Dr Damien Anderson
Teaching Fellow
Computer and Information Sciences
Personal statement
I have been a student at the University of Strathclyde's CIS department since 2011 as an Undergraduate and during my PhD. I am now working as a Teaching Associate with the CIS Department and I am the Programme Leader for the MSc in Software Development course.
My research interests lie in the areas of Video Games, AI, Gamification, Building Educational Tools, Ensemble Decision Systems, General Game Playing, and Deceptive Games.
Video Games offer a fantastic research platform from which innovations in other fields can be implemented. The wide variety of environments and perspectives available provides AI researchers with a plethora of options for experimentation. It is my hope that the research that I conduct can be used to make the lives of people easier, freeing up their time to do more of what they want.
I am an advocate for improving education through the use of games, and game like mechanisms, through a process known as Gamification where education takes on many common aspects of games. The goal of this process is to make education less of a chore and more of a rewarding and enrichening experience that can be taken on by anyone. The guiding philosophy is to focus and reward the process of building up a person's knowledge, and building up more of a resistance to failure. Video Games offer the ability to restart any challenge, which may be helpful in teaching people to be more resilient in their day to day lives. Failure is often the first step to success.
Publications
- QueryPRIMM : A PRIMM-Based Tool for Learning SQL
- Ahmed Abdulhafith, Goodfellow Martin, Clift Lee, Anderson Damien
- ITiCSE 2026: Proceedings of the 31st ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education 31st Annual ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, pp. 819 - 820 (2026)
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3803401.3811960
- Embedding external partner code reviews into mobile application development coursework
- Clift Lee, Brawley Donna, Greer Robert, Anderson Damien, Lambert Alasdair
- ITiCSE 2026: Proceedings of the 31st ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education 31st Annual ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, pp. 837 - 838 (2026)
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3803401.3811982
- Planly : Teaching AI planning through block-based programming and robotics
- Clift Lee, Anderson Damien, Weir Catriona, Rodgers Phil, El Gemayel Joseph
- HCAIep '26 3rd International Conference on Human-Centred AI - Education and Practice, HCAI-ep 2026, pp. 124 (2026)
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3777490.3777516
- Enhancing degree apprentice engagement in hybrid programmes through interactive videos
- Chan Warren, Clift Lee, Anderson Damien
- UKICER '25: Proceedings of the 2025 Conference on UK and Ireland Computing Education Research UKICER 2025: UK and Ireland Computing Education Research Conference, pp. 1-1 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3754508.3754539
- Enhancing student engagement through a gamified feedback loop in computer science
- Anderson Damien, Clift Lee, Chan Warren
- UKICER '25: Proceedings of the 2025 Conference on UK and Ireland Computing Education Research UKICER 2025: UK and Ireland Computing Education Research Conference, pp. 1-1 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3754508.3754527
- Towards evolution-based autonomy in large-scale systems
- Anderson Damien, Harvey Paul, Kaneta Yusaku, Papadopoulos Petros, Rodgers Philip, Roper Marc
- GECCO 2022 Companion - Proceedings of the 2022 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference GECCO 2022 GECCO 2022 Companion - Proceedings of the 2022 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, pp. 1924–1925 (2022)
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3520304.3533975
Professional Activities
- IEEE Conference on Games (COG) 2026 (Event)
- Peer reviewer
- 1/9/2026
- Conference on Games 2026 (Event)
- Peer reviewer
- 1/9/2026
- Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (Event)
- Peer reviewer
- 13/7/2026
- Accelerate Schools Computer Science Challenge
- Recipient
- 22/6/2026
- Technocamps Scotland: Pytch (University Visit)
- Contributor
- 5/5/2026
- Pilot Workshop at a Primary School
- Recipient
- 19/3/2026
Projects
- Technocamps Presents: AI on the Assembly Line
- Clift, Lee (Principal Investigator) Anderson, Damien (Co-investigator) Lennon, Marilyn (Co-investigator) Weir, Catriona (Researcher)
- 01-Jan-2025 - 01-Jan-2026
- AI in Early Learning: Building Foundations for AI Literacy in Primary and Early Years Education
- Nikou, Stavros (Principal Investigator) Anderson, Damien (Research Co-investigator) Arnott, Lorna (Co-investigator) Roper, Marc (Academic)
- The project will explore pupils and teachers understanding and experiences with AI aiming to enhance their AI literacy levels and develop AI-focused curriculum resources.
- 30-Jan-2025 - 31-Jan-2025
Contact
Dr
Damien
Anderson
Teaching Fellow
Computer and Information Sciences
Email: damien.anderson@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 3138