Dakota Rudesill, professor of law and director of the Mershon Center National Security Simulation, delivered a keynote and led The Ohio State University delegation of seven at the 2026 Serious Games and World Politics. Organized as part of the Erasmus Mundus MA program International Master in Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies (IMSISS), in cooperation with the Research Centre for Advanced Studies (RECAS) and the Serious Games Lab at the University of Belgrade, the conference took place July 13-19, 2026, at Moise Palace on Cres Island, Croatia.

“This international conference brought together faculty and graduate students from the United States and Europe to discuss, play, and analyze advanced games as a means of analyzing problems, training in skills, and learning about people and their organizations,” said Rudesill. “As the keynote speaker for the conference, it also gave me a chance to present my work in progress on the theory and practice of the large, immersive, professionally interdisciplinary National Security Simulation here at Ohio State.” 

The aim of the conference was to introduce participants to wargaming as a lens for understanding world politics. Through a combination of lectures, simulations, and hands-on gaming sessions, participants, including the Ohio State delegation, explored how strategic games can illuminate historical developments, contemporary geopolitical dynamics, and possible future scenarios. The conference also critically examined wargames themselves, including their methodological limitations, biases, and assumptions. In the final part of the conference, participants were introduced to the basics of game design and were provided an opportunity to test-play two pilot games currently under development at the Serious Games Lab of the University of Belgrade.

"The Serious Games Summer School was such a fun way of learning how to teach international security issues through a variety of games and exercises,” said Laurie George, a Mershon Center affiliate who was part of the Ohio State delegation. “It was wonderful to discuss game design with pedagogical experts, and I will definitely use some of these games with my students!"

The conference also allowed the Mershon Center and our affiliates to continue to build a collaboration with University of Belgrade and Filip Ejdus, director of the Serious Games Lab at the university. In February 2025, Ejdus spoke about games inside and outside the classroom in Serbia at the Mershon Center’s Gaming and Learning in Security Studies workshop. The full-day workshop introduced participants to the uses of gaming in current approaches to international, national, and human security challenges. 

_{Pictured in photo above, left to right: Erik Ackroyd, Laurie Georges, Anneliese Schenk-Day, Cameron Macaskill, Felicity Risca, Ryo Sawayama, and Dakota Rudesill.}