Challenge Investment Fund - Scottish Historical Heritage and Gamification

The CAHSS Challenge Investment Fund serves to support the development of a new interdisciplinary collaboration with the History and Games Lab, led by Gianluca Raccagni (History, University of Edinburgh). This funding enabled us to establish the foundations of an emerging research field at the intersection of Scottish heritage, games-based learning, and gamification, using the case study of David Rizzio.

To date, the project has generated the following key outputs: 1. co-development of a pilot role play game on David Rizzio in both English and Italian, in collaboration with game designers Errico Borro and Ian Hathaway; 2. Organisation of the workshop Historical Game Studies and Scottish Heritage, 13th May 2025, Edinburgh Futures Institute, University of Edinburgh, including representatives of the National Museum of Scotland, Palace of Holyroodhouse, game designers, scholars in gamification from the US, Norway, UK, historians, PhD students, to explore the state of the art of gamification projects on Scottish Heritage, how it has been studied and applied, with a special focus on David Rizzio as a case study for future projects. The event included a playtest session of the co-developed roleplay game in the afternoon – number of attendees: approx. 20; 3. Paper at the AIPH conference, 5th June 2025; 4. Playtest session of the roleplay game in Italian in Moretta on 7th June 2025, including local school teachers and gamers from Dimensione Arcana.