The Scottish chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has racked up a significant number of achievements over the last year. They’ve organised a number of very well attended events and pulled in some world class speakers at the same time.
Less well known however is the fact that the IGDA awards annual scholarships to attend the Game Developers Conference. There are only 15 places on offer each year and several thousand applicants for each space. So Scotland is, once again, ahead of the curve in global terms.
Luke Dicken has won a scholarship for 2012. He was also awarded the Eric Dybsand Memorial AI Scholarship, which gives him VIP access to the AI Programmers Guild events taking place throughout GDC.
This is the third scholarship in two years for Scotland. Hazel McKendrick was awarded one in 2011, while Luke was awarded a scholarship to attend the 2011 E3 event in LA.
We asked Luke for a comment on the whole scholarships programme. He told us:
“The IGDA Scholarships are an amazing opportunity that provide not just access to conferences but also give you a chance to network and meet with some very senior figures in industry, which may be part of the reason that Scholars are often perceived as “future leaders” within the industry. I’m thrilled to bits to have this second opportunity with the program and to be able to attend GDC – something that I would not have been able to do otherwise. I’m also deeply honoured to have been awarded the “Eric Dybsand Memorial AI Scholarship”, which specifically recognises scholars in the AI field. I’m proud to be a part of Eric’s legacy and really looking forward to GDC!”
We’ll be asking Luke for a quick summary of the event once he’s back home and recovering from the AI-related fun (and games) in San Francisco.