UNSW Art & Design x SIGGRAPH Asia 2023 Education Forum

As the concluding UNSW Art & Design Education Forum, we are delighted to feature presentations from three distinguished international researchers and academics, providing exclusive insights into their ongoing research projects and educational initiatives at their respective institutions. This event also offers future opportunities for engaging in discussions about potential collaborations and opportunities and student exchanges. Below, you'll find concise biographies introducing each speaker.

Masa Inakage
Dean and Professor
Director of Keio Media Design Research Institute, Keio University Graduate School of Media Design
https://www.kmd.keio.ac.jp/faculty/masa-inakage

Founding Dean and Professor at Keio University Graduate School of Media Design. Active as strategist and futurist, creative director and producer, as well as media artist/ designer. Supervises experience design projects that illustrate future society based on Dream Driven Design method. Story, playfulness and imagination are at the core of the project method to prototype content, service, things and space for creative innovation. Inakage sits on advisory board and executive board of numerous corporations for corporate innovation strategy, as well as has served as members of government committees and international organisations including the World Economic Forum.

Jüergen Hagler
Director
Ars Electronica Animation Festival

Dr. Juergen Hagler is an academic researcher and curator working at the interface of animation, game, and media art. He studied art education, experimental visual design and cultural studies at the University for Art and Design Linz, Austria. Currently, he is a Professor for Computer Animation and Media Studies and the head of studies of the degree programme Digital Arts at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Hagenberg Campus. Since 2014 he has been the co-head of the research group Playful Interactive Environments, with a focus on the investigation of new and natural forms of interaction and the use of playful mechanisms to encourage specific behavioural patterns. He has been involved in the activities of Ars Electronica since 1997 in a series of different functions. Since 2017 he is the director of the Ars Electronica Animation Festival and initiator and organiser of the Expanded Animation Symposium.

Vokler Helzle
Head of R&D
Senior Lecturer
Filmakademie, Baden-württemberg
https://animationsinstitut.de/en/studies/lecturers/prof-volker-helzle

Volker Helzle is in charge of Research & Development at Animationsinstitut of Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. After graduating from Stuttgart Media University in 2000 he moved to California and worked at Eyematic Interfaces on the eve of marker-less facial tracking tools and content. In 2003 he joined Filmakademie to supervise Research & Development. He is the senior lecturer for the Technical Director course and FMX program consultant. In 2013, Volker received the honorary professorship of Filmakademie.

During the past 20 years Volker raised funding for a substantial amount of regional and European Union projects in the scope of Animation, VFX, Virtual Production and Immersive Media. The most recent projects are EMIL, the European Media and Immersion Lab (emil-xr.eu) and MAX-R (max-r.eu) . Being a C-64 kid of the 80ties, Volker's life was strongly influenced by video games and early computer graphics. To this day he is a passionate gamer but also finds interest in analog activities like mountain hiking, gardening or yoga. As of January 2019 an improved version of Volker is available that keeps him busy day and night.