Hello and welcome.

I was totally forced to do this blog, but I’m determined to enjoy the process. I have some ideas of what I’ll do and how to make it fun. And maybe someone will even read it! Weird hopes, I know…

Quick introduction about myself. I’m guessing you’ve already read my “official” bio on the main page of the website (if you haven’t, go check it out!). So let me tell you more about the me who isn’t an academic paper writing bot, as some assume I am. I’m a woman stuck in the world of Computer Science and games at her own will. Originally from Romania, but moved to the UK about four and a half years ago to look for a better future for myself. Back at my parents house, I have a cat called Mia, which I adore, but hey, she’s a cat, so the feeling is not quite obviously mutual. She’s usually cranky at least for the first few days when I visit, seeming to say “I know you, human. I know you’ll leave again.” Which is fair enough, my life is here now. But I do miss her loads! (And my family, of course, to whom I owe a lot of where I am today.) There’s another little kitten at home which my parents decided to name Mini (when the other is usually called Mimi), to avoid any confusion. I met him for the first time this past winter and he’s the cutest naughties kitten. There will probably be pictures around here at some point. I like cats. And chocolate, baking, taking pretty pictures and books.

But now we’re getting off track. Did I mention I’m very easily distracted? So, as I was saying, I came to the UK for university. I did a Bachelors in Computer Games at the University of Essex in Colchester and it was quite cool. Lots of stones thrown in my way, making walking this path painful, but then I was doing a Masters in Computer Games! And that’s when I found out about this cool thing called research. You should try it if you haven’t yet. It’s what the academics do when they’re not replying to that urgent email you’ve sent. It’s a cool way to try things without people screaming at you you’re wrong (well, they might write that in a review instead) and sharing your work with others so together you build stronger and better science. You can be part of history, like the DeepMind people. Or you can just travel to nice places, present your work and pretend you’re smart in front of a bunch of people who probably know a lot more about what you’re trying to sell to them than you do. But that’s how you learn, isn’t it?

So that’s where I am now. I am trying to be a Ph.D. student in Intelligent Games and Games Intelligence (IGGI), I dropped a link on my main website in case you’re curious and you would like to get involved. We’re cool people, really. Doing research and games and intelligence, putting them all together to hopefully make an impact in both academia and the UK games industry. I am still in my first year, though my supervisors often forget that and overestimate me. And I am part of this awesome cohort of IGGI, which means I get to not only play games and call it research, but also travel to York and London regularly as our partner universities, attend the Gobal Game Jam every year and have a guaranteed amazing team, liaise with industry in Symposiums and go to fancy conferences. Soon I’ll be going to Amsterdam for EvoStar, then Spain for CEC and in August hopefully to New York for CIG! So I’ll write about that.

And many more. I’ll do my best to keep this blog professional, but it won’t be just that. Some of my current ideas for categories you might expect include:

• Random - stuff that doesn’t fit in any other category
• Paper Club - like a book club, but instead commenting and reviewing academic papers, with you joining in the discussion in the comments! (If there even is a you… hellooo?) I have to do it anyway to pass to the next year, so why not make it fun.
• Conferences - thoughts on conferences, presentations I make or other cool conferency things
• PhD Life - general experiences related to being a PhD student
• Side Projects - there are always some of those, I might share what I’m up to when my supervisors are not looking
• Travel - if I do go somewhere nice, I’ll be sure to rub it in your faces
• Baking - just to make you hungry
• Games - I do play games every now and then, they’re cool!
• Books - I also read as much as I can; recently started the Dragonlance Chronicles, I might let you come along for the journey

I hope something there peaked your interest and you’ll stick around. I’ll try to vary things as much as possible, so there aren’t just cats floating around or talk of papers. Thank you for reading!