Anna Lisa Martin-Niedecken

Dr. Anna Lisa Martin-Niedecken is Head of the Institute for Design Research as well as Senior Researcher at the Subject Area Game Design, Department of Design at Zurich University of the Arts.
With her background in sports science (PhD, Institute of Sports Science, Technical University of Darmstadt) and her expertise in game research, Anna’s research and teaching activities mainly focus on the design and evaluation of Serious & Applied Games for health, (e)sports, fitness and rehabilitation, as well as health design. Anna acquired and managed numerous interdisciplinary and international R&D projects, continuously publishes the results of her work in internationally renowned journals and conference proceedings, and gives scientific talks and workshops.
For her R&D work, she received several awards (e.g., SIGCHI Outstanding Dissertation Award), was among others featured by TEDxZurich, and was honored as one of Switzerland’s 100 Digital Shapers 2020 in the category "The Creatives" by the Swiss business magazine Bilanz.
Besides her job in academia, Anna is Co-Founder and CEO of the ZHdK spinoff Sphery Ltd, a fitness gaming startup, which received multiple prestigious awards for their research-based core product, the ExerCube, as well as for the establishment of the world’s first physical inclusive eSports league, the ExerCube League.
Anna is also one of the founding members and the Chairwoman of the International Mixed Reality Sports (XRS) Association, as well as founding and board member of the RAL Quality Mark for Serious Games.