Esports Research Network sets first North American conference

The Esports Research Network will hold its flagship conference at NC State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, from Nov. 9 to 11, 2027. The event, known as ERNC27, will be preceded by half-day workshops on Nov. 8 at the university’s James B. Hunt Jr. Library.

NC State is hosting the peer-reviewed conference with institutional support from Visit Raleigh, the city’s destination marketing organization. The theme is “Think & Do: Where Research, Competition & Community Converge.”

The conference will bring together academic researchers, tournament operators, collegiate esports directors and commercial stakeholders. Its program will focus on esports research, competition and community.

“Esports research has moved beyond the question of whether esports deserves serious study,” Tobias M. Scholz, ERN chair and an associate professor at the University of Agder, said in a statement. “The questions now are practical ones, from player health to governance and business models, and they are best answered together with the people who run competitions and build communities.”

Slippery Rock University Associate Professor Seth E. Jenny and Michigan State University Associate Professor Amanda C. Cote will co-chair the conference. Cote cited NC State’s collegiate esports and research programs, along with Raleigh’s investment in professional tournaments, as reasons for selecting North Carolina for the first ERN conference in North America.

The ERNC27 Scientific Committee is accepting interdisciplinary abstracts of up to 500 words through Jan. 4, 2027. Proposals may cover in-person presentations, prerecorded online sessions, posters, panels or workshops. Acceptance decisions are scheduled for March 15, and delegate registration is set to open April 3.

Plenary sessions will be broadcast through the Esports Research Network’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

The Esports Research Network was founded at ESL One Cologne in 2019 and registered as a nonprofit association in 2020. It has 682 members in 70 countries. Previous conferences were held in Paris, Jönköping and London, followed by the University of Tsukuba in Japan in September 2026.

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Reviewed and fact-checked by Alex Panasenko on November 12.