DiGRA’s Distinguished Scholars are happy to announce they have inducted Dr. Hanna Wirman as their newest member for the year 2026.
Dr. Wirman is an Associate Professor at the IT University of Copenhagen (ITU), where she heads the MSc in Games programme and works at the Center for Digital Play. With over 20 years of experience in games teaching and research, she has published widely on game fandom, gender and inclusivity, critical game design, protest gaming, play in the Chinese context, and non-human animal play. She is a former President of DiGRA, serving on its Executive Board for more than a decade, and also the first President of Chinese DiGRA. Hanna has worked across four countries: Finland, Denmark, Hong Kong, and the UK, bringing her cultural studies research angle to the local contexts. Her own game designs fall within experimental and critical game design, aiming to invite critical reflection and open pathways towards societal change.
DiGRA created the Distinguished Scholars group in 2016 to honor and recognize those who have worked to advance and grow the field of game studies in multiple ways, including through the development of rigorous scholarship, the establishment of game studies and game development programs at colleges and universities, and significant contributions made to DiGRA itself as an organization. The group works independently from the DiGRA board when nominating and selecting new members to induct.
For further information, including past inductees, see: https://digra.org/about/distinguished-scholars/
On behalf of DiGRA’s Distinguished Scholars,
José P. Zagal (inducted 2016)
Division of Games
University of Utah