30 September-02 October 2026
Darmstadt, Germany
ECGBL 2026
20th European Conference on Games Based Learning
Technische Universität
The European Conference on Games Based Learning was established 19 years ago. It has been held in Austria, Scotland, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Greece, Norway and France to mention only some of the countries that have hosted it. ECGBL is generally attended by participants from more than 40 countries and attracts an interesting combination of academic scholars, practitioners, game designers and individuals who are engaged in various aspects of games-based learning and serious games. Among other journals, the Electronic Journal of e-Learning publishes a special edition of the best papers presented at this conference.
The conference is also host to The 14th International Educational Games Competition. On 30th September we will be hosting a playday where conference participants and local players will be able to play the games entered into this year’s competition.
ECGBL 2026 is being held at Technische Universität Darmstadt, TU Darmstadt, Germany
Personal Message from the Conference Chair
The Serious Games research group at TU Darmstadt is delighted to host the 20th edition of ECGBL in 2026.
Since 2008, interdisciplinary, applied research is investigated for the creation (authoring), control (personalisation and adaptation) and evaluation (measurement of effects) of serious games. Application examples among others include educational games, vocational training, personalised exergames or mental health games.
Important Dates
| Abstract submission deadline | 10 March 2026 |
| Notification of abstract acceptance | 24 March 2026 |
| Full paper due for review | 29 April 2026 |
| Notification of paper acceptance (with any requested changes) | 08 July 2026 |
| Call for Games Closes | 03 May 2026 |
| Notification of Game acceptance | 02 June 2026 |
| Earlybird registration closes | 22 July 2026 |
| Final paper due (with any changes) | 05 August 2026 |
| Final Author payment date | 26 August 2026 |
We are planning to run our series of conferences as physical events with the option for participants to join virtually. We urge you to continue to submit your abstracts and papers in line with the published dates (extensions will be granted on request). For more details contact info@academic-conferences.org.
Conference Publications
Papers accepted for the ECGBL after the double-blind peer review process, will be published in the conference proceedings, subject to author registration and payment. The conference proceedings have an ISSN (2049-0992) and will be assigned an ISBN on publication. Proceedings are accessible here: https://papers.academic-conferences.org/index.php/ecgbl
Additionally, papers that have been presented at the conference will also be considered for further development and possible publication in the journals listed below. Authors are invited to submit their work to these journals mentioning that they attended the conference. Authors will be expected to develop the work by 40-50%, including a change of title and abstract. Individual journal procedures will need to be followed and there is no guarantee of publication.
The Editors of the Electronic Journal of e-Learning will make selections if they feel work is appropriate and of sufficient quality for the journal. If invited to publish in a journal authors will be expected to develop the work by 40-50%, including a change of title and abstract. Individual journal procedures will need to be followed and there is no guarantee of publication.
- International Journal of Game-Based Learning. Published by the Information Resource Management Association (DOI: 10.4018/IJGBL, ISSN: 2155-6849, EISSN: 2155-6857)
- Electronic Journal of e-Learning (ISSN 1479-4403)
Conference Accreditations
Proceedings of the European Conference on Games Based Learning (ECGBL) are:
- submitted for consideration by the Web of Science (WoS) Conference Proceedings Citation Index
- indexed by the Institution of Engineering and Technology in the UK
- listed in the EBSCO database
- listed in the Elsevier SCOPUS abstract and citation database
- listed on Google Book Search
- listed on Google Schoolar
- Ranked 1 in the Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers
The Conference Proceedings are submitted for accreditation on publication. Please note that depending on the accreditation body this process can take up to several months.
Keynote Speakers
Keynote coming soon
Conference Contacts
| Academic Enquiries | Professor Dan Remenyi |
| Submission Enquiries | Helen Taylor |
| Registration Enquiries | Belinda Burchell |
| Other Enquiries | Afua Bosompra |
