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Lauren Woolbright

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Lauren Woolbright

Dr.

 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7209-8797
20112025

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Research Biography

I am a scholar of game design and environmental humanities with particular expertise in inclusive design practices in games. I am interested in how game environments tell stories and evoke emotions in players without relying on language. Representation is another aspect of my work, both in the games industry and in games as media. In particular, I am drawn to the ecoGothic, ecohorror, and the monstrous-feminine. I created the Games Research Lab at Flinders, which supports a community of scholars researching and making games. 

Research Expertise

My research has followed some general themes:

1. How design decisions impact play, especially how more inclusive design practices can facilitate more appealing forms of play for everyone.

2. How environments impact and are impacted by human presence, both in and outside of digital worlds.

3. How representations of people who are traditionally marginalized might be undertaken ethically, both in theory and in practice.

Education/Academic qualification

PhD, Identity Design: Challenging Archetypes with Feminist Approaches to Game Design, Clemson University

25 Aug 2012 → 15 May 2016

Award Date: 15 May 2016

Master of Arts, Wounded Planet, Wounded People: the Possibility of Ecological Trauma in the bone people and Mister Pip, Clemson University

20 Aug 2009 → 13 May 2011

Award Date: 13 May 2011

Bachelor of Arts, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

22 Aug 2003 → 13 May 2007

Award Date: 13 May 2007

Supervision

  • Registered

Supervisory Interests

  • Interaction design
  • Game design
  • Digital games
  • Games critical review/analysis
  • Games in education
  • Digital game history
  • Environment movements
  • Digital media and multimedia
  • Social media
  • Gender, media history
  • Gender
  • Feminism

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  1. SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
    SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being
  2. SDG 4 - Quality Education
    SDG 4 Quality Education
  3. SDG 5 - Gender Equality
    SDG 5 Gender Equality
  4. SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
    SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities
  5. SDG 13 - Climate Action
    SDG 13 Climate Action
View all 14 research outputs
  • 3 Invited talk
  • 1 Oral presentation