Carolin Becklas is the winner of the Oldenburg University Society's Open Science Award. For her, there is more to the topic than just the freely accessible publication of scientific texts and research data.
In the USA, Donald Trump had just been elected president for the second time when game studies researcher Carolin Becklas accepted the Open Science Award from the Oldenburg University Society (UGO) in November. A few weeks later, the 33-year-old is sitting over tea in the university library and says: "Trump is president again - developments like this make it increasingly important for people to be able to access important studies directly and not sit in front of a paywall."
Becklas doesn't just want to write down her research findings, she wants to bring them to people - including those who don't work in science themselves. Together with the other researchers in the "oldengame" collective, which she co-founded, she not only discusses the culture and potential uses of video games internally, but also creates opportunities to engage in dialogue with non-academics. Last year, for example, the collective presented its fledgling field of research to interested parties at the Schlaues Haus. "I was surprised at how many people came who weren't directly from our own bubble," says Becklas.
Reaching people, preferably lots of them - that's exactly what her research into video games is all about: Becklas is interested in the big blockbuster titles that millions of people around the world play. "I recognise huge potential there, because after a session you don't have the feeling that you've been pushed into learning with a pedagogical index finger - although the developers are still conveying messages, of course," says Becklas. However, this happens much more subtly than in so-called serious games, where the focus is on learning. In contrast to other media such as films and books, what she loves about video games is their unique selling point: they offer their consumers the opportunity to take action.
In her doctoral thesis, Becklas is investigating how video games depict climate change. She is particularly interested in how the games communicate knowledge about climate change in an interactive way and which characters appear in these virtual climate worlds. She has played more than 50 games on this topic herself and discovered some interesting trends. "The characters in these games are noticeably often women," says the researcher. One of them, for example, is Aloy, a huntress who, in the million-selling "Horizon Zero Dawn", searches for answers in a post-apocalyptic future version of Earth about the developments that have brought humanity to its current situation.
She herself also took part in the large Fridays for future demos. With her research in the doctoral programme "Shaping the future. Transformations of the present through scenarios of digitalisation", she combines two topics close to her heart: climate and games. The Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony is funding her work with a Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberg scholarship.
Her third favourite topic, open science, emerged almost by itself - initially out of frustration: "When I wanted to publish for the first time and the publisher demanded unrestricted rights to my work, I didn't agree to it at all," she says. However, after studying American Studies and Literature at Humboldt University in Berlin and completing a Master's degree in European History at University College Dublin (Ireland), she found her field of research in internet-related game studies and quickly came across alternatives. "Almost all journals in this field are open access," she says. Creative Commons licences instead of assigning rights and access to content for all interested parties - that convinced Becklas. "This also makes it easier to cite your own work, which is an important currency for researchers," she says. And if researchers also make raw data available in a structured way, other scientists no longer have to collect the same data for their work. "In addition, it is often the taxpayers who pay for our research. Then they also have a right to see the results," she says.
Her personal conviction has now turned into an academic appointment. Since mid-2023, the doctoral student has also been working as a member of the open-access.network project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, which promotes the exchange of information on the accessibility of research results in science. Carolin Becklas is responsible for the topic of "informing", writes texts and designs videos to make it easier for other researchers to access the topic. "Of course, our materials are also published under a Creative Commons licence and can be reused - and it's nice to see that this actually happens," says the doctoral student.
The "impressive breadth" of Beckla's application - from her work in the research collective and the open-access.network to her commitment to making her own research accessible, for example as a dialogue partner in podcasts - convinced the UGO jury. It honoured the winner with the Open Science Award, which is endowed with 1,000 euros.
