About

I’m an interdisciplinary artist and academic from Cavan, Ireland, serving as a lecturer in Creative Media at Dundalk Institute of Technology, and Co-Director of DkIT’s Creative Arts Research Centre.

I hold a PhD from Trinity College Dublin (School of Computer Science and Statistics, and Digital Arts and Humanities programmes), an MA in Learning and Teaching from DkIT, an MA in Interactive Media from the University of Limerick, a BDes (Hons) in Digital Media from LYIT, and an NDip in Design Communications also from LYIT / ATU Donegal.

My work explores the intersection of creative technologies, game design, and visual culture. Recent research topics I’ve worked on include the collision of AI and machinima movie making, graffiti photography in and through video games, AI coding methods for retro game glitching, the depiction of videogames in Otomo’s cyberpunk classic Akira, and arcade game platform preservation through networked WebXR.

I’m Co-President for the History of Games International Conference series, a member of the board of reviewers for the Game Studies journal, and a grant co-author, management committee member and workgroup co-lead representing Ireland on the COST action Grassroots of Digital Europe: from Historic to Contemporary Cultures of Creative Computing (GRADE).

I’ve published worldwide through peer-reviewed conferences, articles, exhibitions and screenings including including The Milan Machinima Festival (Los Angeles), Fotoludica (Milan), ACM SIGGRAPH (Los Angeles), ACM TEI (Cork), Beta Art and Technology Festival (Dublin), ICAT-EGVE (Dublin), Archiving Hip Hop (Milton Keynes), ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories, Mechademia (Kyoto), Oxford Blockchain, Art & Technology Conference / OxBAT, Tokyo Game Show, History of Games, RTÉ Brainstorm, the International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, the VGA Reader, Vector Festival (Toronto), D.A.T.A. (Dublin), The Science Gallery (Dublin), EGX Leftfield Collection (London), Irish Screen Studies Symposium (Dublin), Future and Reality of Gaming / F.R.O.G. (Vienna), International Symposium on Electronic Art / ISEA (Belfast, Hong Kong), ZIL Cultural Centre (Moscow), A MAZE (Berlin), METEOR (Tokyo), MAKE (Cork), Transmediale (Berlin), the Art.CHI exhibition at ACM CHI (Seoul), Game On! El arte en juego (Buenos Aires), CHI Play (Amsterdam), CEEGS (Lublin, Trnava), Playing The Game (Milan), IEEE GEM (Galway), the Electronic Literature Organisation Conference (Cork), iHCI (Dundalk, Limerick, Belfast), Out Of Index (Seoul), ITU Centre for Computer Games Research (Copenhagen), Game Talks at IULM University (Milan), State of Play (Dublin), Collaborative Game Histories (Tampere), JSNation (Amsterdam), Replaying Japan (Nottingham, Kyoto, Liège, Edmonton, Nagoya, Buffalo), Japan Media Arts Festival (Tokyo), DiGRA (Lunebürg, Dundee, Turin, Kraków, Seville), and Save the Games (Rochester).

I have over 18 years full-time third-level teaching experience, with 15 years as an external examiner, informed by extensive scholarship and industry experience since the mid-1990s in interaction design, game development, VR and AR, creative coding, physical computing, and visual communications.

My work has been recognised nationally and internationally by organisations including the Institute of Designers in Ireland (Experience Design Award), IMIRT: The Irish Game Makers Association (Technical Achievement Award), A MAZE Berlin (Finalist), The Japan Media Arts Festival (Jury Selection), and Leonardo: The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology (Top-Ranked Labs Abstracts).

Honours and Awards (Selected)

Co-President for the History of Games International Conference series, elected 2023.

Winner, Experience Design Category, 21st IDI Awards, Institute of Designers in Ireland, 2020.

Awardee, Top-Ranked LABS Abstracts, Leonardo / The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, 2020.

Selected Exhibit, Indie Game Arena, Tokyo Game Show, 2020.

Jury Selection, 23rd Japan Media Arts Festival, Tokyo, 2020.

Winner, Technical Achievement Award, Imirt Irish Game Awards, 2019.

President’s Award for Research Excellence, Early Career Researcher (Creative Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences), Dundalk Institute of Technology, 2017.

Official Selection, International Symposium on Electronic Art / ISEA, Hong Kong, 2016.

Official Selection, Out Of Index Experimental Games Festival, Seoul, 2015.

Finalist, A MAZE International Independent Game Awards, Berlin, 2014.

Shortlisted, Upstart Nokia N-GAGE Game Design Challenge, 2003.

President’s Award for Academic Excellence, University of Limerick, 2002.

Design Student of the Year, Letterkenny Institute of Technology, 1998.

Winner, Multimedia Category, Glen Dimplex Graduate Design Awards, IDI / Institute of Designers in Ireland, 1998.