Sandra Danilovic

The main focus of my humanistic research is personal storytelling through digital game design. I organize game jams (creative workshops) to study game design practices rooted in lived experiences with mental health, addiction, and disability. I draw on arts-based and participatory methodologies to engage underserved communities in digital game creation. I also harness game design practices as a springboard for theorizing selfhood, subjectivity, and agency. 

I am currently Principal Investigator on a SSHRC Insight Development Grant exploring autobiographical game design as a tool to support opioid addiction recovery. This project examines the practice of making games as a modality for self-expression, for building community health, and tool for fighting the stigma and social isolation surrounding substance use. For more information on this current project, please see my article: “Making Video Games Can Support Addiction Recovery" in The Conversation. 

Affiliations: 
I am affiliated with Laurier's Community Psychology where I am able to supervise graduate students. I am also Adjunct Professor in OCADU's Inclusive Design program where I am currently supervising a Master of Design student.  

• 2020-22 Principal Investigator, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant for “Autobiographical Game Design for Young Adults Living with Opioid Addiction: A Phenomenology of Sense-Making” 

• 2010 Best Documentary at the San Francisco New Media Film Festival for "Second Bodies" 

• 2009 Gordon F. Keeble Award from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) for "Second Bodies" 

I have also been awarded grants for my documentaries on the immigrant experience—Just Arrived (2004) and Portrait of a Street: The Soul and Spirit of College (2001)—from Rogers OMNI Television, The National Film Board of Canada, and Toronto Arts Council.

I am able to supervise graduate students in multiple departments, including Laurier's Community Psychology Field.

Graduate students under current primary supervision:
2024-25 Julia Cherniak. Community Psychology, MA thesis title: "Beyond the Filter: Exploring the Discrepancy Between Online Personae and In-Person Reality among Young Women on Instagram." 

2024-25 Shazia Mohamed. Community Psychology, MA thesis title: "Deconstructing Islamophobia: Empowering the Muslim Community." 

Previous primary supervision (successful theses):

2024 Alia Skillman. Social Justice and Community Engagement (MA), Wilfrid Laurier University. MRP title: “Exploring Gamification and Game-Based Learning as Strategies for Building an Anti-Oppressive and Inclusive Educational Model."

2023 Eamon Gaudio, Inclusive Design (MDes), OCAD University. MRP title: "Facilitating Inclusive Running Events: Policy Analysis to Reduce Barriers for Persons with Disabilities." 

• Danilovic, S. (forthcoming 2024). Arts for health: Games. Emerald Publishing.  
• Danilovic, S., & de Voogt, A. (2020). Making sense of abstract board games: Toward a cross-ludic theory, Games and Culture. 
• Danilovic, S. (2019). Game design therapoetics: Authoring the computer game autopathography. Meaningful Play 2018 Conference Proceedings, ETC Press.
• Danilovic, S. (2019). Reimagining first-person shooter games through sociopoiesis. UnMediated: Journal of Politics and Communication, 1(2), 138-143.
• Danilovic, S. (2013). Virtual lens of exposure: Aesthetics, theory, and ethics of documentary filmmaking in Second Life. J. Ng, (Ed.), Understanding machinima: Essays on filmmaking in virtual worlds, 167-186. London: Bloomsbury.
• Danilovic, S. (2010). Autism and Second Life: An introduction. Journal on Developmental Disabilities, 15(3), 125-129.

• DD111: Games as Art
• DD451: Capstone in Critical Game Design I
• DD452: Capstone in Critical Game Design II
• DD411: Capstone in Games Entrepreneurship 

“'Game Jams' to Support Addiction Recovery”. Long-form interview podcast with People First Radio and the Vancouver Island Mental Health Society. Recorded on June 24, 2022. 

“Let’s Play: Video games focused on mental health”, CBC with Jonathan Ore, July 18, 2019