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Senior Lecturer at Adelaide University

Posted on by Susie

I’m delighted to share that I’ve been promoted to Senior Lecturer: Games Design and Digital Media at Adelaide University, effective 1st January! What a wonderful way to say goodbye to UniSA and hello to Adelaide University as the merger process completes. It feels like the perfect transition into a new chapter.

This promotion is a recognition of a lot of hard work, care, and collaboration over the years, and I want to sincerely thank everyone who has supported me along the way. My colleagues, mentors, collaborators, and students at UniSA have shaped me as an educator, researcher, and designer, and I’m deeply grateful for the encouragement, trust, and opportunities I’ve had.

I’m looking forward to continuing to champion meaningful, inclusive, and transformative work in games and digital media at Adelaide University. Here’s to a year shaped by collaboration and care, collective social change, brave ideas, and work that makes a real difference for our communities. 💛🎮✨

(Re)Defining Creativity: Call for Chapters/ Abstracts

Posted on by Susie

Neurodivergent creativity is powerful, diverse, and we think not celebrated enough! We’re so excited be putting together a book exploring the creative and diverse ways that neurodivergent people think, play, learn, and create, and we want your chapter!

Writing, art, games, visual essays – whatever expresses your ideas counts. This collection embraces creativity in all its forms! 🌈✍️🎮🖌️

🎥 We’ve also made a 3 minute YouTube video Call for Chapters that you can watch here:

📄 Prefer to read a traditional written Call for Chapters?

https://www.authorea.com/…/1336853-call-for-papers…

📬 Submit your abstract by December 31, 2025 using the Google Form: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSdxxdTqBhW…/viewform…

Edited by Susannah Emery, KJ Hepworth, & Michele Jarldorn

Professional Certificate of Neurodivergent Affirming Practices

Posted on by Susie

I have recently completed a Professional Certificate of Neurodivergent Affirming Practices through the wonderful DivergAntz Collective.

The course explored “Neurodivergent Affirming Practice, Autism, ADHD, Neuroception (the brain), Sensory Registration, Profiles and the impact of sensory registration on coping strategies and maintaining a state of regulation”.

I found it really useful, the most interesting thing for me was exploring the research and sources behind the concepts and ideas explored. Thanks to the DivergAntz team for creating such an awesome course!

If you’re interested in completing the course – which I highly recommend! You can check it out here: https://divergantz.com.au/education

GDC: 2024!

Posted on by Susie

Earlier this month I was lucky enough to attend GDC in San Francisco. There were so many interesting talks and speakers that it was a very busy few days for me!

The most interesting talks for me were part of the education stream where I got to learn all about how other universities and lecturers across the world are teaching game design and development. I connected with some amazing people and learned some really great ideas that I’m looking forward to trying in our programs here at UniSA.

I came away with some really interesting insights into how people are creating some wonderfully inclusive and diverse game design programs that value the development process and the learnings of this so much more than the final product – it’s the journey that matters!

Thanks for having me GDC!

Video: Using games for learning and social change

Posted on by Susie

In this video I chat about some of my favourite things – how important games are, and how we can use them to change the world!

I also got to talk a bit about my new game project – a game designed to raise awareness of what it’s like to grow up neurodivergent in a world made for neurotypical people.

Hopefully I’ll be able to share more about that project soon!

Unstoppable Awards!

Posted on by Susie

Last week the UniSA Unstoppable Awards were held in Adelaide/Tarntanya on Kaurna Country. The scheme recognises and celebrates the accomplishments of UniSA academic and professional staff across the UniSA units and campuses, and encompasses the  Research and Enterprise Awards, the Teaching and Learning Awards and the Enterprising Staff Awards.

I am so proud to announce that I was announced as the winner of two awards – the Unstoppable Mid-Career Teaching Award, and the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Award. I am privileged to be able to share my thoughts and ideas in this space with my colleagues, and I really loved hearing about the wonderful work of the other nominees – I hope we can get together in the future and further share our ideas!

