Login or register to access all of our events.
As part of a series of regional games socials held by BAFTA, join us at Nova Scotia in games hub Liverpool to meet and connect with fellow BAFTA members, staff and guests for an evening of networking.
Please Login to your account by clicking the button above in order to book tickets to this event.
The social will also feature a panel talk on the games industry’s talent pipeline, both within the local sector and beyond. Hear from Gina Jackson OBE (founder of SkillFULL), Marcia Deakin (Co-Founder of NextGen Skills) and Alison Lacy (Studio Manager of Avalanche Studios) as they share their thoughts with host Jamie Brayshaw (Head of Marketing and Partnerships at Ripstone Games) on what the current problems are, and potential solutions from both a company and industry level.
HOST
Jamie Brayshaw
As Head of Marketing & Partnerships at Ripstone, Jamie Brayshaw fosters creatively inspiring environments in which people and teams can thrive. For the players, he's passionate about making irresistible experiences that people love to play forever. Behind the scenes, he’s tenacious about building dream teams to produce game-changing work. In a career spanning two decades in games, Jamie has forged effective partnerships on award-winning projects at EA, Sony PlayStation, Codemasters, and Ripstone. In his newly appointed role as Chair of the GameChangers skills initiative, he’s now also helping bring the Liverpool City Region’s games industry together to empower future generations of creators and innovators.
SPEAKERS
Dr Gina Jackson OBE
Dr Gina Jackson OBE is the founder of Skillfull. She has worked on around 300 games in both development and publishing roles from SNES through to PS5. She now supports developers and publishers as a consultant/coach, develops and delivers training for career changers and new entrants and is working on a UK Skills report. She’s an activist for change across skills, diversity and mental health in the games industry to create the best conditions for sustainable growth.
Marcia Deakin
Marcia is a Co-Founder at NextGen Skills Academy, an organisation dedicated to working with employers and education to address skills shortages, diversity and inclusivity in Games, Animation and VFX. She has over 20 years experience in the UK Games Industry working for both publishers and developers. NextGen combine a deep understanding of working in the industry with a practical approach to delivering change. Working with employers they provide industry engagement and support to 17 colleges across England and Northern Ireland, apprenticeship support for employers and successful bootcamps providing alternate pathways into the creative sector.
Alison Lacy
Alison is the Location (Studio) Manager for Avalanche Studios Group’s Liverpool Studio. She joined ASG in 2020 to create the studio and help build the team. During this time the studio has grown to 50 people, who work across all three of ASG’s creative divisions on different titles including the latest addition to Expansive World's self published Call of the Wild franchise, Call of the Wild: The Angler.
Before Avalanche, Alison was Director of Brand Lifestyle at Bentley Motors, responsible for global partnerships, licensing, branded goods and motorsport marketing and prior to that was a senior producer at Evolution Studios, at the time part of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.
