Reine Abbas is an assistant professor of Animation Production, UXUI and Final-Year Projects in the Department of Design and Digital Media at the School of Architecture and Design who joined USEK in 2022.

With more than 18 years in the gaming industry and 16 years in higher education, Reine is one of the first female game designers in the Middle East and the first to found a video games company. She is the CEO and co-Founder of Wixel Studios, the first independent gaming company in Lebanon and one of the first in the MENA region. She is also the founder and managing Partner of SPICAtech, one of the few gaming academies in the region.

While actively involved as an entrepreneur and business owner, Reine continues to be an educator and mentor. Since 2003, she has been a university professor of 2D and 3D Animation and Production, and Game Design. She is one of the official jurors of the International Mobile Gaming A wards and the D&AD awards.

Reine’s work has been recognized around the world, earning her many awards:
- Selected by Gamesindustry.biz magazine as one of the world's 100 game-changers (2024)
- SPICAtech won the Jury Choice of the Innovator Entrepreneur of the iValues Awards Mena, produced by Friedrich Naumann Foundation (2021)
- Winner of the MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab Region competition (2017)
- MENA Region winner of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards (2019)
- Winner of 4 International Best Animation awards, including the ARFF Paris International Awards, Global Music Awards California, and Venezuela for her animated music video “Right Now” by Happy Faces (2019)
- Featured in Forbes (2019)
- Listed as one of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Arab Women as selected by ArabianBusiness.com (2014 & 2015)
- Named as one of Inc.com’s World’s five most powerful women in gaming (2013)
- Selected as a TEDx Beirut speaker (2011)

EDUCATION

• MA in Visual Arts, Balamand University/Alba – Lebanon
• BA in Psychology, Saint Joseph University of Beirut (USJ) – Lebanon