DIGRA, the premier annual games research conference, graced Irish shores in 2026, being hosted by our friends at Maynooth University.
The conference, known for being held in a different part of the world each year, brought together academics from across the games industry and across the world, from different fields and disciplines, all to Ireland.
DIGRA featured a wide range of talks and workshops, analysing games development and production, games culture and games education. Particular highlights were workshops on All-Island Mapping from Darragh Lydon and Robert Emerson, and the DIGRA AI Subcommittee discussion.
DIGRA also featured a fabulous games showcase. Featuring Irish games such as Broken Clocks by Titian Copoli, Causeway by Kybolt and Coco’s Revenge by Octopus Punch, the event also featured international presenters such as Screams from the Kitchen with CANDYTRAIL, and a showcase of “bad games”, sparking a conversation about what it means for a game to be bad.
Every evening featured different events, from evenings in The Roost pub with games and different activities, to a wonderful conference dinner and even a night of Irish dancing!
There was immense work put into DIGRA being held in Ireland, with Imirt alum Maria O’Brien and current board member Robert Emerson on the organising committee. A massive thanks to Yekta Kalantar Hormozi, Jeneen Naji, John Healy, Liang Xu, Darragh Lydon and the rest of the organisers who were all incredibly important to getting the initiative off the ground.
Finally, there was a massive pool of volunteers, comprised of games students, alongside support from Lauren Morgan and Eoghan Watters of Imirt.