Dr. Ben Schouten

Biography

Ben Schouten is a Full Professor of Playful Interactions in Intelligent Systems at Eindhoven University of Technology. He serves as the scientific director for education at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and as an advisor to the European Commission on the Internet of Things, as well as to the Dutch Cultural Media Fund, focusing on E-culture. His research interests include game and play design, social innovations, and citizen empowerment through culture. Schouten was the general chair of the renowned CHI PLAY 2017 conference and is a co-founder of the Games Health Conference series. He has co-edited significant scientific volumes, proceedings of the 5th International Joint Conference on Ambient Intelligence, and thematic issues for the Journal of Ambient Intelligent Systems (2013) on playful interactions and serious games, emphasizing that play is not just fun but a vital link to psychological development and learning. Schouten graduated from the Rietveld Art Academy in 1983 and received a Master’s degree in Mathematics, specializing in chaos theory, in 1995. He founded Desk.nl in 1996, which provided innovative internet solutions, and obtained his PhD from the University of Amsterdam in 2001 for his award-winning thesis on intuitive image browsing and searching. Over the years, he has worked with the Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science (CWI) in Amsterdam and taught at the Utrecht School of Art & Technology (HKU). In 2010, he was appointed as a Full Professor at Eindhoven University of Technology, specializing in Smart Environments, and in 2013, he became the Lector of Play & Civic Media Research at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.

Research Interests