
Charlie Scrase
Top skills: I can think on my feet and maintain a sense of calm

Laurajane Watson
Dream job: I would love to be part of game design

Joshua Thakar
Dream job: I would definitely choose to be a commentator

James Dingley
Top skill: confident in creating new strategies

Luke Snellings
Top skill: I would say my aim is definitely a big skill of mine

Mike Libeccio
Top skill: leadership qualities, especially when playing competitively

IJESPORTS Essay Competition 2020
What are the health challenges an esport player faces?

Lewis Wain
Top skill: bringing everyone together and keeping the team strong

Cian Taylor-Cook
Cian Taylor-Cook is from West Sussex and studies esports at the University of Chichester.

Jack Freeman
Jack Freeman is a second-year esports student from the West Midlands. Inspired by advertisements for the League of Legends Championships, Jack entered the world of competitive gaming in 2014.

Thomas Graham
Thomas Graham (Tom) is an esports and sports fan from the East Midlands. Currently, he is approaching his first year in the esports course at Staffordshire University and has also completed the foundation year in this course. What got you interested in studying esports? Looking at the course, I felt as though this could be a good way to learn more about the industry and get experience experience in the field. I already had a desire to participate in esports to some capacity in the future, so this allowed me to ‘pull the trigger’ I suppose, and really allow me to begin finding my way into esports. Which esports games do you enjoy most and why? I mostly play Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, which I enjoy for its variety in characters and also the high competitive viability of characters. This means almost any character could theoretically win. However, I also do enjoy the fast paced aspects of Dragon Ball Fighters and Super Smash Bros Melee despite there being somewhat of a small roster of competitively viable characters. Skills I would say my skills are: adaptability, learning and public speaking. I feel like adaptability and learning sort of go hand in […]

Dr Andrew Novak
Dr Andrew Novak is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Human Performance Research Centre – University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in Australia. He is also a Sports Performance Scientist for Rugby Australia.

Sara Leghari
Sara Leghari is going into her second year of esports come September. She was drawn into the creative and managerial aspect of esports whilst studying her degree. This includes content and event planning. Sara has always known she wanted to be a leader. She found through the multiple projects she’s done in the past, how leading came naturally to her. Within her first year she was able to attend multiple big industry events and represent her University. What got you interested in studying esports? I first got interested in esports when I went to an event in LA for Overwatch League. I played a lot when it was a big thing and going there, feeling the hype of the crowd and seeing how the production worked made me want to be part of it, make it happen. I had all these ideas I said at the time like “hmm, well what if that was there or this was done like this” and it made me so excited and passionate about wanting to do it. Then when I left my old uni and found out about this one I thought, hey I want to do this! I really felt a fire […]

ACES appoints key figures in esports sector onto its IAB
The ACES Executive Board has appointed Promod Esports CEO, Rob Black as the IAB Chair for a two-year tenure. Since his appointment, Rob has invited a range of UK esports industry professionals to join him on the IAB to help represent the multifaceted businesses within the sector.

Georgie Reeve
Georgie has been involved in esports for almost 7 years, she started with volunteering within Pokémon and their competitive play programme.

Adapt or disappear: legacy sports media look to esports …
With the simultaneous rise of esports online and the decline of traditional sport spectatorship and viewership on linear television in the UK, both ends of the sporting spectrum are looking to each other for clues for securing future sustainability.

ACES launches as the voice of esports higher education in the UK
ACES Executive Board Left to right: Vice chair Dr Russell Cowley, Dr William Darler, Michael Holley, vice chair LJ Filotrani, chair Dr Richard Oddy The Association of Continuing Education for Esports (ACES) is a consortium of academics with the backing of industry leaders. The association aims to support and raise the profile of the discipline of esports across HE education in the UK. Industry forecasters are predicting that esports will generate more than £1bn in global revenue by 2022. With an online global audience in 2019 reaching just under 500 million, the sector is also regularly filling stadiums with esports fans gathering at mega events. Spectator numbers are beginning to rival traditional sports tournaments such as the Super Bowl in the US – last year’s League Of Legends World Championship in South Korea attracted 99.6 million unique viewers for the live final for example. “We are working very closely with industry professionals to strategically position ACES. With that said, a key objective for us as an association, is to benefit, connect and support all stakeholders. With the industry experiencing such exponential growth, ACES provides an essential platform to ensure this growth is sustainable long-term,” ACES vice chair, Dr Russell Cowley. […]