June 9 -11, 2027
Riding Digital Waves
Sydney, Australia

NETNOCON 2027

GLOBAL NETNOGRAPHY CONFERENCE
Riding Digital Waves

In 2027, Netnocon arrives in Sydney, Australia, for a landmark gathering of the global netnography community. Hosted at Western Sydney University Parramatta City campus, in the western suburbs of Sydney, this will be the first time Netnocon is held outside Europe, bringing researchers, practitioners, and students together at a meeting point of Indigenous heritage, global cultures, and digital innovation. Surrounded by oceans, rivers, and constantly shifting currents, Sydney provides the perfect setting for this year's theme: Riding Digital Waves. As netnography continues to evolve and expand across disciplines, sectors, and continents, we gather to explore the opportunities, challenges, and transformations shaping our increasingly digital lives.

We come together at a time when artificial intelligence, algorithmic systems, digital platforms, and online communities are reshaping the ways people connect, create, consume, learn, and organise. The pace of technological change can feel overwhelming, yet beneath the rapid flow of information remain the stories, relationships, values, and cultural meanings that make us human. Netnography offers a way to immerse ourselves in these evolving environments, to understand how people navigate them, and to uncover the deeper patterns shaping contemporary digital culture. Netnocon provides a dedicated space to share those discoveries, debate new directions, and advance our collective understanding.

If you have attended Netnocon before, you already know that its greatest strength is its community. Scholars, practitioners, creative thinkers, and emerging researchers from around the world come together in a spirit of generosity, curiosity, and collaboration. Across disciplines and career stages, participants contribute fresh perspectives, thoughtful conversations, and lasting connections. Netnocon is a place where ideas develop, partnerships begin, and lifelong friendships are formed.

If you have not joined us before, we invite you to come for the scholarship and stay for the community. Together, we will explore what it means to ride the digital waves transforming our world, while continuing to build the future of netnographic research.

Join us for Netnocon 2027 in Sydney and ride the digital wave of energy, creativity, and connection of a truly global netnography community.

Netnocon 2027

Organizing Committee and Chairs
Robert Kozinets
Robert Kozinets
Co-chair
Professor Robert V. Kozinets develops methods and theories that are widely used around the world. His work aims to provide a human-centered understanding of technocultures as well as the social structures and passions that surround them. Netnography, his major innovation, is transforming research practices throughout industry and across the social sciences.
Ulrike Gretzel
Ulrike Gretzel
Co-Chair
Dr. Ulrike Gretzel is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Public Relations, University of Southern California and Director of Research at Netnografica. She has over 15 years of experience conducting academic and practice-focused netnographies, with topics ranging from the experiences of black vanlifers to the collective activism among fans of a Chinese TV drama.
Rossella Gambetti
Rossella Gambetti
Co-Chair
Rossella Gambetti is professor of branding and consumer culture at Labcom, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. Her research focuses on emerging technocultural phenomena shaping contemporary branding and consumer culture. Rossella is a “netno-enthusiast” who conducted several netnographic explorations in the social media worlds.
Nicole Bridges
Nicole Bridges
Co-Chair
Associate Professor Nicole Bridges is Head of Discipline for Media and Communication and teaches Public Relations at Western Sydney University. Her research examines digital communities, online support networks, social media, and health communication. She has applied netnography across a range of contexts and is particularly interested in how digital platforms shape connection, identity, inclusion, and everyday experiences.
Vanessa Campbell
Vanessa Campbell
Co-Chair
Vanessa Campbell is the Program Lead for Public Relations at Western Sydney University and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). Her research focuses on social media engagement practices of not-for-profit organisations. Vanessa’s interests include netnography, digital communities, stakeholder engagement, social justice and communication practice.
Romas Malevicius
Romas Malevicius
Co-Chair
Romas Malevicius, Assistant Professor of Marketing (Lecturer) at King’s College London, UK, is a digital artist passionate about marketing, sustainability, and education for sustainability (EfS). He is a business consultant with 10 years of experience in business and management education and community engagement.
Fernanda Scussel
Fernanda Scussel
Co-Chair
Fernanda Scussel is the founder of Research in Practice, an academic education platform in Brazil, and one of the country’s leading academic influencers. She conducts netnographic research on discourses and the construction of meanings in digital environments. She also works with qualitative research methods and explores the integration of artificial intelligence into qualitative research

Get in touch

Western Sydney University, Parramatta City 161-169 Macquarie St Parramatta NSW 2150
info@netnocon.org