DAY 1: STATE OF THE ART
Wednesday 31st March 2021
0930-0935: welcome from the Chair, Rick Gibson, CEO, BGI
0935: Caroline Dinenage, Minister of State for Digital and Culture
0935-0950: Keynote: Mark Flannigan, Epic Games
0950-1035: the Great Debate – Senior games educators and studios discuss their response to the major challenges of Covid and Brexit.
Chair: Rick Gibson, BGI
Ian Goodall – Aardvark Swift
Meg Daintith, Codemasters
Liz Prince, Amiqus
Charlie Hargood, Bournemouth University
1035-1045 Screen break
1045-1130: State of the Art – Strategies for educating in a post-Covid world.
Chair: Dr. Jake Habgood – Sumo Digital
Dr Nia Wearn, – Staffordshire University
Matt Wilson, Priestley College
Dr Lynn Love – Abertay University
1130-1140: Screen break
1140-1155: Keynote – Simon Nelson, Digital Director at Nord Anglia Education
1155-1240: Workshops – Key challenges and opportunities for studios and educators in 2021 and beyond. Over to you!
1240-1330: Lunch break
1330-1345: Keynote: speaker to be confirmed
1345-1430: Workshops – The results of the workshops, with votes on the top challenges and opportunities identified by the delegates.
1430-1440: Screen break
1440-1525: State of the Art – Hiring, retaining and developing talent during the pandemic.
Chair: Liz Prince, Amiqus
Nick Duncombe, Playground Games
Emma Smith, Creative Assembly
Speakers to be confirmed
1525-1535: Screen break
1535-1620: Futureproofing the skills of your new employees – How apprenticeships are shaping the future of education.
Marcia Deakin, NextGen Skills Academy
Karen Hedger, AIM Awards
Jake Habgood, Sumo Digital
1620-1630: Screen Break
1630-1715: Hitting the C++ Spot: Top coders discuss the significance of C++ as a key industry skill.
Essential viewing for students on game programming degrees.
Chair: Jake Habgood, Sumo Digital
Guy Davidson (Creative Assembly)
Clare Rogers (former Sony)
Speakers to be confirmed
1715-1720: Day 1 close
DAY 2: PATHWAYS
Thursday 1st April 2021
0930-0935: welcome from the Chair, Rick Gibson, CEO, BGI
0935-0950: Keynote: Aurore Dimopoulos – Unity
0950-1035: My student journey – FE and HE students share their experiences of learning during the pandemic.
Chair: Chris Dring, Gamesindustry.biz
Emma Rogers, Sumo Digital Trainee
Speakers to be confirmed
1035-1045: Screen Break
1045-1130: Lockdown recruitment – New hires share their varied pathways into games jobs
Chair: Ian Goodall, Aardvark Swift
Matthew Lowe, D3T
Emily Inkpen, Marmalade Game Studios
Speakers to be confirmed
1130-1140: Screen Break
1140-1225: Mentoring the industry’s future stars – mentors and mentees from 2 mentoring programmes share how mentoring works and how it helps.
Chair: to be confirmed
Reese Wright, Roboto Teddy
Melissa Chapman, Game If You Are
Lorna Birrell, Sony Playstation
Georgia Hylton, Mentee
1225-1315: Lunch Break
1315-1400: Diversity pathways – Diverse candidates discuss their routes into games and the programmes that helped them.
Chair: Kish Hirani, BAME in Games
Michael Othen, Included Games/Out Playing Games
Speakers to be confirmed
1400-1410: Screen Break
1410-1505: Groundbreakers – Some of the most innovative new schemes bridging the gap between games educators and studios
Chair: Philip Oliver – Panivox
Errol Ismail – Fabrik Games
Carrie Warwick – Bolton University
Khally Saarman-Jones, Payload Studios
1515-1605: Key takeaways from Games Careers Week
Rick Gibson, BGI
Andy Driver, Grads in Games
Declan Cassidy, Into Games
1605-1655: Summit Wrap – An open discussion about the Summit’s conclusions, and suggestions for 2022
Chair: Rick Gibson, BGI
Aurore Dimopoulos, Unity
Alan O-Dea, Staffordshire University
Sharon Tolaini-Sage, Norwich University of the Arts
Mark Flannigan, Epic Games
1655: Thanks from the Chair
1700: Summit close