LISER is pleased to communicate that the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) has awarded LISER’s Gender Game a PSP (Promoting Science to the Public) Flagship Grant.

First launched in 2016 and then funded in 2019 through the PSP Classic Grant, the ‘Gender Game’ (GG) was created to raise awareness about gender inequalities and to arouse curiosity for social sciences. Initially launched as a giant interactive board game measuring 3 x 3 meters, this youth friendly game traveled throughout the country to children ‘maisons relais’ and youth houses.  Ultimately, efforts by the GG team were recognized in 2020 by winning the FNR Prize for Outstanding Promotion of Science to the Public. With close support from the FNR, the success continued in 2021 with PSP Flagship Grant solidifying a joint-venture between LISER and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST).

Lead by LISER researcher Carole Bond-Hanten, the GG’s Flagship grant builds upon past work and experiences. Rooted in the social sciences and specifically on the issue of gender equality, the GG Flagship will develop into a mixed physical and digital gamified device, elaborated as an extension and development of the physical GG version existing since 2016.

In developing this “physical-digital” tool, the core of the GG will remain the physical play, but digital elements shall be developed based on a systematic review of the game elements in order to make the game more interactive and fun for the players and more easy to handle for the animator. The GG will thus be entirely revamped, in a co-creation process, including new updated questions, stimulating more senses and the group of animators being extended beyond LISER’s team by involving teachers, young people, and science animators from the Luxembourg Science Center.

The updated physical-digital GG aims at measuring its impact (immediate, situational and mid-term) and analyzing non-verbal communication of the players.  With those new insights, the GG will be prepared to look beyond national audiences.  Another outlook is the design of a smaller version of the game so it can be played more easily in schools.