Bea[trix] Livesey-Stephens

Hi, I'm Bea (she/her)!✨
When people ask me about myself as a professional, I tell them I have 5 main interests:

💬 Linguistics & Languages: My home field! I have an MA (Hons) degree in Linguistics from the University of Aberdeen
♿️ Accessibility & Disability: I am a disabled person and accessibility consultant, most recently for Disabled Students UK
🎮 Games: From video games to TTRPGs to LARP! I am currently employed on the GAME-ER project at Abertay University
🍑 Sex Education & Sexuality Studies: Especially consent/relationship education! I co-designed The Amazing Sex Scene Rewrite
✍️ Creative Writing: I implemented a case study for Trent Hergenrader and Steven Slota's book The Worldbuilding Workshop

I am an awardee of the Abertay Futures Scholarship and am currently pursuing an MPhil in Game Studies, about how consent is perceived and applied in analogue roleplaying games that pertain to intimacy, romance and/or sexuality.

I am a recent IGDA Foundation Virtual Exchange 2023 Program Grantee as part of the Scholars cohort, and I'm always looking for new experiences in games accessibility, localisation, production, ethical and accessible design, and games user research.

I have a demonstrated history of varied research and production, and love to get into situations where I can make stuff happen. I love projects, research, intentional design, creative practice, and genuine human connection (my favourite Cards Against Humanity card).

A picture of Bea standing up, speaking in front of a large screen. The screen has a table on it with data, but the specifics of the data aren't visible.

A picture of Bea presenting at Ulster university. The slide behind her reads “such language change: the growing nuances of the sparkle emoji.” It has lots of sparkle emojis of different colours and shapes on it.

Project Highlights (find other projects here)

A promotional graphic for Abertay University's end-of-project event for the InGAME International project. It reads "From East to West: Cross-Cultural Games Innovation in China and Beyond." The INGAME International and HubWorld Scotland logos are visible.

From East to West: Cross-Cultural Games Innovation in China and Beyond

- Supported organisation and delivery of a large-scale end-of-project dissemination event for Abertay University’s InGAME International project about collaboration between British and Chinese game industries
- Attracted over 70 attendees including those from Hyper Luminal Games, Biome Collective, and Konglomerate Games
- Liaised with event co-hosts Dundee Contemporary Arts & HubWorld Scotland
- Coordinated organisation of programme and event production, managing schedules, speakers, and locations whilst working with the wider project team
- Analysed focus group data from local game studio Pocket Sized Hands to inform their contribution to the end-of-project output videos (forthcoming)
- Participated in the output videos myself to talk about the data I analysed and the experience of producing From East To West: Cross-Cultural Games Innovation in China and Beyond

Logos of InGAME International partners. These include Outplay Entertainment, Perfect World, Beano Studios, Denki, Abertay University, Pocket Sized Hands, Ukie, and Scottish Development International.

Best practice for supporting students who stammer in Higher Education

Was awarded a fully funded place on Disabled Students UK's inaugural consultant training course
Drafted and shot a video about how to support students who stammer in Higher Education for DSUK's Access Insights newsletter, subscribed to by universities such as University College London, University of Exeter, and University of Essex
DSUK was selected for the Shaw Trust’s Disability Power 100 list for the second year in a row in 2022