meet the change makers for the Mzansi Climate Justice game jam 2025
In April, we launched an open call for participants for the Mzansi Climate Justice Game Jam. We invited designers, developers, activists, artists, musicians, writers, makers, dreamers, and doers throughout the Netherlands and South Africa to join the jam. And the response was overwhelming! Over 160 individuals applied — all excited to explore how game-making can be used to tell new climate stories.
From this inspiring pool of applicants, we have selected 24 participants to be part of the 2025 Mzansi Climate Justice Game Jam cohort. Each of these individuals brings a unique mix of creative skills, climate knowledge, and a strong commitment to collaboration to the project.
Throughout June, this cohort of 24 participants will come together in Utrecht and Johannesburg, working in teams to produce one climate justice game per team. With the Mzansi Climate Justice Game Jam as a platform, they will use collaborative game-making to explore and reflect on various ways of framing climate justice issues based on their diverse local realities and experiences of climate change.
meet the NL cohort
meet the NL cohort
Manisha K
I’m a creative technologist and systems thinker with a love for mountains. I turn ideas into tools, blending storytelling, design, and empathy to build playful solutions for wicked problems.
Aengus Schulte
Hi, I’m Aengus, a researcher-designer at Utrecht University! I work on analogue educational games about sustainability and the hidden curriculum, along with a few personal projects on the side.
Elena + Ultracorpo
I am a Millennial proselyte of the gaming age performing between Digital Culture, Speculative Design, and Design Fiction. I am devoted to the exploration of alternative futures in this era of technological acceleration.
Poorvi Garag
Poorvi Garag is a strategic social designer and design researcher working on projects dominantly focused on community, policy and resources in the public sector. With a deep commitment to creating social impact and change, she works with industrial design and design research skills informed by anthropology, sociology, futurology, and decolonial studies.
Connor McMullen
My brain is usually somewhere in the clouds, but my body spends most of its time these days in The Hague! I am a story engineer, which means I spend most of my time helping people make sense of their stories through workshops, games, and many, many storytelling sessions.
Mariska Lamiaud
As a social designer, I engage with participatory research, education and environmental awareness. Using methods such as games and co-creation workshops, I turn serious and complex questions into playful answers.
Luciane Fortes
From language teacher to Climate Activist, this multilingual and multiracial Brazilian is ready to bring her A-game and work her magic with the team.
Roy ten Brink
Hi! I’m a software developer by day and a hobbyist game dev by night.
Pauline Vantilt
I’m fascinated by how play can act as a connection catalyst that can enable change. I have a background in business, sustainability, psychology and social design.
Lars S.
Hi there! I’m Lars. A professional graphic designer, lover of fantasy and the most creative Dutch person in my own household.
Wilf Amis
I’m a Hague-based London-born maker of experimental electronic music, designer of synthesizers, writer, and as of last year a Fallout modder, working with themes of cybernetics and social ecology.
Vision Weaver (Ivanna Laka)
I can “draw” stories from people’s experiences and project them into the world as animations. My talent: I can decipher meaning from abstract visuals and sounds — like reading secret messages in cloud patterns or melodies.
meet the RSA cohort
meet the RSA cohort
Melu
I’m a storyteller who found their voice through game design. Inspired by art and indigenous African knowledge, I aim to create games that spark curiosity, and bring positive change.
Brendan Jackson
I’m a game designer and developer passionate about crafting immersive worlds, innovative mechanics, and meaningful player experiences that blend gameplay with impactful storytelling.
Philadelphia Makwakwa
I’m Philadelphia Makwakwa, a womanist artist, archivist, and activist using photography, music, and storytelling to document Black resistance, climate justice, and the complexities of lived experience.
Olwethu Shezi
Hiiiii! My name is Olwethu Shezi. I’m 22, from South Africa and I am a digital creative, with a focus on game design, animation and virtual reality development 🙂
MarmaladeJam (Mamello Raboroko)
Game designer & Unity developer (generalist) interested in games’ unique storytelling capabilities & humour. Football fan (Chelsea & Orlando Pirates) & playlists connoisseur.
Aiden Africa
I’m a self-taught digital artist, passionate about sharing ideas and creating with others. I believe art and its messaging is central to building a better world.
Kamo
Hi! I’m Kamo, a South African game designer and storyteller passionate about African narratives, inclusivity, and creating immersive experiences that center Black women and underrepresented voices in games and art.
Aneeqa Martinson
I am a creative that focuses on heritage, archiving and social justice. I work with different mediums, physical and digital, using research as the basis for my creative outcomes.
Siphelele Mabaso
I’m a climate justice advocate and writer passionate about intersectional justice, youth activism, indigenous knowledge, and environmental equity through storytelling, art, and creative collaboration across policy, community, and culture in South Africa.
Bakang Mputle
As a young academic from Johannesburg, I’m passionate about climate justice and researching the just energy transition. I’m excited to explore its intersection with gaming.
Phumi
I’m a creative technologist and educator exploring how storytelling, immersive media, and playful design can drive social change, foster climate justice, and engage diverse communities across digital and physical spaces.
Milo (Danielle Albertyn)
I’m an illustrator / graphic designer by day and generally strange the rest of the time. I live in Cape Town and spend plenty of time outside, observing nature.
