Events

A research talk with Dr. Mercedes Alonso-Prieto and Michelle Charette on the intersection of games and pain.

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

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.