CHI PLAY Steering Committee

The Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (CHI PLAY) is the international and interdisciplinary conference (by ACM SIGCHI) for researchers and professionals across all areas of play, games and human-computer interaction (HCI). For more information, see https://chiplay.acm.org/.

What is the CHI PLAY Steering Committee?

The CHI PLAY Steering Committee maintains general oversight of the annual conference, ensuring that CHI PLAY remains the premier international venue for researchers and practitioners interested in player-computer interaction. 

The steering committee is mainly engaged in the following activities: 

  • Defining and shaping CHI PLAY’s direction, by determining the overall strategy and vision for the conference series
  • Developing guidelines for the conference series and documenting their development
  • Selecting and confirming conference locations and dates, and appointment of the General Chairs
  • Providing advice to the current and future chairs of the CHI PLAY conference series; assisting the General Chairs in decision-making processes such as conference operations and finances, approving rollover conference chairs (e.g., Technical Program Chairs and Papers Chairs), and assisting in the selection of other program committee members for the upcoming conference, ensuring a focus on diversity and inclusivity
  • Organizing the town hall meeting at the CHI PLAY conference to gather feedback from the wider community

Current Members and Roles

  • Vero Vanden Abeele – KU Leuven, Belgium, Chair
  • Guenter Wallner – Johannes Kepler Universität Linz, Austria, Vice-Chair
  • Scott Bateman – University of New Brunswick, Canada
  • Max Birk – TU Eindhoven, Netherlands, External Relations Director & SC Liaison
  • Guo Freeman – Clemson University, USA
  • Julian Frommel – Utrecht University, Netherlands, Online Communities Director
  • Kathrin Gerling – Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, PACM Editor
  • Erik Harpstead, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
  • Jo Iacovides – University of York, United Kingdom
  • Katherine Isbister – University of California, Santa Cruz, USA

Honorary Members

  • Regina Bernhaupt
  • Paul Cairns
  • Anna Cox
  • Nick Graham
  • Stephan Greuter
  • Perttu Hämäläinen
  • Daniel Johnson
  • Regan Mandryk
  • Floyd Mueller
  • Lennart Nacke 
  • Ben Schouten
  • Phoebe Toups Dugas
  • Peta Wyeth 

Becoming Part of the Steering Committee?

The CHI PLAY steering committee is volunteer-led. The SC invites future members by choosing among the general chairs, technical program chairs, and papers chairs of the CHI PLAY conference series, or members of the CHI PLAY organizing committee who show a high and long-standing commitment to the conference series. The  CHI PLAY steering committee meets six times per year and discusses topics related to the aforementioned activities. Members are expected to serve for three years.  More specific roles are appointed by voting, for two years. 

If you have a longstanding relationship with the CHI PLAY conference series and are interested in taking up a position on the Steering Committee, please make this known by contacting the Steering Committee Chair.