This presentation explores the rational for establishing an ERES Doctoral Network. Over time the doctoral session at the ERES annual conference has increased in size and importance. This reflects a significant growth in the number of real estate doctoral students in Europe. While the annual doctoral session is very important for fostering networking between doctoral students it remains a once a year event and as a result will never be a permanent mechanism for promoting constructive engagement between PhD students in real estate across Europe. The establishment of an appropriate mechanism which promotes dialog between students 365 days a year should be a priority for ERES given that the fostering of a future generation of real estate researchers and educators is essential to its survival. The presentation outlines a number of ideas on how this might be achieved and examines the potential role of such a network.