Recent years have seen growth of interest in so-called ‘serious game’ applications in a number offields including
humanitarian operations and disaster risk management. By integrating an element of ‘gamification’, i.e. the use of game-based features to encourage engagement and learning on broad range of topics, serious games applied in the area of humanitarian operations have sought to engage various stakeholders to raise awareness and collaboratively work on problem solving. This presentation reviews the various concepts related to gamification and serious games in general, identifying their strengths and limitations as well as what makes them unique as opposed to more conventional instruction and stakeholder engagement tools. The study then reviews the recent applications of serious games in the field of humanitarian operations and disaster risk management and identities current research trends, major findings, and important knowledge gaps for further research. This presentation will be of interest to wide policy and academic audiences interested in the topic of novel stakeholder engagement methods.