Pedro Pinto Neves: new PhD in Communication Sciences

The doctoral exams in Communication Sciences by Pedro Pinto Neves were held on June 19 (2:30 p.m.), in the ICS (Social Sciences Institute) Sala de Atos of the University of Minho, in Braga. The thesis is supervised by Nelson Zagalo, Lecturer in the Department of Communication Sciences at University of Minho and a researcher in CECS, and Leonel Caseiro Morgado, Lecturer with Habillation  at Open University (Universidade Aberta), and is entitled  ” An Exploration of Agency in Videogames”.

For the new PhD in Communication Sciences, the main contribution in the present thesis is a concretization of an Agency perspective of videogame design. So that, the thesis describes design research carried out on videogame design and Agency: “This design research process was for theory-building: the construction and evaluation of a design artifact as a theory-instrument, containing prescriptive knowledge”.

The founding conjecture in the present thesis is that videogame design can be decisively helped through the availability of a concretization of an Agency perspective of videogame design. The thesis presents the rationale for its founding conjecture, which is also the proposal for artifact construction through design research. Pedro Pinto Neves stresses that the thesis describes a novel structural treatment of videogames organized around that instantiation: “This structural treatment is the concretization of an Agency perspective of videogame design, and is evaluated in accordance with design research through a series of hypothetical videogame design situations”.

The panel of examiners were chaired by the ICS president, Helena Sousa, representing UMinho’s dean, and the following members:
– Licínio Roque, Lecturer at Department of Informatics Engineering (University of Coimbra);
– Ana Isabel Barreto Furtado de Albuquerque Veloso, Lecturer at Department of Communication and Arts (University of Aveiro);
– Nelson Troca Zagalo, Lecturer in the Department of Communication Sciences (University of Minho) and a researcher in CECS;
– Pedro Portela, Lecturer in the Department of Communication Sciences (University of Minho) and a researcher in CECS;
– Ernesto Vilar Figueiras, Lecturer at Department of Communication and Arts (Beira Interior University).

Text: Vítor de Sousa

Photos: Marta Barbosa