OASIS hosts various talks on academic and non-academic topics. These talks are always free and open to everyone.

We try to live stream as many talks as we can and you can find new live streams on the OASIS YouTube channel, event information on the OASIS
Facebook-page and recordings of most of our previous talks on the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies YouTube channel.

Our current talk series is called OASIS Lunchtime Talks and you can find the schedule and information about the talks below.

In addition to this curated series, the page highlights other types of OASIS Talks, past and yet to come.

OASIS Lunchtime Talks is a series of lectures on current research by fascinating scholars from near and far.
The talks are usually held on Thursdays during lunch hour (12.00 - 13.00 or 12 PM to 1PM).
The lecture series was created by Olli Sotamaa and the current series of OASIS Lunchtime Talks is curated by Heikki Tyni and produced by Mikko Seppänen and Elisa Wiik.

Thursday - March 26th
12.00 - 13.00

Rehearsing the Future: Games and Speculative Design for Exploring AI-Driven Socio-Technical Futures
Romi Mikulinsky

How can we prepare for futures shaped by AI, automation, and hybrid digital-physical (phygital) environments? In this talk, Dr. Romi Mikulinsky explains how games, speculative scenarios, and phygital game environments can operate as structured tools for research and design - helping us anticipate, test, and critique emerging socio-technical transformations. Situated at the intersection of game design, speculative design, and human-computer interaction, the lecture reflects on the potential of games as methods for foresight, participatory inquiry, and experiential learning in times of rapid technological transformation. The lecture draws on gamified workshops and experimental role-playing environments to show how playful simulations help decision-makers, technologists and creatives navigate uncertainty, interrogate emerging technologies, and rehearse possible futures before they unfold. The talk concludes by offering a practical toolkit of design principles for running gamified foresight workshops across research, policy, and organisational contexts.

Romi Mikulinsky, Ph.D., is a design strategist, researcher, and game designer working at the intersection of emerging technology, ethics, and societal transformation. With over 20 years of experience across academia and the international IT and media industries, she develops participatory tools, game environments, and gamified foresight formats for municipalities, foundations, and research consortia in Europe, Japan, and Israel. Formerly Head of the Master’s Program in Industrial Design at Bezalel Academy, she holds a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto's English department and is currently a researcher at Tampere University’s Game Research Lab, exploring how AI, spatial computing, and immersive environments reshape cities, workplaces, decision-making, and collective imaginaries.

Watch the live stream on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/live/HLNxN2S9dDA

Past OASIS Lunchtime talks

Taking the Metso, the Retro, and the Algo(s): On Nostalgia and Video Games
Richy Srirachanikorn (Concordia University, Montreal)

Remnants of Play
Prof. Nick Webber (Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research, at Birmingham City University, UK)

Institutions of Play: Mapping Japan’s Indie Game Scene
Bryan Hikari Hartzheim (Waseda University)

Interface Theory and Critical Technical Cultures
Michael Dieter (Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies at the University of Warwick (UK)

Why being a Ukrainian game studies scholar is… complicated?
Mark Maletska (Game Research Lab, Tampere University)

Learning to E-sport: A Swedish case study of the organization of E-sport education in upper-secondary schools
Azul Romo Flores (Södertörn University)

Games growing up (again)? Intersections of Ethics, Law, and Policy in our public and private spaces
Florence Chee (Loyola University Chicago)

Rhythm, Orgasm, & Chrononormativity in Orgasm Simulator & NSFWare
Jean Ketterling (University of Saskatchewa, Canada)

Playing with Asynchronies
Juan F. Belmonte-Ávila (University of Murcia, Spain)

A Framework for Mapping Digital Game Mechanics
Rafael Marques de Albuquerque (University of Vale do Itajaí, Brazil)

ON TUTORIALS, STEREOTYPES, AND BODY VISIONS
Corinne Mazzoli (University of Milano-Bicocca)

Contested video game development: An educational comparison between Germany and Sweden
Jonas Ferdinand (Humboldt University of Berlin)

Game as Art: A practical toolkit to identify artistic games
Alina Potemska (Arts University Bournemouth / University of the Arts London)

Analogue Game Jamming as an HE Teaching Tool
Joe Macleod-Iredale (University of Salford / Manchester Metropolitan University)

Stream Evil, the RCG
Mia Consalvo (Concordia University)

Reinventing the Finnish Museum of Games
Niklas Nylund & Asla Heikkari (Finnish Museum of Games)

From Slavery to Wage Slaves in Settler-Colonialist Board Games in Anglo-America
Mikael Jakobsson (MIT Game Lab)

Video Games, Environmental Awareness and Climate Change
Xenia Zeiler (University of Helsinki)

Indie Porn Games: Contents, Ecosystems, Business Models
Petri Lankoski (Södertörn University, Sweden)

Playing Emotions: How to Bring Indie Games to the Classroom
Jorge Oceja (University of Cantabria, Santander, Spain)

