Creative Technology student presents his own game and thesis at international conference

Creative Technology student Wieger Wittrock presented his game and thesis at an international conference on serious gaming.

Creative Technology student presents his own game at international conference

Wieger Wittrock, a Bachelor student in Creative Technology, recently presented his serious game along with his thesis at an international conference on the Foundations of Digital Games in Graz, Austria. The game, De Weg Naar Boven (“The Way Up"), supports audiology experts in assessing hearing abilities under realistic, everyday sound conditions. 

Wieger designed and developed the game entirely on his own as part of his graduation project, supervised by Marcello Gómez-Maureira and Kasia Zalewska (UT), with clinical and audiological expertise provided by Adriana Zekveld and Sophia Kramer from (Amsterdam UMC). In addition to presenting his thesis, Wieger was invited to demonstrate the game to the academic audience. Conference visitors were therefore able to experience the game first-hand and observe how it supports hearing assessments through immersive gameplay that includes realistic background noise, simulating everyday listening situations.  

Wieger’s work highlights the academic impact that Bachelor-level research can have and serves as a great example of how Creative Technology bridges disciplines – in this case, healthcare and game design – through collaboration between institutions. 

This project also reflects two key pillars of the Alliance VU-UT: innovative education through the joint Bachelor’s in Creative Technology, and impactful research driven by the Smart Societies impact coalition.