Sebastian is a Reader and Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Theatre, Film, TV and Interactive Media with Digital Creativity Labs at the University of York.
About Alistair
Sebastian holds an MA in Comparative Literature, Communication Research and Psychology from the University of Münster (1998-2005), and a PhD. in Media Studies from Hamburg University (2009-2013), supported by a grant of the Hamburg Federal Initiative of Research Excellence.
Sebastian is particularly interested in the intersection of AI, machine learning, and design for augmented creativity: how can we create systems that learn to automatically adapt and serve optimally engaging content to users, and serve optimally supportive design suggestions and tutorials to creators?
As founder of the design agency ‘coding conduct’ and associate of the playful design studio Hubbub, Sebastian has created engaging experiences touching millions of users for clients including the BBC, BMW, Deutsche Telekom, and KLM.
He is founder of the Gamification Research Network, and co-editor of The Gameful World (MIT Press, 2015). An internationally recognised leader of gamification research, he is frequently invited to keynote and speak at venues like Lift, Interaction, GDC, Games Learning Society, Google, IDEO, and MIT, and his work has been covered by The Guardian, The New Scientist, the Los Angeles Times, arte, and EDGE Magazine among others.
Key words
Design, Engagement, Games, Human-computer interaction, Machine learning, AI