Dr. Raphaël Mathevet to Hold Lecture on Playing With Perspectives and Serious Games
On Friday, October 10, at 1.30 p.m., Dr. Raphaël Mathevet will hold a lecture at VMU Centre for Research and Studies (23 V. Putvinskio g., Room 106, Kaunas) titled Playing With Perspectives: Serious Games and the Voices of Humans and Animals in Environmental Governance.
Dr. Raphaël Mathevet is a CNRS Research Director at CEFE – University of Montpellier and Director of Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études – Paris Sciences & Lettres University (PSL).
About the lecture
Computer-assisted serious games are gaining recognition as powerful tools for addressing the complexity of environmental and natural resource management. By allowing stakeholders to engage with dynamic simulations, these games create a safe arena for exploring trade-offs, negotiating conflicts, and imagining alternative futures. They act as boundary objects that connect scientific models with local experience, thereby supporting dialogue across diverse knowledge systems. At the same time, they serve as educational devices that foster experiential learning, enhancing participants’ ability to grasp socio-ecological dynamics and reflect on their own assumptions.
This presentation emphasizes two complementary perspectives that strengthen the use of serious games in governance, education, and learning processes. First, the lens of post-normal science highlights the importance of dealing with uncertainty, conflicting values, and contested expertise. Second, animal perspectivism invites us to consider the viewpoints and agency of non-human beings, expanding the scope of participation beyond human stakeholders. Finally, the integration of arts, sciences, and technologies within serious game design opens new avenues for creative engagement. By combining analytical rigor, artistic imagination, and digital tools, these approaches foster inclusive and reflexive multi-stakeholder consultation, collective learning, and more-than-human forms of ecological governance.
