Frans Mäyrä, Professor of Information Studies and Interactive Media, Tampere University

Video: North Arrow Films / Jousia Lappi.

Tell us briefly about your research topics and international work

I am originally a scholar of culture and literature, and since the early 1990s, I have also focused on researching our cultural relationships to technology, and how certain tensions and potentials of conflict relate to human-technology hybridity. Since the early 2000s, I have been heading the Game Research Lab, a group of scholars and teachers focusing on Game Studies in Tampere University. Our work has aimed to uncover and develop theories that help us to understand games, play, and how our cultures and societies are changing in relation to developments in these areas. 

In this, we have contributed to the establishment of Game Studies as an emergent new discipline, as well as a multidisciplinary research field, within academia. I have been also the Director of the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies (2018-2025), a major, three-university consortium build upon the internationally-leading expertise of Finnish games scholarship.

Based on your vast experience, what makes Tampere an especially good location for international conferences?

Tampere is an excellent place to organise conferences and other academic events for multiple reasons: first of all, the city size is just right, as hotels, conference locations and all key attractions are either within a walking distance, or easily reachable by public transportation. Tampere features also a great combination of natural beauty and history. There are always many museums, art exhibitions, theatre, opera, or even novel game culture events and other points of interest taking place here. There are many excellent bars and restaurants that support the important social side of conferences, too. We have sometimes even taken a conference group to an ice swimming and sauna trip - an experience they have talked for years afterwards!

How would you describe Tampere as a city? What makes it special?

Tampere is a very beautiful, human sized city, which is rich both in terms of history and modernity, in cultural and social activities.