About

Chantal Ryan (she/they) is an anthropologist, game designer and founder of the studio We Have Always Lived In The Forest. She founded the international Women Leaders In Games network and co-founded ‘elsewhere’, the not-for-profit aimed at empowering marginalised leaders and communities in the games industry. Her research and design specialties include identity, personhood, digital humanities, AI, natural language processing, cultural development and counter-colonialism.

She is recipient of the 2022 Humble Bundle Game Creator of Color Award, an inductee of The Game Awards Future Class of 2022, an IGDA Foundation International Scholar and was honoured as one of South Australia’s 40 Under 40 in 2023. Chantal is Tamil-Australian, holds a B.A.(Advanced) in Anthropology and English, and holds multiple scholar’s titles such as the Vera May Swift Prize and the Edward Rychter Scholarship. She also performs as a speaker at industry events and guest lecturer in game design and design philosophy, and hosts the podcast Directional, a show about videogames and the creative rebellion.