Dr. Johanna Pirker is Ass.Prof. at TU Graz. She leads the Game Lab Graz research group and researches games with a focus on AI, HCI, data analysis and VR technologies. She is also an active and strong voice of the local indie developer community.
She is currently Assistant Professor for Game Development at TU Graz and heads the GameLabGraz. She has many years of experience in the development of games and VR experiences both for the entertainment sector, but also specifically for areas outside of entertainment.
Johanna Pirker Lecture topics
- Do video games increase social awareness?
- How we use gaming to make the world tangible
- Social Online Gaming – The Real Meeting for Innovation & Learning
- Graphics Cards, Game Engines & Virtual Reality – Innovation through New Technologies
Johanna Pirker started in the industry as a QA tester at EA and still consults studios in the field of game research. In 2011/12 she started researching VR experiences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Within the computer game industry, she is best known as the initiator and director of Game Dev Days Graz, Austria’s largest conference for game developers, and as a speaker at international conferences. She is also heavily involved in the indie game development scene and game jams.
Johanna Pirker – Keynote Speaker for Digitalisation, Gamification, Digitalisation & Future
“It’s not just a game. It’s a game changer.”
Johanna loves to talk about her passion. She is an experienced public speaker and has given public appearances as well as keynotes and panel discussions to a wide range of audiences, including TEDx or GDC.
Johanna Pirker has been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Science and has been awarded the Futurezone Women in Tech Award (2019), the Käthe-Leichter Prize (2020) and the Hedy Lamarr Prize (2021).