Creativity: in academic research, narrative, and world-building
Ian Sturrock (Teesside University, Middlesbrough, England)

Arcade Britannia: British Arcade History, Comics, and Interactive Experiences
Alan Meades (Canterbury Christ Church University, UK)

THE RULES WE BREAK - Lessons in Play, Thinking, and Design
Eric Zimmerman (NYU Game Center, USA)

Making Games Differently
Casey O'Donnell (Tampere University, Center of Excellence for Game Culture Studies)

The Value of Toys in a Post-Digital World
Katriina Heljakka (University of Turku)

Games and Exhaustion
Rainforest Scully-Blaker (Tampere University, Center of Excellence for Game Culture Studies)

Ephemeral ecologies: player paratexts at the end of the world
Lawrence May (University of Auckland)

The “Critiqueless” Critique of Gamification
Mikko Vesa (Hanken School of Economics / University of Lapland)

Promises, Politics, and Pipelines: Implicit and Explicit Lessons from Games Higher Education
Alison Harvey (Glendon College, York University)

Game Studies without Culture? A Historical Review of Video Game Research in Korea
Tae-Jin Yoon (Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea)

Ukrainian Game Jam Scene: Creativity in Extreme Conditions
Oleksii Izvalov (Robert Elvorti Economy and Technical Institute)

Replayed: Software Preservation and Game Histories (Book Talk)
Dr. Henry Lowood (Stanford University)

The LVLup! Museum: From experimental initiative to national institution
Camille Laurelli (Educational Center at National Library of Estonia)

(Re)Playing Cultural Memory: The Why and How of Studying Nostalgia in Video Games
Diego A Mejía-Alandia (Tampere University, the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies)

In-game interaction, identities and communities – or what does it mean to play together?
Matilda Ståhl (Åbo Akademi University)

How to study Japanese video games: A reflection on my stay abroad in Japan
Joleen Blom (Tampere University, the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies)

From Research to Development - A Transit King Story
Janne Paavilainen (BON Games)

Care Tactics - Practicing Safe Storage at Gaming Events
Nick Taylor (York University)

International Solidarity Between Game Workers in the Global North and Global South – Reflections on The Challenges Posed by Labor Aristocracy
Emil Lundedal Hammar (Tampere University, the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies)

The Value of NFTs in Games
Alesha Serada (University of Vaasa)

Playing with toy soldiers? A look at miniaturing
Mikko Meriläinen (Tampere University, the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies)

Handmade Pixels: Indie Video Games and the Quest for Authenticity
Jesper Juul (Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Desig)

Ask Why: Creating a Better Player Experience through Environmental Storytelling and Consistency in Escape Room Design
Scott Nicholson (Wilfrid Laurier University)

Age Appropriate Game Design
Darshana Jayemanne (Abertay University)

Zen Mode: on Buddhism, McMindfulness, and orientalism in games
Victor Navarro-Remesal (Comillas Pontifical University)

Fun Things are Fun: Exploring the Games & Life of Karl Rohnke
Pete Vigeant (ESC Games)

Thoughts on Existential, Transformative Game Design
Dr. Doris Rusch (Uppsala University)

Assemblage agency and the games that play us
Maria Ruotsalainen (University of Jyväskylä)

Ethics in theory, justice in practice: Insights into practical challenges between game research contexts
Dr. Florence Chee (Loyola University Chicago)

Digital Dreamers? Researching the Lives of Videogame Workers
Anna Ozimek (Tallinn University)

Finnish and Polish educational board games in the mid-19th century
Maria Garda (PhD) (University of Turku)

The Gamer Logic of “Selfies are Avatars”: Toxic Masculinity and James Franco’s Strategic Vulnerability
Tom Apperley

Intimate Games: Queering the Conventional Mouse Controller for Cooperative Play
Sabine Harrer

Resisting Patches & Updates: Struggles against Protocological Power in Video Games
Jan Švelch

Understanding the Australian Videogame Field through Formal, Informal, and Embedded Gamemakers
Brendan Keogh (Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane) 

Sense of Place in Videogames: Case Red Dead Redemption
Jussi Holopainen (Games Computing, University of Lincoln)

Regulatory change and cultural peculiarity - horse people and the new gambling monopoly in Finland
Pauliina Raento

MSP Challenge 2050: first results of fourth-generation simulation gaming for maritime spatial planning
Harald Warmelink (NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands)

On the Possibility of a Paratelic Initiation of Organizational Wrongdoing
Mikko Vesa (Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki)

Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games: Why Gaming Culture Is the Worst
Christopher Paul (Seattle University)

Salvation, or Snake Oil, Big Data Practices in the Game Industry
Jennifer R. Whitson (University of Waterloo)

Amateur adaptations of “professional” games: Manic Miner and Flappy in 1980s Czechoslovakia
Jaroslav Švelch (University of Bergen / Charles University Prague)