We invite you to contribute to and attend the Digital Games Research Association Australia’s 13th annual Games Studies Conference. The three-day conference will be hosted at RMIT University, Melbourne CBD and will be held on Tuesday 2nd, Wednesday 3rd, and Thursday 4th February 2027. Registration is free.
Important dates
Friday September 18th 2026 – Submission Deadline
November 2026 – Notification of submission outcomes
Early December 2026 – Registration opens
December 15th 2026 – Camera-ready submissions due
Mid-January 2027 – Registration closes
February 2nd–4th 2027 – Conference
Details
The DiGRA Australia 2027 National Conference is an opportunity for games researchers, critics, designers, developers and artists at any career stages to share their work. We aim to provide an inclusive forum that reflects the diversity and vibrancy of Game Studies in Australia, and that allows interdisciplinary dialogues to critically engage with games, players, and the culture that surrounds them.
DiGRA Australia 2027 will be hosted RMIT University, Melbourne CBD Campus. It will run as a hybrid conference, allowing both online and in-person attendance and presentations.
As with previous years, there is no theme for DiGRAA27. We want to hear about whatever you in the local Game Studies community have been working on.
Submission process
There are two tracks at DiGRAA Conferences, the Extended Track and Practice Track. Submissions can be made to both tracks.
Extended Abstract Track
This is the traditional format for submissions to the DiGRAA conference. Extended abstracts are a maximum 800 words (excluding references) using the DiGRA Australia Template.
Accepted extended abstracts will be presented at the conference as a 15-minute talk. In-person presenters will present live, and online presenters will be requested to provide a pre-recorded video to minimise technical issues. All presenters, in-person and online, are expected to be present in their session for a live Q&A.
Submissions for DiGRA Australia are not anonymised. Submissions will be reviewed by the DiGRA Australia extended abstract programming committee.
Traditional track abstracts are to be submitted via the Google Form at this link.
Practice Track
Continuing the previous successful non-traditional research outputs (NTROs) submission format, we will be maintaining the practice track for DiGRAA 2027, specifically for those wishing to exhibit and present practical work at the conference. The practice track will be programmed as part of the conference and is designed to provide an opportunity for creative practitioners to exhibit and present their work at DiGRA Australia.
Submissions to the practice track include a description of the work and a research statement using the DiGRA Australia Practice Track Template. Practice track submissions will be peer reviewed by the practice track programming committee and, like the extended abstract track, will not be anonymised.
Accepted works will be exhibited throughout the entirety of the 3-day conference. Exhibitors may opt in to also present a 5-minute lightning talk to further discuss their work during the conference. Descriptions and images of accepted works will be archived on the DiGRAA website.
Practice track submissions are via the Google Form at this link.
Submission rules
To ensure as many people as possible have the opportunity to present their work, only one submission may be made per lead author, per submission type, and individuals may present only one paper per submission type during the conference. Thus, you may submit to the extended track as well as the practice track as the lead author. There is no limit on secondary authorship.
To present at DiGRAA 2027 in either track, you will need to be a member of DiGRA Australia. Membership is optional for non-presenting authors. You do not need to be a member at the time of submission. You do not need to be a member of DiGRA International. DiGRA Australia conferences have a ‘grey list’ policy for accepted submissions that are withdrawn with no reason provided, or for which the presenter simply does not attend.
By participating in DiGRAA 2027, you agree to uphold the Association’s Code of Conduct and Authorship Policy.
Travel Bursaries
DiGRAA will be providing up to 9 travel bursaries of up to $500 each to research students and early career, non-waged researchers. One travel bursary will be reserved for an Indigenous, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander applicant.
Recipients of DiGRAA Travel Bursaries must have an accepted contribution to the conference (whether in the extended abstract or practice track).
After you have completed your extended abstract or practice track submission, please also submit your travel bursary application here.
If you have your abstract/practice track submission accepted, then your travel bursary application will be reviewed.
Tips for authors
We advise potential authors to review the papers from previous DiGRA Australia conferences as a guide to the expected tone and quality. These are available at digraa.org. Some further tips:
- We welcome submissions that explore both in-progress and complete works, but they should represent novel scholarship. If the submission resembles previously published work, we recommend the author explicitly identify the additional contribution of their DiGRA Australia submission.
- Make the novel contributions of the paper clear. Do not spend the bulk of the abstract describing the research context and background.
- Papers can present any kind of research, analysis or commentary, but should be written so that the importance of the work can be understood by reviewers working in different disciplines or using different approaches.
- We strongly recommend that submissions articulate the issue or research question to be discussed, the methodological or critical framework used, the findings or conclusions to be presented, and/or the relevance to the wider game studies discipline.
- Submissions are expected to have references to reflect the author’s engagement with existing scholarship.
We look forward to welcoming you to RMIT University for DiGRAA 2027!
Conference organising committee
Dr Stephanie Harkin – RMIT University, Melbourne
Dr James Manning – RMIT University, Melbourne