approach for media analysis.
m.delange(at)uu.nl / website


Dr. Stefan Werning

stefan

Function: Associate Professor, Department of Media and Culture Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Utrecht University.
Research: practice-based research, particularly with reference to games; software studies, particularly apps and startups; comparative media analysis
s.werning(at)uu.nl / website


Jasper van Vught

JapserFunction: Lecturer in New Media Studies, Department of Media and Culture Studies, Utrecht University.
Research: videogame theory; game formalism; violence in videogames.
j.f.vanvught(at)uu.nl / website


Michiel Kamp

michiel_kamp

Function: Junior Assistant Professor
Research: video game music; music and media; music and play; phenomenology and listening.
m.kamp1(at)uu.nl / website


Stephanie de Smale

stephaniedesmaleFunction: PhD Candidate (successfully defended in 2019)
Research: Play as epistemology, serious games in education and healthcare, and media history
s.desmale(at)uu.nl / website


Sjors Martens

sjorsFunction: PhD Candidate
Research: Transmedia, World building, Possible Worlds, Play, Agency, Carnivalesque
S.C.Martens(at)uu.nl / website