Open Call for the Pitch Lab Academia of the Professional Congress

DAU Barcelona Professional Congress, which will celebrate its 2nd edition on November 13 and 14, returns with the goal of consolidating itself as a benchmark meeting point for board game professionals. It is a space for connection, dialogue, and exchange among publishers, designers, artists, distributors, and institutions, aimed at reflecting on industry trends and exploring opportunities in a growing market at both the local and global levels.

As part of this year’s program, which will be announced in the coming weeks, the Pitch Lab Academia will be introduced — a platform dedicated to presenting early-stage research projects on board games and play as cultural, educational, and social practices.

The Pitch Lab Academia is open to PhD candidates and independent researchers who wish to share their work, receive feedback, and establish connections with both the academic community and the professional sector. The selected presentations will be included in the Professional Congress program and evaluated by a mixed jury of academic and industry experts. The scope of topics is open and may include proposals related to any academic field such as education, pedagogy, psychology, sociology, communication, or history.

Proposals can be submitted until October 28 to the email address indicated in the call. Once the deadline has passed, three projects will be selected to be presented in person before the audience of the Professional Congress on November 13. These projects will receive direct feedback from a mixed panel of academics and professionals in the sector, as well as networking opportunities with publishers, distributors, and researchers to boost the visibility and future development of their projects.

Projects that are not selected for in-person presentation will still be reviewed, and those that are accepted will be published online on the festival’s website.