Tranzfuser is the first talent programme brought to you by UK Games Talent aiming to provide an annual shot of top talent into the UK development ecosystem with a particular focus on creative team leaders of the future. It looks to supply a pipeline to enterprise and/or employment recognition for new UK games graduates, taking teams from concept and prototyping through to publishing.

It is the first time a UK-wide talent programme has been linked directly to a prototype fund (UK Games Fund) allowing new teams to benefit from grants and interaction with a host of other early stage games development companies.

UKGTF Community Connect Video

Want a quick overview of what we do and who we are? UK Games Talent and Finance CIC’s successful Community Connect event can now be relived in a new video by Hark Pictures.

THE TEAM

Tranzfuser has been developed by the highly-experienced team who originated Dare to be Digital, ProtoPlay, the BAFTA Ones to Watch Awards, Crunchtime, the IP Manifest and the UK Prototype Fund, now based at UK Games Talent and Finance CIC.

Deborah Farley

Head of Talent and Outreach

Deborah’s varied career includes establishing rural community development projects in Central America, co-founding an Organisational Development Consultancy, working in the third sector to more recently creating an Enterprise Framework and Digital Badge award scheme for University students.

Her skills include facilitation, strategic development and implementation, event management and business / community engagement. She is a positive team player and demonstrates solution-focused attitude to life.

Paul Durrant

Founder and Chief Executive

Paul is a creative business development specialist with a focus on creating win/win impacts arising from public and private sector collaborations in the digital economy. He’s worked extensively across the skills, talent and research agendas at the interface of universities and business. Paul pioneered and developed the Dare to be Digital competition, recognised as international best practice in video games talent development and the focus of Channel 4’s Crunchtime series.

Paul also developed, fundraised and led the previous UK Video Games Prototype Fund which supported over 70 UK companies. He is also a Director of stakeholder engagement consultancy Proving Ground Ltd and Creative Leader in Residence at the Digital Catapult.

Mark Hogarth

Director

Mark spent over decade in venture capital with a particular focus on working with high growth technology companies. He has been involved in over 100 transactions that have covered the full funding life-cycle from seed investment through tough multiple follow-on rounds, IPO and exit. His investment experience covers sectors ranging from games, in-flight entertainment and simulation through to software development tools, business intelligence and digital advertising.

Mark has served as a non-executive director for several technology companies and has been on the board of two companies quoted on AIM. He is also currently a non-executive director of Exterity Ltd which is a leading enterprise IP video company.

Kirsty Gibson

Head of Community

Starting out on the career path with a degree in foreign languages, Kirsty’s expertise in communication has diversified into project management and marketing. In 2011 she joined the UK Video Games Prototype Fund as Project Manager; her role focused on the development of the Prototype Fund community and relationship management, developing and maintaining proactive and responsive communication channels with applicants and key stakeholders.

Jenny Duncan

Head of Operations

Before joining UKGTF in 2015, Jenny spent more than 11 years on a number of projects at Abertay University including Dare to be Digital, BAFTA Young Game Designers and the UK Video Games Prototype Fund. She was involved in all aspects of the projects including allocation of grants, marketing, promotion, organisation and event delivery, building on her previous experience in loyalty programmes for high-end retail and leisure companies.

Mike Enoch

Head of Account Management

Mike’s been making games professionally since 1997, and was a lead developer on the Crackdown series for Xbox 360. He has also been involved in UK game funding before as part of the UK Video Games Prototype Fund.