Call for Papers:

Animex Research and Innovation Conference
November 18, 2026, Teesside University, UK (in person)
November 25, 2026, presentations online
https://www.tees.ac.uk/minisites/animexconference/index.cfm

Deadline for submissions: June 26, 2026

The fourth Animex Research and Innovation Conference invites submissions of short 3,000- word papers for presentation and publication. The conference brings together both emerging and established scholars and practitioners working across animation, VFX, and games to share, debate, and celebrate their current research disciplines. This year, it is again a part of the Animex programme, allowing delegates to enjoy the wider festival. The event features experts in animation, VFX and games from across the world. Visit the Animex website to learn more about what the festival has to offer.

For the first time, the conference publishes a peer-reviewed volume of Conference Proceedings. Presenters can contribute to the publication and disseminate their work to a broader academic and industry audience.

We invite submissions across a range of subjects that explore the expanding frontiers of animation and games, addressing both cutting edge technological developments and the wider cultural, ethical, and environmental contexts shaping contemporary practice.

LIST OF INDICATIVE TOPICS

Animation technologies & techniques

• Procedural animation
• Real-time animation/simulation
• Dynamic simulation
• Virtual production

Performance, motion & embodied interaction

• Motion capture and retargeting
• Gesture recognition and motion analysis
• Multimodal interaction: haptics, sound
• Participatory and Immersive approaches

Extended realities & virtual worlds

• Extended reality, virtual reality and augmented reality
• Virtual humans and autonomous actors
• Information visualisation
• User experience and interface

Artificial intelligence, data & computational methods

• Machine learning and AI for animation and games
• Serious games, medtech, industrial applications and/or digital twins
• Creative coding

Scholarly and creative research frameworks

• Animation studies
• Game studies
• Practice-based research

SUBMISSION FORMATS

We are accepting 3000-word papers for blind peer review. Papers include a 250-word abstract, references and author biography. Please use the template provided. All accepted papers will be presented at the conference in the form of a 20-minute presentation.

Template for ARIC Submission

TIMELINE SUBMISSION AND ACCEPTANCE:

Deadline for Submissions: Friday 26 June 2026
Notification of acceptance: Monday 4 September 2026
Conference dates: Wednesday 18 November 2026, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, In-person; Wednesday 25 November 2026, presentations, online

Submit your paper via Open Review here.

Please note that you need to create an Open Review profile. New profiles created without an institutional email go through a moderation process that can take up to two weeks. Whilst new profiles created with an institutional email will be activated automatically.

For any queries regarding the Animex Research Conference, please email us at animex-conf@tees.ac.uk