Mel Slater, researcher at Faculty of Psychology and member of the Institute of Neurosciences of the UB (UBneuro), leads the first European Metaverse Research Network (ERMN). This network includes eight leading research institutions from seven European countries. Their aim is to promote research to identify the potential benefits of the metaverse, as well as its risks and challenges. The network will develop an interdisciplinary research through collaboration with industry, civil society and policy makers to ensure knowledge transfer and the construction of the metaverse in a responsible way. 

“The importance of the research to be carried out by ERMN cannot be underestimated. We will study the benefits of this revolutionary technological transformation and the most controversial aspects. Our role will be to contribute to the development of the metaverse in a responsible way”, says Mel Slater, coordinator of the network.  

The metaverse will change collaboration protocols, since it will reduce the geographical barriers of shared experiences and it will create new possibilities for social interaction by combining the physical and digital worlds. The role of ERMN will be essential, since it will bring together experts and institutions with a shared goal: to redefine the future of this emerging technology in a way which is aligned with European values.   

The eight institutions that build up this network are: University Paris Dauphine (France); Madeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Polytechnic University of Milan (Italy), the think tank Renaissance Numérique (France); RISE Sweden Research Institutes; the Netherlands Organization for Applied Sciences; the University of Alicante and the Poznan University of Technology (Poland).