The conference was chaired by Professor Nicola Whitton, who leads the Professional Learning Research Group at the Education and Social Research Institute at Manchester Metropolitan University, and Alex Moseley, a National Teaching Fellow based in the Leicester Learning Institute, University of Leicester.

Nicola Whitton, Manchester Metropolitan University

Professor Nicola Whitton leads the Professional Learning Research Group at the Education and Social Research Institute at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her research focuses on digital innovation in learning and teaching and, in particular games and learning in the context of Higher Education. Her research interests include interaction design, the impact of motivation and engagement, active learning design, and the pedagogy of play. She has led research projects in gaming for older adults, collaborative game building as a learning approach, alternate reality games for student induction, and an investigation into student conceptions of fun. Her first book Learning with digital games, based on her PhD thesis, was published in 2010, and is an accessible guide to the design, development and use of games for learning at university.

Alex Moseley, University of Leicester

Alex Moseley is a National Teaching Fellow based in the Leicester Learning Institute, University of Leicester, where he has had long experience as both practitioner and researcher of course design and development for higher education. He has particular interests in online and distance education, student engagement, and provision of effective research skills and student induction. His principal research area is in games based learning; he co-authored Using Games to Enhance Teaching and Learning (Routledge, 2012) and New Traditional Games for Learning: A Case Book (Routledge, 2013) and has suggested key features of online immersive games which can be transferred to higher education to ensure high engagement and community development. He was part of the team behind the first charity Alternative Reality Game, Operation: Sleeper Cell, co-chairs the Association for Learning Technology special interest group on Games and Learning, and co-organises the Let’s Change the Game cross-sector conference.