Conference - Nature Meets Play
Transforming Environmental Education through Games
March 17th, 2026 13:00 – 17:00 CET
Menntavegur 1, 102, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland - Room V101
At the Nature Meets Play - conference, international specialists in serious games, education and environmental sustainability will present talks and sessions on nature-based solutions and on designing and implementing game-based approaches in environmental education.
The seven international speakers will address a wide range of topics in their 30-minute presentations regarding the conception, implementation and use of serious games and gamification in higher education in relation to nature-based solutions for our societies.
Lectures:
13:00 - 31:10 Opening, Project Introduction by Lóa Steingerður, HASKOLINN I REYKJAVIK EHF
13:10 - 13:30 Olivier Heidemann: Presentation of the game. PANEPISTIMIO THESSALIAS
13:30 - 13:55 Jennifer Tiede & Daniel Heßler: Competency development through serious games: experts' expectations and their implications for BaN game design, FH DORTMUND
14:00 - 14:45 Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen: Developing seven serious games on climate change and the patterns that emerged, SERIOUS GAMES INTERACTIVE
15:05: - 15:50 Jannica Haldin & Owen Rowe: "Not only fun and games - Ecosfera Baltica and the quest to save the sea", HELCOM FINLAND
15:55 - 16:25 Elín Carstensdóttir: Designing Serious Games, HASKOLINN I REYKJAVIK EHF
16:30 - 16:55 Carlos Vaz de Carvalho: Serious Games as Learning Infrastructures - Experiences from VIRTUAL CAMPUS.
16:55 - 17:00 Closing remarks, Jaanus Terasmaa, TALLINN UNIVERSITY 5
The European consortium BuildAsNature, consisting of partners from Iceland, Estonia, Greece, Germany and Portugal, will also present a playable prototype of the Serious Game BuildAsNature. This will be made available free of charge to universities and other interested groups in the European Union starting in Sep-tember 2026.
In BaN, we are developing a digital learning experience to enhance multidiscipli-nary digital skills. The core of this project is to create a serious game for university students to explore and apply nature-based solutions in a simulated environ-ment.
Remote participation is welcome and all key sessions will be accessible online for international participants who can’t attend on site. https://www.ru.is/vidburdir/nature-meets-play
The event was for educators, researchers, practitioners and students interested in serious games, sustainability, or nature based solutions in education.