Research team
Expertise
Rowan is a social scientist and media psychology scholar whose work sits at the intersection of media entertainment, digital games, and human well-being. His research spans the full arc of media use: from why people select certain games or media in the first place, to what they experience during play, to the lasting effects those experiences can have on people’s lives. At the core of his expertise is the concept of eudaimonia, a term from Aristotelian philosophy describing personal growth that comes from pursuing human virtues, excellence, and a life of purpose. Rowan has translated this philosophical concept into an empirical research framework for digital games, coining and developing the notion of eudaimonic player experiences: those moments in gameplay that challenge players to reflect, feel deep emotions, and engage with profound questions. His doctoral research (2017–2023) produced a series of literature reviews and empirical studies mapping these experiences and the motives that draw players toward them, establishing a rigorous scientific basis for understanding games not merely as entertainment, but as a vehicle for meaningful personal development. Rowan ranks among the most-cited researchers in eudaimonic gaming internationally, with over 300 citations in the past five years and several award-winning papers at major international conferences. Beyond eudaimonia, Rowan's research expertise covers topics such as the study of perceived realism in games and how this relates to player experiences, eSports, extended reality technology (e.g., VR), and methodological innovations in how to systematically analyze digital games. His postdoctoral trajectory has included contributing to an FWO-funded Senior project on how game selection and preferred player experiences relate to the regulation of people’s boredom feelings (2023-2024) and to a Horizon Europe health psychology project conducting a literature review on which digital health-focused intervention features lead to more engagement among young users (2025). Currently, Rowan is involved in two project proposals focused on the implementation of generative AI. In GAIMING, he wants to investigate how generative AI can be meaningfully and ethically integrated into the pre-production processes of game development. In the second proposal, he wants to explore how GenAI can improve non-therapeutic journaling practices to promote users’ mental well-being and what eudaimonic emotions play in this process.