Sybille Lammes (1964) studied at the University of Amsterdam, where she obtained her PhD on the depiction of technoscience and gender in early science fiction films. She then joined the University of Utrecht and Warwick University, where she researched games, digital mapping and the role of digital media and play in everyday life. Since 2017, she has been a professor of New Media and Digital Culture at Leiden University. Lammes has led several research projects in which interdisciplinary approaches and collaboration are always central. Her research has been funded by a Veni grant, an ERC Starting Grant and an NWO Open Competition grant.
ANGUS
MOL
Angus A.A. Mol (1984) investigates how the digital world is intertwined with our past, specifically in video games. He studied Caribbean archaeology (cum laude) and obtained his PhD from Leiden University. During his postdoctoral studies at Stanford University, he further specialised in digital methods and subsequently worked as a digital strategist at the Prince Claus Fund. Angus works at the Leiden University Center for Digital Humanities as Associate Professor. Here he co-created projects such as ‘Past-at-Play’ and ‘Streaming the Past’, and he now leads the NWO-Vidi research group ‘Playful Time Machines’. Angus is co-founder and board member of the VALUE Foundation.
ARIS
POLITOPOULOS
Aris Politopoulos (1989) is an archaeologist specialising in ancient West Asia. He studied at Leiden University, where he obtained a PhD on the creation of capitals in Assyria. He brought his passion for archaeology and games together as a founding member of the VALUE Foundation. He worked as a researcher at the Past-at-Play Lab at the Leiden University Center for the Arts in Society (LUCAS). Politopoulos is an Assistant Professor in Archaeology and Cultural Politics. For his innovative teaching, he was chosen as a Teaching Fellow of the Leiden Teachers’ Academy (2022) and nominated for the Leiden Remote Teaching Award (2020). Together with Angus Mol he won the LUCAS Audience Award in 2022.
CSILLA
ARIESE
Csilla E. Ariese (1987) graduated cum laude from the International Museum Studies programme at the University of Gothenburg. She then obtained her PhD at Leiden University on research into 195 Caribbean museums and participation, after which she was nominated for the 5th Boekman Dissertation Prize. Following this, she further specialised in the decolonisation of museums. She works as a senior lecturer at the Reinwardt Academy – Amsterdam School of the Arts. She also chairs the VALUE Foundation, which focuses on games and the past. VALUE won the first DEN Award and was nominated for the Great Archaeology Prize for the project RoMeincraft.
