School Description:
In this winter school, you will be guided in a group to create your own serious game for household disaster resilience, Winter School exploring the dilemmas and opportunities involved in addressing household resilience. You will work together with an interdisciplinary team of experts to reflect on the different challenges, using interactive methods.
Within the context of disaster resilience, a big challenge currently is translating the scientific knowledge into tools that local communities can genuinely use. Serious games provide a powerful tool to translate this knowledge. Through this interactive and playful yet serious format, real-world dilemmas can be learnt about in a way that is accessible and engaging for the public. But creating such a game requires careful consideration.
Throughout the program, you will address questions such as: How do we design a game that realistically reflects the lived experiences of households? How can scientific knowledge be translated using a game in a way that is both accessible and educational? How can the insights from the game then be made in a way that can bring forth genuine community action?
Through hands-on workshops, expert lecturers, collaborative exercises and playtesting sessions you will be able to evaluate already existing preparedness games, explore different methods of co-designing, and assess risks and (unintended) consequences in order to properly weigh ethical dilemmas into mechanics.
By the end of the three-day Winter School, each participant (or group) will have created a playable prototype for their serious game, grounded in their own professional context. Certain prototypes developed during the Winter School may be selected to be developed and polished further, being presented at a relevant expo or festival, offering the participants further visibility and feedback from experts, inspiring even more innovation.
Practical information:
| Dates & Location: | December 2-4, 2026 |
| Level | MA/PhD/Postdoc/practitioners |
| Fees: | € 0 VU & UT students € 50 KUNO members € 50 (other students) € 150 (practitioners) € 0 practitioners from EEAC countries Fees include a 3-day Winter School at the University of Twente, including lunch and 1 dinner in Enschede. Fees do not cover accommodation. |
| Academic coordinators: | Dr. Nathan Clark, Faculty of Organisational Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Dr. Eefje Hendriks, Faculty of Geo-information and Earth Observation Science, University of Twente |
| Academic team: | Prof. dr. Kees Boersma, Prof. dr. Marc van den Homberg Prof. dr. Johannes Flacke dr. Michael Nagenborg dr. Carissa Champlin dr. Janneke Ettema |
| Questions and Contact Details: | serious.gaming.ws@gmail.com |
Requirements
The winter school is designed for:
- Excellent MA students willing to either engage in a career as a disaster risk reduction experts or in a PhD on the topic
- Postgraduate students: PhD – post doc students studying crisis/ disaster management/organizational networks
- Other external stakeholders: national and local policy-makers (both in civil society organizations and government agencies)
Applicants are expected to have a background in disaster science or related disciplines, as well as a good command of the English language (B2/C1) to actively participate in the discussions and to present their own work in English.
Learning Outcomes:
After the school, participants will be able to:
- Analyse the central dilemmas when addressing household disaster resilience
- Translate scientific insights into local community knowledge, using serious gaming
- Reflect on the strengths and shortcomings of existing preparedness games
- Strengthen their network in the field of disaster studies and serious gaming
The winter school will offer a combination of:
- lectures on theoretical approaches and methods relating to disaster risk management and serious gaming
- interactive learning activities with lecturers and practitioners
- problem-based learning in small groups (group projects to develop serious games tailored to a local context)
- panel discussions with leading experts in the field
Workload
- Preparation (including reading – the time spent on preparation depends on the students’ background): max 18 hours
- Contact hours (class and online activities): 25 hours
- Group projects: 17 hours
- Total = 60 hours
Upon successful completion of the programme, the winter school offers a Certificate of Attendance. After successfully completing the assignment, they will receive their Certificate of Attendance that mentions the workload in hours (28 hours corresponds to 1 ECTS). Students can apply for recognition of these credits to the relevant authorities in their home institutions, therefore the final decision on awarding credits is at the discretion of their home institutions. We will be happy to provide any necessary information that might be requested in addition to the certificate of attendance.
Application procedure
To apply, please fill out the online application form. Please note that you will be asked to upload the following documents:
- Curriculum Vitae (max. 2 pages)
- Motivation letter (max. 1 page), incl. a clear explanation of the articulation between this winter school and the participant’s career plan
The deadline for application is 1 September 2026. Selection will be based on the fit between the prospective participants’ CVs and motivation and the topic of the school. Keep in mind that there’s a limited number of participants. Payments will be taken only once participation is confirmed.