I CAME TO Ireland from Poland eight years ago, when I was just 15 years old, and since then I have been living in Kilkenny. I studied Computer Games Development in IT Carlow and absolutely loved it. I’m an avid gamer and I was also really interested in software development from an early age, so deciding on what I wanted to study was a relatively easy decision for me.

The course in IT Carlow is aimed at creating the next generation of professional game developers, and while I was there I was able to learn all about software development and game design, over a four year period. As part of my final year project, I was given the chance to develop a prototype app for the PIP, a biosensor which helps manage stress. The PIP uses changing stress levels to influence progress in a gaming style app, helping users learn to manage stress.

As part of my project, I developed a prototype app in which you snuck around a castle, trying to avoid the guards. The more stressed you got, the more difficult the game would become. The only way to win was to relax.

I graduated in June 2014 and, like many graduates, I found myself facing a difficult decision – should I keep going on with my studies and do a postgraduate course, or should I try to get a job and get real world experience as soon as I finish my course?

I found out about the Irish Research Council’s Employment Based Postgraduate programme through my supervisor, and the attraction for me was that I didn’t have to make the decision between research and work – as through this programme, I can work on my research masters and at the same time get valuable work experience.

Since graduation, I have been working for the GameCORE Research Centre at IT Carlow and with the assistance of my supervisor Daire Ó Broin, Lecturer of Computer Games Development at IT Carlow, we identified Galvanic – the company behind the PIP – and found their goals match the research we are doing at GameCORE.

In today’s busy world, life is full of stress. It’s something that affects most people on a day-to-day basis and usually can be managed or coped with one way or another. Sometimes it can really get on top of us and we can become overly stressed – I know myself how the stress of exams and assignments can really get to you.

The good news is there are new techniques and ways to manage and reduce our stress emerging all the time. And it’s no surprise, that in today’s digital world, technology is increasingly being used to help manage stress.

New technology resources can now work towards helping reduce our stress levels – particularly in the workplace – and at the same time also improving levels of productivity and efficiency.

The PIP is tackling this problem by combining bio-sensing technology and apps to help improve user’s health and wellbeing. The key to unlocking the benefit of this type of technique is user engagement – like learning any new skill, repeat practise is required. That is why incorporating gaming elements is key to hooking users’ attention and drawing them back again and again.

There was a natural fit between my research interests and the PIP. My research will focus on ‘enhancing engagement in stress reduction apps using game elements’, and drawing on my undergraduate studies, I will be investigating and testing gaming elements in stress-reduction apps. Over a 12 month period, I will conceptualise, design and develop a prototype app for the PIP and the end result will be to prepare and submit papers for Irish and leading European Gaming Conferences.

The gaming industry in Ireland includes big players like EA, Activision Blizzard and Zynga alongside smaller independent game studios. The PIP is part of a growing number of digital health start-ups based in Ireland, yet it’s the only company to combine a biosensor and gaming-style apps to help improve user’s health and wellbeing. My hope is that my experience working with them will help enhance my employment prospects within this niche industry.

Ultimately, I would love to pursue a career in gaming and software development, and I believe that this programme will give me industry experience developing commercial apps, and a qualification at the same time. It’s a definite win-win.

Mateusz Cieslak, 23 years old, is one of 48 postgraduate research students in Ireland to be awarded the Irish Research Council’s Employment Based Programme Awards. The €4.5 million fund was awarded to postgraduate students in all academic disciplines from across the country and will enable them to work and undertake research in a business, not-for-profit, NGO or governmental organisation.

For more information on the Irish Research Council’s Employment Based Programme, visit the website.