Below is the lovely write up about me that was shared as a part of the acknowledgement by our Executive Dean. It was so lovely to hear such kind words from my colleagues:

Susannah was awarded the Unstoppable Mid-Career Teaching Award for her outstanding work promoting inclusivity in games design course content, applying Universal Design for Learning principles to course and assessment design so that students are able to select a variety of formats for their assignments that best suit their learning needs, and which provide differentiated assessment opportunities to address assignment criteria in ways that are accessible to each student. Susannah’s work is interdisciplinary, student focused and an innovative exemplar of UniSA’s core teaching and learning mission. 

In the Enterprising Staff Awards, Susannah was also awarded the Unstoppable Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Award for outstanding work in increasing and promoting diversity in the games industry, in particular her work in supporting students to build social connections via initiatives such as facilitating regular ‘games nights’, the creation of a ‘safe place’ that is used by students across all year levels of the Games Design & Production courses (which currently has over 100 members), and maintaining and managing social channels where students from the Games Design & Production Major can connect with peers and staff in an informal manner.

Escape Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory!

Posted on by Susie

I absolutely love seeing games go from initial idea to final product! Earlier this year I was so lucky to work alongside the amazing third-year Games Design and Production students at UniSA to see the Willy Wonka-themed escape room created by the talented students at Edmund Rice Flexi School come to life! 🍫✨

The amazing Edmund Rice Flexi School students crafted a challenging experience filled with five diverse puzzles, UV lights, blind mazes, chemistry, coding, hidden letters, and piñatas – all within Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory!

Shoutout to the dedicated students and UniSA mentors – George Martin, Josh McLean and Sophia Booij who made this project a success for all involved!

Unstoppable Awards

Posted on by Susie

I’m so proud to announce that I’ve been nominated for not one – but two awards at this year’s UniSA Unstoppable Awards!

I’ve been nominated alongside some amazing teaching colleagues for the Mid-Career teaching award from across different areas which is so exciting. I’m so passionate about my teaching and I work hard to make sure I’m constantly reflecting on and growing my teaching practice so it is so wonderful to be acknowledged in this way.

The other award I’ve been nominated for is the Unstoppable Enterprising Staff Award (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion). Anyone who knows me will know that inclusivity is one of the most important things in the world to me so I’m absolutely thrilled for this. I’m also really proud to see UniSA acknowledge the importance of equity, diversity and inclusion in higher education. I am really looking forward to hearing about the great work my colleagues are doing in this space!

GLAM Games: Gaps and Glimmers in the Visitor Experience

Posted on by Susie

Earlier this month I was lucky enough to be able to speak together with the wonderful George Martin & Sophia Booij about escape rooms in the classroom at the GLAM Games conference to be held at UniSA on the 25th of September!

George, Sophia and I chatted about “Escaping the classroom” – engaging students with history. In this talk we spoke about our third year game design students who created an escape room designed to engage high school students with Ancient Egypt. Our amazing students then worked together with the Edmund Rice Flexi School to support the high school students to create their own escape room!

We spoke about the benefits of escape rooms for sharing knowledge and how their design connects to existing pedagogical theories. We also chatted about the advantage of escape rooms not only for those playing them, but also to those building them. It was an extremely engaging and interesting project and it was a joy to see our students grow not only as designers but as mentors throughout the experience.

School Showcase: Unreal Engine Short Film Challenge

Posted on by Susie

I’m so proud of our UniSA Games/Film students who have this week been showcased on ArtStation for their work on the Unreal Short Film Challenge where they created Wally Wallace and the Magic Case!

It was a pleasure to work with them and see this film grow throughout the development process! Thank you to Unreal Australia for the opportunity and thank you Artstation for acknowledging the hard work our students put into their project, and for showcasing us alongside the other amazing universities who took part in the challenge!

You can read the article and watch all the student films here: https://magazine.artstation.com/2023/03/school-showcase-unreal-engine-short-film-challenge-australia-new-zealand/