Game Republic welcomed more than 200 students, course leaders and games companies to its first-ever Careers Conference on Wednesday 18th July 2025 at Sheffield Hallam University, the day after the successful Game Republic Student Showcase which took place in the same venue on 17th July (check out the story and winners of the Showcase here).
The Game Republic Careers Conference was a packed day of talks, panels, roundtables, portfolio reviews, industry 1-1s, pitching sessions and an expo for Game Republic’s educational partners. Summing up the day after the last panel ended, Dr Jackie Mulligan said
“Massive thank you to the team at Sheffield Hallam University – particularly Danielle Allen, Paul Parry, Roger Bateman, Catie Varley, Michela Vilinskis and Dan Dudley for coordinating this programme for our first ever Game Republic Careers Conference – to all our presenters, our expo, our educational partners for joining us and to our Official Partners Red Kite Games, Barclays Games and Creative and Xsolla for supporting the Game Republic events programme.
We started yesterday by seeing the level of talent in the next generation of game developers at the Game Republic Student Showcase. Today we started with the future of the games industry panel and latest research, we have had a packed day of conversations, support and reviews to help each other and now we have ended the day with some inspiration to set us all off on our safe journeys home and onwards. Thanks everyone for being part of it.”
The day started with a Future of the Games Industry panel hosted by Dr Jackie Mulligan from Game Republic, and featuring industry luminaries Luke Hebblethwaite from BAFTA, Emma Cooper from UKRI, John O’Shea from the National Videogame Museum, Ash Habib from Steel City Interactive and Jamie Sefton, also from Game Republic. Topics included the value of games culture, games as an engine for growth in the economy including other industries, success coming from putting 100% into your games and the future of games being in players’ hands.
Afterwards, ten different research projects from universities including Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Hull, were presented in five-minute “lightning talk” on topics as varied as game design, toxicity in esports, motion capture technologies and potential uses in health and other settings, using games to teach children about court appearances, using podcasts to engage students, NPC character design and using VR for patient rehab. Research presented included papers and work led by Tom Battey, Stuart Lilford, Adrian Mills & David Grant
Joe Langley, Rebecca Partridge, Chris Redford, Jane O’Hara, Lauren Ramsey, Siobhan McHugh, Dr Marilena Kyriakidou, Prof Claire Craig and Design Futures Packaging, Dr Oliver Merry & Dr Kate Whitfield, Anton Hecht
Ivan Phelan, Tom Garner, Andrew Hamilton, Jing Wang and Thomas Hodgkins and Alejandro Jiménez Rodríguez.
The Sheffield Hallam Atrium was then transformed into a Careers Expo, with companies including Snappy Gurus, Electric Square, Red Kite Games, Eaton Smith, Aardvark Swift and Wushu Studios available to talk to and help students with careers advice, as well as scheduled portfolio reviews and 1-1 sessions with more studios including freelancers and artists and programmers from Rebellion, Revolution Software, Maximalist, Otterweave, Fuse Games, Atomhawk, Dovetail Games and Roarty Games to name a few.
The event also included a pitching room where graduate teams could pitch their game to a panel of games companies that included Alex Amsel (Angel Investor), Adam Clewes-Boyne (BetaJester), Isaac Haslehurst (Yogscast Games) and Andrew Stewart (Triplevision). After the pitching the panelists did a 40 minute session on How To Pitch sharing insights included tailoring pitches and trying to include game demos or trailers that conveyed the game in pitches and game structure.
The Pennine Lecture Theatre had a full programme of panels through the afternoon.
At 1pm the Early Careers and the Current Games Industry panel included panelists Lauren Sears, Wushu Studios
Jordan Thorpe, Snappy Gurus and Ian Goodall, Aardvark Swift moderated by Dr Jackie Mulligan. All encouraged the students to network, to focus on their portfolios and to keep learning after completing studies as the industry was fast-paced.
Sam Crich, Eaton Smith, Tom Leighton, Atomhawk and freelancers Areus Dashti and Reinaldo Diaz joined Jackie for a panel ‘Understanding Freelancing and Contract Working’ at 1.50pm. The panelists provided insights on contracting, maintaining balance, the importance of good communications, how to secure work and how to manage workloads for multiple clients, and the contract obligations and considerations needed.
Later that day, Jamie Sefton hosted a Fireside Chat on Apprenticeships and First Studio Roles with Grace Johnson, Red Kite Games, Fagin Hales, Red Kite Games and Dr Jake Habgood, Sumo Digital. The apprentices shared the benefits they had gained through the apprenticeships and the reason why the schemes could support the games industry.
At 3.30pm Dan Dudley hosted a panel on Preparing for Job Applications and Interview with Andy Coley, Game Studio Training, Lauren Sears, Wushu Studios and Jordan Thorpe, Snappy Gurus. Key insights included tailoring your CVs and applications, doing research into employers and making sure to show your passion for games in applications and interviews.
The final panel Getting Started as an Indie; Startups, Pitching & Funding moderated by Dr Jackie Mulligan, Game Republic included panelists Adam Clewes-Boyne, BetaJester, Andrew Stewart, Triplevision Games, Marco Ng, Otterweave Games and Yasmina Fadel, Maximalist shared their perspectives on starting up. Each shared their reasons for starting the business, the importance of networks and asking for support and not being expected to know it all from the start. Andrew Stewart rounded the session off when asked about tips for starting up with “Just Do it”.
To find out more about Game Republic and how to get to more events and access support – visit gamerepublic.net/join-us
Gallery from the day
