Meet the Team
The TOGETHER Team
The TOGETHER team brings together researchers, educators, and developers from five European universities. Our diverse expertise — spanning economics, law, software engineering, sustainability sciences, educational sciences, chemistry, physics, and game design — enables us to create a truly interdisciplinary learning experience.
🇳🇱 University of Groningen Project lead WP1 lead WP4 lead
Daniël Vullings
University of Groningen
Daniël Vullings is an assistant professor at the University of Groningen, focused on education at the Faculty for Economics and Business in the Economics, Econometrics, and Finance department. He teaches mathematics and statistics courses and experiments with serious gaming in the Bachelor's Econometrics and Operations Research and Economics, and Business Economics. He coordinates the TOGETHER project.
Maria Lorena Flórez Rojas
University of Groningen
Lorena is an Assistant Professor of Law and Technology, specializing in digital law, algorithmic governance, and technology-driven education. She designed the serious game You Are Hired! to build client-focused, tech-literate legal skills. Within TOGETHER, she leads the legal strand of the hybrid serious game, aligning scenarios with GreenComp.
Michael Lerch
University of Groningen
Michael is an assistant professor at the Stratingh Institute for Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, at the University of Groningen. His research focuses on building chemically driven robotics and intelligent matter. Taking a research-based approach to teaching innovation, Michael and his team have experimented with co-creation of chemistry escape games, portraits of underrepresented scientists, and storytelling. Michael contributes to the module development and scientific background in the project.
D. Maniar
University of Groningen
Bio coming soon.
L. Silveri
University of Groningen
Bio coming soon.
🇧🇪 Ghent University WP3 lead
Femke De Backere
Ghent University
Femke is an associate professor of Software Engineering at Ghent University. Her expertise includes software engineering, personalized and context-aware health solutions, serious games, gamification, and digital healthcare interventions. In TOGETHER, Femke leads the data management and proof-of-concept evaluation work package.
Sebastiaan de Oude
Ghent University
Sebastiaan is a PhD researcher in Computer Science Engineering at Ghent University. His research centres on serious games and game-based learning, exploring how multi-agent AI systems can create personalized learning experiences. He also conducts interdisciplinary VR research on introducing sustainable protein alternatives in collaboration with bio-engineers. As a teaching assistant in the year-long Design Project course, he guides student teams through building software solutions from concept to implementation.
Christian Walter
Ghent University
Bio coming soon.
🇸🇪 Uppsala University WP2 lead
Aleksandra Halaim
Uppsala University
Aleksandra is lecturer and researcher at Uppsala University, Center for Health and Sustainability, specializing in sustainability education with a specific focus on serious games, and applied drama techniques; her PhD is in Ecology and Environmental Science dealing with ecosystem services under context of climate change and other global wicked problems. Within the TOGETHER project, she leads work package 2 “Design Thinking” on behalf of Uppsala University team, bringing expertise in transformative learning, co-creation approach for sustainability, and expertise in developing and facilitation educational serious games / simulations in sustainability (both board and online versions).
Alvin O'Sullivan
Uppsala University
Alvin O’Sullivan works at Uppsala University as a designer and educator with a focus on game‑based approaches to learning, collaboration, and systems thinking. His work brings together game design, visual communication, and participatory design methods to support interdisciplinary education in sustainability‑related contexts. In the TOGETHER project, he contributes to Work Package 2: Design Thinking as part of the Uppsala University team, supporting co‑creation processes through the design and facilitation of educational serious games. His expertise lies in translating complex sustainability challenges into playable, collaborative formats that foster transformative learning and shared understanding.
Ulrika Persson-Fischier
Uppsala University
Bio coming soon.
🇬🇪 Illia State University WP5 lead
Tamar Doborjginidze
Illia State University
Tamar is a lecturer at Ilia State University, specialising in science education, environmental education, and sustainable development. Her expertise focuses on modernising STEM education and strengthening the integration of environmental literacy into formal curricula. Through her teaching, research, and active engagement in academic initiatives, she promotes interdisciplinary approaches that connect science education with sustainability principles. She participates in EU projects that aim to improve science and environmental education, collaborating with European and Georgian institutions.
Marika Kapanadze
Illia State University
Marika is a Professor of Science Education and Head of the School of Education at Ilia State University (ISU), Georgia. She is the founder and head of the Science Education Research Centre (SALiS). Her work focuses on developing training programs for both pre-service and in-service science teachers. Her research interests include teacher professional development and the exploration of students' interest in science. Prof. Kapanadze serves on the editorial boards of several peer-reviewed scientific journals and collaborates with universities from different countries on joint research initiatives. She is the author of numerous scientific papers published in international journals.
🇨🇭 University of Bern Associated Partner
Christoph Bader
University of Bern
Christoph is a senior scientist and study director at University of Bern. His expertise includes sustainability transformations, pluralism in economics, social innovations and social inequality. He uses serious games in teaching and leads a course where students design their own serious games related to sustainability challenges.
Anna Lena Lewis
University of Bern
Anna Lena is a research associate and PhD candidate at the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), specialising in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and innovative learning design. She co-develops competence-based curricula that foster transformative learning across diverse cultural contexts.
Interested in Collaborating?
We welcome connections with researchers, educators, and institutions interested in serious games for sustainability education.
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