This two-day event hosted by the School of Media, Communication and Sociology and LIAS at the University of Leicester, is funded by eNurture and in partnership with The Diana Award, ESL UK and Esports Insider.
This international symposium is aimed at showcasing research and promoting discussion investigating how digital environments, specifically live-streaming video games and esports, are changing the nature of the risks that children and young people face in their everyday digital lives.
The symposium, which brings together leading academic researchers, young gamers, specialised practitioners, and industry leaders, invites research papers from a range of disciplines such as sociology, education, media and communication, internet studies, feminist theory, human geography, psychology. While all papers should concern gaming, streaming, esports, and young people, topics of interest will include, but will not be limited to:
How gaming, livestreaming and esports supports or hinders children and young people in the fabric of their daily life;
Young people's experiences of intimacy, belonging, exclusion, or hate in online gaming spaces;
The mental health risks, challenges, or opportunities involved with gaming, live-streaming and esports;
How live-streaming and esports create or shape employment opportunities for young people;
Public discourses concerning young people, gaming, live-streaming and/or esports;
Industry perspectives on young gamers and streamers (such as talent exploitation, ethical practice, pathways to employment, etc.). These submissions will form the basis of industry round-table sessions to be held across the symposium.
Keynote speakers: Prof. Sonia Livingston (LSE, eNurture Deputy Director) and Dr. Emma Witkowski (RMT, Australia)
The symposium will livestream on Discord https://discord.com/invite/QUAm2MAhy8
For more information please contact Matthew Hart: m.hart@leicester.ac.uk