The European Network of Picturebook Research was founded in Barcelona during the first picturebook conference in September 2007. The network was proposed by Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer (University of Tübingen, Germany), who was a member of both the reading committee and co-organiser of the conference.  

The core group of picturebook researchers includes, or has included, Evelyn Arizpe (University of Glasgow, UK), Nina Christensen (University of Copenhagen, Denmark), Elina Druker (University of Stockholm, Sweden), Maria Nikolajeva (Cambridge University, UK) and Teresa Colomer and Cecilia Silva-Díaz (Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain).

Since 2007, the Network has held a biennial conference in a different European country.

The aims of the network are:

1. To foster international picturebook research
2. To promote young researchers who are focusing on the investigation of picturebooks
3. To publish selected papers presented at the conferences through international publishers or in peer-reviewed journals.