This is a joint winter school organized and hosted by the University of Twente and of the Vr ije Universiteit Amsterdam.
School Description:
In this winter school, you will be guided in a group to crea te your own serious game for household disaster resilience, Winter Sc hool exploring the dilemmas and opportunities involved in addressing household resilience. You will work together with an interdisciplinar y team of experts to reflect on the different challenges, using inter active methods.
Within the context of disaster resilience, a bi g challenge currently is translating the scientific knowledge into to ols 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 abo ut in a way that is accessible and engaging for the public. But creat ing 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 t hen be made in a way that can bring forth genuine community action?
Through hands-on workshops, expert lecturers, collaborative exer cises and playtesting sessions you will be able to evaluate already e xisting preparedness games, explore different methods of co-designing , and assess risks and (unintended) consequences in order to pr operly weigh ethical dilemmas into mechanics.
By the end of the three-day Winter School, each participant (or group) will have creat ed 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 p resented at a relevant expo or festival, offering the participants fu rther visibility and feedback from experts, inspiring even more innov ation.
Practical information:
| Dates & Location: | December 2- 4, 2026 |
| Level | MA/PhD/Post doc/practitioners |
| Fees: | <
p>€ 0 VU & UT students € 50 KUNO members � � 50 (other students) € 150 (practitioners) € 0 pract itioners from EEAC countries Fees include a 3-day Wi nter 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 < p>Dr. Eefje Hendriks, Faculty of Geo-information and Earth Observatio n Science, University of Twente |
| Academ ic 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 design ed for:
Applicants are expected to have a background in disaster science o r related disciplines, as well as a good command of the English langu age (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:
The winter school will offer a combination of:
Workload
Upon successful completion of the programme, the winter school offers a Certificate of Attendance. After successfully completing the assignment, they will receive thei r Certificate of Attendance that mentions the workload in hours (28 h ours corresponds to 1 ECTS). Students can apply for recognition of th ese credits to the relevant authorities in their home institutions, t herefore 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 o f attendance.
Application procedure
To apply, please fill out the online application form. Please note that you will be asked to upload the following documents:
The deadline for application is 1 September 2026. Selection will be based on the fit between the pros pective participants’ CVs and motivation and the topic of the schoo l. Keep in mind that there’s a limited number of participants. Paym ents will be taken only once participation is confirmed.
DESCRIPTION: School Description: In this winter schoo l, you will be guided in a group to create your own serious game for household disaster resilience, Winter School exploring the dilemmas a nd opportunities involved in addressing household resilience. You wil l work together with an interdisciplinary team of experts to reflect on the different challenges, using interactive methods. Within the co ntext of disaster resilience, a big challenge currently is translatin g the scientific knowledge into tools that local communities can genu inely use. Serious games provide a powerful tool to translate this kn owledge. Through this interactive and playful yet serious format, rea l-world dilemmas can be learnt about in a way that is accessible and engaging for the public. But creating such a game requires careful co nsideration. Throughout the program, you will address questions such as: How do we design a game that realistically reflects the lived exp eriences of households? How can scientific knowledge be translated us ing 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 lecture rs, collaborative exercises and playtesting sessions you will be able to evaluate already existing preparedness games, explore different m ethods of co-designing, and assess risks and (unintended) consequence s in order to properly weigh ethical dilemmas into mechanics. B y the end of the three-day Winter School, each participant (or group) will have created a playable prototype for their serious game, groun ded in their own professional context. Certain prototypes developed d uring 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: | Dece mber 2-4, 2026 |
| Level | MA/P hD/Postdoc/practitioners |
| Fees: | € 0 VU & UT students € 50 KUNO members€ 50 (othe
r students)€ 150 (practitioners)€ 0 practitioners from EEAC count
ries Fees include a 3-day Winter School at the University of Twent e, including lunch and 1 dinner in Enschede. Fees do not cover accomm odation. |
| Academic coordinators: | Dr. Nathan Clark, Faculty of Organisational Science, Vrije Uni versiteit AmsterdamDr. Eefje Hendriks, Faculty of Geo-information and Earth Observation Science, University of Twente |
| < strong>Academic team: | Prof. dr. Kees Boersma, P rof. dr. Marc van den HombergProf. dr. Johannes Flackedr. Michael Nag enborgdr. Carissa Champlindr. Janneke Ettema |
| serious.gaming.ws@ gmail.com |