Postdoctoral Researcher – Business and Innovation in the Gaming Industry

Contract Type: FTC until 9 Nov 2026

Hours: 22 hrs per week

Interview Date: Monday 02 February 2026

UCA is looking to recruit a Postdoctoral Researcher on a 9 month year term to join UCA research and innovation team in the EU project Card Game Maker (CGM). CGM is a main innovation project on the gaming industry funded by the EIT Culture & Creativity. The project aims to develop a platform for designing, testing, and publishing digital card games without the need for programming skills. It builds on contributed business model innovation encompassing users’ accessibility, empowerment and co-creation, sustainability, EU gaming market development, and financial viability.

The Postdoctoral Researcher will contribute to the project and UCA team with research and innovation activities to analyse business model innovation and validation, scalability, market development, and financial sustainability in the gaming industry in real-world settings.

UCA is Europe’s 2nd largest provider to graduates to the creative industries in Europe. UCA’s mission is foster leading-edge teaching and research related to creativity, business and technology in creative industries and the arts. UCA has a strong base in practice-based research and is developing knowledge exchange (KE) and Innovation alongside this strength.

To consider your application, we will need a complete application form along with your CV and covering letter as well as your three most recent relevant publications for this role, or equivalent.

The actual salary for this role will be £24,921 - £28,760 per annum.

Interviews will be held 2^nd February 2026.

For an informal conversation regarding the role please contact:

Professor Elisabetta Lazzaro, Epsom School of Creative Business, Fashion and Enterprise, elisabetta.lazzaro@uca.ac.uk.

At UCA, creativity and innovation are at the heart of what we do. Our legacy of educating eager and passionate artists, makers and thinkers runs back almost 160 years, and today we’re helping shape a global future that supports and nourishes talent worldwide.

Our campuses across Surrey and Kent are vibrant communities, each specialising in different areas of the creative industries. We are also home to a thriving research hub, with academic experts and fellows leading the way in research on sustainability, design, textiles, animation, history and culture, and more.

Are you ready to share your passion for creativity with the next generation of innovators? If so, we want to hear from you.

The University for the Creative Arts (UCA) aims to be a welcoming and inclusive University that is truly representative of all sections of society. We particularly encourage applications from people from minoritised ethnic groups and people with disabilities who are currently under-represented within the University.

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