Emily Morris (she/they) is a full-time PhD candidate studying Design within Te Hura Hoahoa—School of Design Innovation at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. She completed her MDI (Master of Design Innovation), awarded with Distinction, in 2022, researching how queer game design elements in TTRPGs (tabletop role-playing games) have the potential to encourage queer identity exploration and play. Her ongoing PhD research is concerned with queer play in TTRPGs, and its potentiality to be both transformative and transcendental.
Emily currently works within Te Hura Hoahoa—School of Design Innovation as a tutor and also works as a freelance graphic designer for global clients such as IFLA (International Federation of Landscape Architects). She has experience as a teaching fellow and has taught both graphic design and illustration to undergraduate students, as well as tutored a wide variety of courses from 100-400 level involving all areas of design, writing, and research. She is passionate about research areas such as queer theory, feminist studies, identity, game design, design research, transformative works, fan studies, and visual narratives.