The International Conference on Game Jams, Hackathons and Game Creation Events is proud to announce our afternoon panel. Global Game Jam co-founder Susan Gold will be moderating an exciting panel with discussion on the topic Diversity and Balance in Hackathons and Game Jams.
Panelists include Fakhra Al Mansouri, Bruno Campagnolo de Paula, Astrid Mie Refstrup and Maggie Orton. The panel takes place on the afternoon of February 26, 2017 as part of the ICGJ 2017 program. Conference Registration is available online.
Susan Gold
Susan Gold is an artist, game designer, educator and facilitator. Professor of the Practice at Northeastern University and a founder of the Global Game Jam®. Susan was an early innovator in game education, having led the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) Education SIG from 2006 to 2010. Susan has been asked to speak at most major international game conferences and has worked with numerous governments to improve education and economic stimulus in growing game development. Throughout her tenure, Susan has consulted with the Office of Science & Technology Policy at the White House with projects like Apps for Healthy Kids, numerous STEM education initiatives, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Federal Working Group in Games. Susan is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, but of all of her accomplishments, the Global Game Jam® is by far her greatest collaboration and success.
Fakhra Al Mansouri
She is the founder and CEO of Hybrid Humans, the first independent game studio in Abu Dhabi, UAE. She's passionate about creating video game experiences that matter. She has a background in computer science, business and game design. In June 2016, she was awarded Young Achiever in Video Game Development by FEMINA. Some of her titles include Hop Hop Away and Who Lurks an IndieCade Selection 2016. Also, CSI: Hidden Crimes as part of her short time at Ubisoft studios. When she's not game developing, organizing game jams, or creating workshops to introduce students to game design, you can find her kayaking, bowling or on the hunt for a new caramel candy. Her next big goal is to develop games in space.
Bruno Campagnolo de Paula
Bruno Campagnolo lives in Brazil and teaches game programming, focusing on Artificial Intelligence. He is the course coordinator of the Game Technology Program at PUCPR. Since 2010 he is the Global Game Jam organizer from Curitiba (one of the largest Global Game Jam site) and since 2012 he is the regional organizer from Brazil,
and he also take part of the Executive Committee (2014-2017). He organizes game jams, games festivals and hackathons in Brazil and he is sure that game jams (and GGJ, especially) are the best opportunity to give the world innovative games and leave a positive mark in our game development community.
Astrid Mie Refstrup
Astrid Refstrup is head of the Nordic Game Jam, that inspired the Global Game Jam, Vice Chair IGDA Denmark and co-founder of the startup game developer studio Triple Topping Games located in Copenhagen Denmark.
Maggie Orton
Maggie Orton graduated in December from the University of Michigan with a BS in Statistics and a minor in Computer Science. She has helped organize four events with MHacks, Michigan’s biannual 36-hour hackathon and one of the largest hackathons in the world. Her MHacks responsibilities have included leading teams in both Design and PR & Outreach and working to improve diversity and inclusion at the events. She will start working at Nielsen in Data Science this summer.
(Top image clockwise starting with top/left: Astrid Mie Restrup, Bruno Campagnolo, Fakhra Al Mansouri, Maggie Orton)