Articles for the Journal of Play in Adulthood have been coming in thick and fast recently, please let us know if you’d be willing to peer review for the journal! We’ve also got Rosie Jones and Andy Walsh editing a special issue on Playful Leadership: Playful attitudes, approaches and activities in leadership and management. Papers due for this by 1st December please! https://www.journalofplayinadulthood.org.uk/news/162/ (By leadership, we mean both formal or informal leadership experiences or positions.) Just submit on the normal journal page but mention it’s for the special issue!
A reminder too that our next in-person event is coming up in November, hosted by Manchester Metropolitan University! The theme for the day is THE FUTURE OF PLAY. Whether you’re working with new technology, imagining playful futures or making a rocket out of tinfoil and loo rolls, we want to celebrate and develop a vision for the future. The event will take place from 12pm on Thursday 27th November to 2pm on Friday 28th November. There is no fee for attending and lunch will be provided on both days. Attendees will need to take care of their own accommodation and evening meals, but we will book an exciting venue for an informal group dinner on the Thursday night. PLA meet-ups are member-driven, and we’re able to offer a limited number of one-hour slots for colleagues to showcase new ideas, run play-tests and share their thinking. This isn’t a place for formal presentations, but a chance to run interactive sessions to inspire others and demonstrate playful practice. If you’re interested in using one of these slots, let us know below. We’ll curate a programme and formally invite presenters to contribute by the end of October. Use the form to sign up to attend (plus for more info!), and to let us know if you’d like to contribute to the day. If you have any questions please contact John (j.lean@mmu.ac.uk).
Our lovely play friend Mathias (and friends) are bringing back CounterPlay in Denmark next year, at Designskolen Kolding on May 7-9 2026, expect their “call for play” soon, which we’ll send out as soon as we see it! In the past there has been a good UK contingent, hopefully lots of you Playful Learning people will make it to this one 🙂
Many congratulations to Rosie Jones, who was awarded her National Teaching Fellowship recently. There are a few of us National Teaching Fellows in the PLA, if anyone else is thinking of applying for it, don’t hesitate to ask for help! Congratulations also to another long term PLA star, Alex Moseley who was recently promoted to Professor, so keep an eye out for his inaugural professorial lecture at ARU in Cambridge on 17th June next year.
The Danish based International Network for Practice based research in play and playfulness is spreading it’s wings more internationally now, they’ve opened up their December (online) meeting (Teams Link, 18th December, 2pm-3pm) for international play researchers and play design researchers to become a part of the network Network for Practice based research in play and playfulness. In this one-hour online session, they will talk about the network, exchange ideas about upcoming events together and make sure that we nurture the community.
Play for the Planet 3: Play Harder! Friday 24th April 2026, Priory Street Centre. Are you curious about the role of games in environmental education, research and public engagement? Do you have experience in game research or design? Or are you interested in engaging others with environmental issues through the medium of games? Join the annual meet up to learn, play and connect. Call for contributions now open – deadline 10th January 2026 For those of you who are York based, see here for more Play for the Planet events.
Finally, Andy is running a “Being Playful in the Workplace” online course, deliberately as cheap as possible for individuals paying their own way If you’re interested, it’s now open for bookings! It can be completely asynchronous, content (video & PDF) sent out once a week from early November for 6 weeks, then we’ll have an optional sharing session to finish off on 15th December. Fuller details on Eventbrite.
Standard ticket £50 if you’re booking for yourself, £75 if your organisation is paying, or you’re willing to subsidise a cheaper ticket for someone else, with a few “pay what you want” tickets available (depending on how many £75 tickets are sold).