Massey University’s College of Creative Arts is excited to host DiGRA 2027. We are globally recognised for our expertise in design-led research and creative practice, and our games research is deeply embedded in this framework. Our vision for DiGRA 2027 is to celebrate game design as a dynamic, cultural practice, deeply grounded in our unique regional context. This perspective will ensure a distinctive Aotearoa experience for DiGRA attendees.
Our team
Dr Tanya Marriott
Tanya is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Design at the College of
Creative Arts, and is the lead for the Bachelor of Concept Design honours degree. Her practice-based research explores character storytelling through toy, doll, game and interactive installation design. Her work focuses on environmental advocacy, addressing issues such as predation, ecosystem collapse, and conservation, using character design as a motivator and communication tool. Tanya has organised and chaired seven conferences and festivals, both nationally and internationally. She is the current Festival Manager and on the board of directors for the New Zealand Games Festival.
Dr Johnson Witehira
Johnson (Tamahaki, Ngāi Tū-te-auru, Ngāti Hinekura) is the Head of the School of Music and Screen Arts, Te Rewa o Puanga at the College of Creative Arts, Toi Rauwhārangi. Johnson is a distinguished indigenous artist, designer, and academic whose work integrates Mātauranga Māori with contemporary creative technologies. His practice encompasses visual arts, game development, and storytelling, aiming to decolonise and indigenise design and digital media. Johnson is on the board of directors for the New Zealand Game Developers
Jeremy Cameron
Jeremy is a lecturer in the Bachelor of Screen Arts, and practice-based
researcher whose work involves emotional design, interactive storytelling, and game development technique. His teaching focuses on helping students build strong, industry-ready skills in game development, virtual production, and creative technology. His practice-led research explores how emotionally reactive NPCs shape player engagement, supported by a custom built emotion-construction engine, exploring the meaning behind characters in games and how they affect a games approach to design. At the heart of all his work is a belief that games are a powerful space for experimentation, empathy, and expressive play.
Shaun Garea
Shaun is a psychology lecturer and researcher based at the Massey
School of Psychology in the Manawatū. Shaun’s research area is primarily cognition and gaming with past work exploring videogaming and cooperation, gambling (particularly loot boxes and NFT’s), aggression, and obsessive compulsive symptomatology. He is also the director of the Gaming Research and Investigation Laboratory (GRAIL) where researchers and students are exploring tabletop gaming experiences; looking into what drives players to tables and in-person experiences in Aotearoa (and then also what keeps them
coming back?
