Whereabouts you are

•‘Whereabouts you are’ was an exhibition of work by ten Glasgow School of Art PhD Researchers, curated by Allyson Keehan (Glasgow School of Art) and guest curator Viviana Checchia (Centre for Contemporary Arts) • The exhibition ran from Saturday 15th October to Thursday 10th November in The Reid Gallery, Glasgow School of Art ‘Whereabouts you are’ explored the diverse research practices of the Glasgow School of Art PhD cohort. Bringing together researchers from disciplines across the fields of Fine Art and Design, the exhibition posed a number of questions about the role of arts practice in academic research, its unique character, and its particular challenges. For the exhibiting researchers, pinpointing whereabouts you are is about marking a particular moment in the research process, pausing to reflect and take stock of their individual journey so far and to consider the next steps. In that spirit, rather than deferring the questions posed by the exhibition, they tackled them head-on through accompanying events organised in collaboration with the Centre for Contemporary Arts. By bringing their work out of the studio, the group hoped to not only shed light on the thought-provoking and innovative research undertaken at Glasgow School of Art, but to enliven the research through conversation with its new audience. The exhibiting researchers were: • Eszter Biró (School of Fine Art) • Jacqueline Butler (School of Fine Art) • Mirian Calvo (Institute for Design Innovation) • Inês Bento Coelho (School of Fine Art) • Allyson Keehan (School of Fine Art) • Fiona Jane MacLellan (Institute for Design Innovation) • Catherine M. Weir (School of Fine Art) • Dawn Worsley (School of Fine Art) • Hanan Makki Zakari (School of Simulation and Visualisation) • Polina Zioga (School of Simulation and Visualisation). Curated by Allyson Keehan (Glasgow School of Art) and guest curator Viviana Checchia (Centre for Contemporary Arts)

Whereabouts you are

'Whereabouts you are' was an exhibition of work by ten Glasgow School of Art Ph.D. Researchers, curated by Allyson Keehan (Glasgow School of Art) and guest curator Viviana Checchia (Centre for Contemporary Arts Glasgow). The exhibition ran from Saturday 15th October to Thursday 10th November 2016 in The Reid Gallery, Glasgow School of Art. 'Whereabouts you are' explored the diverse research practices of the Glasgow School of Art Ph.D. cohort. Bringing together researchers from disciplines across the fields of Fine Art and Design, the exhibition posed a number of questions about the role of arts practice in academic research, its unique character, and its particular challenges. For the exhibiting researchers, pinpointing 'whereabouts you are' is about marking a particular moment in the research process, pausing to reflect and take stock of their individual journey so far and to consider the next steps. In that spirit, rather than deferring the questions posed by the exhibition, they tackled them head-on through accompanying events organised in collaboration with the Centre for Contemporary Arts Glasgow. By bringing their work out of the studio, the group hoped to not only shed light on the thought-provoking and innovative research undertaken at Glasgow School of Art, but to enliven the research through conversation with its new audience. The exhibiting researchers were: • Eszter Biró (School of Fine Art) • Jacqueline Butler (School of Fine Art) • Mirian Calvo (Institute for Design Innovation) • Inês Bento Coelho (School of Fine Art) • Allyson Keehan (School of Fine Art) • Fiona Jane MacLellan (Institute for Design Innovation) • Catherine M. Weir (School of Fine Art) • Dawn Worsley (School of Fine Art) • Hanan Makki Zakari (School of Simulation and Visualisation) • Polina Zioga (School of Simulation and Visualisation)

A serious game for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Auditory Hypersensitivity

Research in Serious Games (SGs) for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has become of higher interest throughout the last decade. The positive impact for children with ASD of playing SGs, more particularly on tablets, has been highlighted, facilitating improvements of communication skills, social interactions and understanding emotions. Autistic individuals have a limited range of interests,and often struggle to communicate with those around them. In addition, they often have to live with Moderating Sensory Hypersensitivity (MSH), leading them to experience increased sensitivity to sound, sight and/or touch. For these reasons, it is crucial to identify effective ways able to help them to relate to the society more easily, with a view to improving their quality of life. The research presented in this thesis describes a methodology for the creation of effective SG dedicated to children with ASD and auditory hypersensitivity, aiming at improving tolerance to critical sounds. The game, Sinbad and the Magic Cure was developed for Android devices and is intended for children aged 8-11, building upon interdisciplinary inputs from the fields of psychology, software engineering and design disciplines. This research first explores a collection of sounds to identify the most critical sounds for children with ASD, and then assesses the effectiveness of the game Sinbad and the Magic Cure to familiarise to these critical sounds. Overall, results suggest that playing SGs in the long-term can be an effective instrument for managing auditory hypersensitivity in autistic children. Finally, this thesis discusses and concludes the trend of utilising SGs for ASD, as well as a proposed future work