Tanya Krzywinska, professor of digital games and founding director of the Games Academy at Falmouth University, has received an MBE for services to higher education and to the video games industry.

Tanya, from Penzance, is an academic, writer and artist who has graduated from North London University, Falmouth University and Central St Martins. After completing her PhD and teaching film and media, she started writing about video games with a particular interest in the development of gaming technologies and design, while also expressing her passion for the horror genre.

Tanya has had published many articles and books on screen-based and interactive media fiction over the course of her career. She became president of the Digital Games Research Association and in addition to her role at Falmouth, she is the Editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal Games and Culture. She has contributed to the development of the Digital Games Academy at Falmouth. The academy, which is ranked in the top 17 game schools worldwide, offers courses on digital game art, animation, design, programming and writing.

As an artist, Tanya, who has a studio at Krowji, Redruth, has exhibited her work nationally including at the Newlyn Art Gallery and Trinity Bouy Wharf, and has had her images published in international publications.