Aki Järvinen

Aki Järvinen has had a diverse range of work experience in various roles and industries. Aki has worked at Digital Catapult as a Principal Technologist since October 2023 and previously held roles as Lead Technologist and Senior Experience Researcher in the Immersive department. Aki has also served as a Mentor at Nordic XR Startups since June 2017. Before that, they worked as a Subject Group Leader in Games Design at Sheffield Hallam University from January 2016 to May 2019. Aki is the Founder of both Game Futures and mygamestudies.com, where they provided game design services and conducted research until 2019. Aki has also worked at Playdemic Limited as a General Manager and later transitioned to strategic foresight and market research. Aki held roles at Grand Cru Ltd as a Product Lead, Digital Chocolate as an Executive Producer, Creative Director, and Lead Social Designer, and IT University of Copenhagen as an Assistant Professor. Earlier in their career, Aki worked at Veikkaus the Finnish National Lottery as a Customer Segment Manager, Product Development Manager, and as a Game Researcher & Designer.

Aki Järvinen obtained a Ph.D. in Media Culture from the University of Tampere in the years 2002-2008. Prior to that, they received an MA in Comparative Literature from the same university in the years 1993-1998. Additionally, they have obtained several certifications including Applied Foresight Activator from The Futures School, How to Design for Augmented and Virtual Reality from The Interaction Design Foundation, Fellowship of Higher Education Academy from Higher Education Academy, and Foundations of Programming: Object-Oriented Design from lynda.com.