Browse our work in the UK and abroad

The Games Research Lab hosts a range of research projects that cover a wide spectrum of theoretical and practical areas. We welcome research collaborations and PhD candidates on topics in or related to these areas:

• Video game aesthetics and politics 
• Immersive technologies and game design 
• Game-based learning 
• Ludomusicology 
• Inclusive games design 
• Games User Experience Design 
• Agency in games 
• Games and socio-cultural studies  

Much of the research is about applying game design methodologies in contexts other than games and as such it opens avenues for cross disciplinary projects with applications in education, health, citizen science, culture, and heritage, to name but a few. We are very interested in working with communities under an ethical and sustainable framework of Participatory Action Research.  

Our Research Projects

• Remote design model for interdisciplinary co-learning in Higher Education (brunel.ac.uk)
• Decolonisation of heritage sites through mixed reality performances (brunel.ac.uk)
• A mobile game to help displaced children learn their rights (brunel.ac.uk)
• A game to help HE students develop note-taking skills (brunel.ac.uk)
• Digital games histories (brunel.ac.uk)
• Play your research (brunel.ac.uk)
• Creativity and the creative process in digital games and poetry (brunel.ac.uk)
• Smart glass AR and affective storytelling in historic places (brunel.ac.uk)

Our Latest Publications

• Carbone, MB. (2023) 'Dissecting Aliens, Imagining Futures. Rethinking the 1995 Roswell Autopsy Video Hoax'. Rivista di Antropologia Contemporanea, 2023 (1). pp. 93 - 122. ISSN: 2724-3168
• Carbone, MB. (2022) 'Olive face, Italian voice. Constructing Super Mario as an Italian-American (1981-1996)'. Cinergie. Il cinema e le altre arti, 11 (22). pp. 127 - 142.
• Dima, M. (2022) 'A Design Framework for Smart Glass Augmented Reality Experiences in Heritage Sites'. Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage, 15 (4). pp. 1 - 19. ISSN: 1556-4673
• Dima, M., Xanthaki, A., Deniozou, T. and Luoma, C. (2022) 'The Rights Hero - Serious Games for Human Rights Education and Integration of Migrant and Refugee Children in Europe'. International Journal of Children's Rights, 30 (1). pp. 41 - 71. ISSN: 0927-5568
• Laws-Nicola, TJ. and Ferguson, B. (2023) 'Who on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?', in Scoggin, L. and Plank, D. (eds.) The Intersection of Animation, Video Games, and Music. London : Routledge. pp. 92 - 103. ISBN 10: 1-032-17223-1. ISBN 13: 978-1-032-17222-4.
• Ferguson, B. and Laws-Nicola, TJ. (2022) 'Playing Music Videos: Three Case Studies of Interaction between Performing Videogames and Remembering Music Videos', in Rone, VE., Aksoy, C. and Pozderac-Chenevey, S. (eds.) Nostalgia and Videogame Music: A Primer of Case Studies, Theories, and Analyses for the Player-Academic. London : Intellect Books. pp. 186 - 205. ISBN 10: 1-78938-552-0. ISBN 13: 978-1-78938-551-9.
• Girina, I. and Ivanescu, A. (2023) '‘The Real Is Out There.’ Digital games and cyberculture at the threshold of virtual reality in The X-Files', in Fenwick, J. and Rodgers, DA. (eds.) The Legacy of The X-Files. London : Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 233 - 249. ISBN 10: 1-5013-8762-6. ISBN 13: 978-1-5013-8763-0.
• Ivanescu, A. (upcoming). “I’ll Show You”: K/DA and the Role of the Virtual Popstar in the Games Industry. In L. López Gómez (Ed.), Music, Sound, and Identity in Video Games. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Ivanescu, A. (upcoming 2024). A Playlist for the Apocalypse: Popular Music in Death Stranding. In L. DiTommaso, J. Crossley, A. Lockhart, & R. Wagner (Eds.), End-Game: Apocalyptic Video Games, Contemporary Society, and Digital Media Culture (pp. 18 pages). Berlin: De Gruyter.