Call for Papers – III International Congress of the MetaverseUA Chair: “Metaverse Reloaded: Rights, Innovation and the Emerging Digital Society”” University of Alicante, 23-24 April 2026

The Academic Chair for the Responsible Development of the Metaverse of the University of Alicante (Spain) is hosting its III International Congress “Metaverse Reloaded: Rights, Innovation and the Emerging Digital Society” on 23-24 April 2026 at the University of Alicante.

While the Metaverse might be dead for some, extended reality technologies and virtual worlds are here to stay. The proliferation of virtual avatars in social networks or TV shows, the 150 million daily active users of Roblox, and the increasing use of XR technologies in the industrial sector are just some manifestations of this fact. The presence of these technologies will increase due to the intersection with Artificial Intelligence. Convergence of these technologies will gradually bring us to a new stage of the digital revolution that some may call Web4.0 or… the Metaverse. 

The main objective of our III Congress is to discuss whether the legal framework is prepared to confront the challenges of this new technological wave. Are our rights adequately protected in the digital arena? Does the legal framework facilitate European entrepreneurs to expand their activities to the Metaverse? In order to respond to these questions, the discussion will be divided into four panels on the following topics: 

• Safety and Integrity of Virtual Worlds.
• Digital identity in the Metaverse 
• Building a Future Virtual Economy 
• The Industrial Metaverse

The final program of the Congress will be announced early next year.

In parallel, The Chair is launching a Call for Papers to anyone interested in presenting a communication in any of the previously mentioned panels, and to publish the research work in our website and a collective work. 

The Chair is pleased to offer financial support for up to eight paper proposals. Grants of up to EUR 500 will be available to help cover the travel and accommodation expenses of authors, with support specifically intended for those who lack alternative funding to attend the Congress.

Candidates shall have a temporary or permanent PhD candidate/student or post-doc position in a European University at the time of the submission of the proposal. They should send their proposals to catedrametaverso@ua.es including the following information:

•  In a single document
  • An abstract of 500 words of the proposal, indicating the panel to which the paper is related, the proposed title, a preliminary table of contents, and a list of 5 references
  • A one-page CV of the candidate (or a link to her/his CV in Internet)
• A digital copy of an article or a substantive piece of writing of the candidate (or a link to it) in a technology-related topic (optional).
• A reference letter (optional).

The Scientific Committee of the Chair will decide on the acceptance of each proposal in accordance with the following criteria:

• Relevance of the topic and quality of the proposal
• CV of the candidate (including the reference letter)
• Quality of the substantive piece of writing.

The deadline for the submission of proposals is 10 February 2026. Selected proposals will be communicated by the Scientific Committee on 25 February  2026.

The selected papers should have a length between 7000-10000 words and follow the OSCOLA style guidelines. The papers will be subject to peer review. The deadline for the submission of the final draft will be 31 May 2026.

The MetaverseUA Chair is an initiative of the Research Group on Global Innovation Law and Policy (GIPLaw UA) at University of Alicante. Its purpose is to promote independent research on the legal and ethical aspects of the development of the metaverse. The Chair is a member of the European Metaverse Research Network. 

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