Games Education Summit 2021 Schedule

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 starsmentors 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: GroundbreakersSome 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 WrapAn 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