The metaverse is a large-scale social environment based on the convergence of virtual and physical reality. Participants can take part in the metaverse through virtual, augmented or mixed reality. They can carry out everyday activities together ranging from entertainment through to education, business, politics, health or even legal proceedings. At this time the metaverse is more of an idea than a reality, but a number of nascent systems exist, and all the technological components, including solutions involving AI, are there to bring this idea into existence. 

Metaverses may have a profound impact on the way we live. It can provide new beneficial ways of carrying out educational, social and economic activities, but may also introduce problems in the ethical, legal, business, psychological, political and social sphere.  There will be opportunities and problems that at the moment we cannot envisage, since each new technology brings with it fundamental changes that are hard to foresee. The mobile phone in conjunction with the world wide web and social media have led to revolutionary changes in society including on the positive side deep connectivity between people, but on the other, a threat to democracy.  The immersive nature of the metaverse will have the potential to enhance both the positive and negative impact by an order of magnitude. 

The EMRN is a research group that studies these various aspects of the metaverse concept. The 2024 EMRN conference will present research findings from the EMRN members but also invites other stakeholders from academia, industry and policy to contribute to the discussion. We invite submission of papers and posters, in order to foster new collaborations, and generate new ideas, moving towards a greater chance of envisaging the unimaginable. We are also looking forward to exciting and inspiring keynotes and panels that enable a multi stakeholder dialogue. By bringing research, industry and policy makers  together to engage in an  open discussion we can enhance the probability of a ‘metaverse for the good’.

Papers submitted will be reviewed and will have the possibility of being selected,  in a revised version,  for a special issue (a Research Topic) in the journal Frontiers in Virtual Reality. We encourage participation of younger researchers, so there will be special sessions on PhD presentations corresponding with submitted posters.

All sessions will consist of between 2 and 4 submitted papers followed by a panel discussion.

Each panel will consist of members of the EMRN plus invited contributors.