LLST at the 2020 Connections North Conference

On February 15, 2020, Matt Stevens presented at the annual Connections North interdisciplinary conference on conflict simulation and serious gaming, hosted by Prof. Rex Brynen at McGill University. Course Director Johanna Reynolds was also in attendance. Other participants included representatives from Global Affairs Canada, the Canadian Department of National Defense, the US Naval War College, Universite Laval, and various private contracting firms.

Matt’s presentation reported back on key findings from recent research in Amman, Jordan and Nairobi, Kenya on the use of serious games in humanitarian capacity-building. The research, spearheaded by Save the Children UK, explores how serious games can be used to train local humanitarian staff, identify potential barriers and understand what technological requirements are needed for successful implementation. Important lessons learned from conducting 6 interactive workshops will be available in a forthcoming report.

For a complete conference summary, see Rex’s Connections North report on the PAXsims blog.

Matt’s presentation slides can be found here.

Matt joined a panel including Patrick Robitaille, from Universite Laval, who presented on the design and challenges of his annual humanitarian sim exercise, and Tom Fisher of Imaginetic.