Thank You to Outgoing Members of the SASA Family!

As we mark a moment of transition within the SASA team, let's take a moment to appreciate and thank some of the outgoing team members for their amazing work and passion!

From the Archaeogaming Live Team, we have Kate Minniti, Alex Vandewalle and David Serrano Lozano stepping down. Kate and Alex have been part of the Archaeogaming Live Team since 2021, and were joined by David in 2023. During their tenure they have played more than 300 hours of games set in antiquity and beyond, interviewed developers and book authors, presented at conferences, and organized a roundtable which resulted in an article recently published in Thersites.

SASA Archaeogaming Live Team plays Assasin's Creed Origins with Dr. Briana Jackson

For the trio, the most rewarding part of their role has been the unparalleled opportunity to be able to talk with many experts ranging from early-career scholars to ‘famous’ names in academia, up to game developers and directors, and to see and share everyone’s enthusiasm in discussing how the ancient world is depicted in video games. They have also, in no particular order, captured Pokémon during the Punic Wars, learned a lot about hippopotamoi, set the world on fire, unveiled bunny plots, deciphered languages, and zapped zebras!

SASA Archaeogaming Live Team plays Total War: Attila with Dr. Christian Rollinger & Dr. Daniele Salvoldi

After their very engaging time at SASA, Kate will continue to work as an archaeologist around the Mediterranean and work on Egyptian monsters in video games, Alex will keep exploring video game versions of history and mythology in his research, and David will keep trying to attract his students to antiquity, video games or, even better, both together!

We would also like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Samantha Ng from the Social Media team.  After a semester as an outreach intern in 2023, Samantha joined SASA again in 2024 as the co-leader of the Communications Team. Her work focussed mostly on developing new strategies for social media advertising, SEO optimisation, graphic design, and producing training materials for interns. For Samantha, the most rewarding part of the role was being able to collaborate with the numerous teams within SASA and getting feedback on her work from a variety of people. 

For now, Samantha is going to be focusing on her studies as she enters her final year studying classical archaeology at UCL (University College London) while continuing to work on supporting ancient studies through Aôthen Magazine.

Thank you so much for all the time and energy you’ve given to SASA. Your work has made a real difference—not just to our team, but to the larger goal of preserving and celebrating ancient cultures. You brought fresh ideas, a great attitude, and real dedication to everything you did, and we’ve been lucky to have you with us.

As you head off to new adventures, we’re excited to see where your journey takes you. Thanks again for being such an important part of our team. We wish you all the best in your future endeavors and hope you stay connected with us!