(Re-)Shaping University Presses and Institutional Publishing 

Profiles – Challenges – Benefits

Brno, Czech Republic, 13–14 June 2019
Hosted by Masaryk University and Munipress

Declaration from the 2nd AEUP conference
Presentations from the 2nd AEUP conference on Zenodo

Registration is now closed.
Fee:
– 0 EUR for AEUP members
– 100 EUR for non-members (No fee if your abstract has been accepted for a Lightning talk or Poster presentation, or if you are an invited speaker.)
For news:
on Twitter: hashtag #AEUP19 and @AEUP_info.
on Facebook: AEUPinfo

The landscape of academic publishing is rapidly changing. Conventional funding and revenue models are declining, making scholarly publishing challenging especially for those publishers that serve small language areas or highly specialised target groups.
Meanwhile, new university presses have been founded all over Europe and beyond in the last few years, and existing ones are continually transforming towards digital dissemination. These changes respond to general trends in technology, dynamics in science policy, as well as funding programs and other initiatives, like Plan S pushing towards open access. The prerequisites of the authors (mainly scholars and researchers) and their institutions are constantly changing in the digital era.

What is more, institutional Open Access publishing is evolving, putting forth new infrastructures for – and also within – the academia. Because of these developments there is a growing interest to join forces within advocacy organisations such as AEUP.

Taking all this into account, this 2nd conference will be dedicated to questions concerning the task of (re-)shaping university presses and institutional publishing, especially:

  • What characterizes and challenges university presses nowadays?
  • What defines a professional press within higher education?
  • What are the benefits for scholars and researchers in publishing with institutional presses or academic library publishing services?

Code of Conduct

Please see the Association of European University Presses (AEUP) Code of Conduct, which is adopted from OpenCon Code of Conduct,

Program

Wednesday 12/6/2019 
18:30Pre-conference get-together (self-payer)
Stopkova plzeňská pivnice
(Česká 5, Brno)
Thursday 13/6/2019 
9:00-9:30Registration
9:30-10:00Welcoming address
Petr Dvořák, vice-rector for research and head of the editorial board of Masaryk University
Alena Mizerová, director at Masaryk University Press
10:00-11:00Welcoming address AEUP
Margo Bargheer, chair of the AEUP board
11:00-12:00Keynote 1
Pierre Mounier
OpenEdition, Coordinator of OPERAS
12.00-13:15Lunch sponsored by Ubiquity Press
 13:15-14:45Session 1: What characterizes and challenges university presses nowadays?
Chair: AEUP board
What is specific about an institutional press and/or a library-based press? What are the major challenges arising from the latest institutional and international politics and policies (or lack thereof)? What can be done to further promote Open Access in monograph publishing that continues to be at the core of most presses’ publishing program?
Lightning talks: Andrew Lockett, The Role of Books: University Presses in Transition and Open Access (University of Westminster Press); Fulvio Guatelli, University Presses and their scientific clouds: ‘commodities’ for science? (Firenze University Press); Anna Ruth: From local to (potentially) global: the timeline of Tampere University Press (Tampere University Press)
14:45-15:15Coffee break sponsored by Helbich Printing House
15:15-16:30Session 2:  What are the benefits for scholars and researchers
Chair: AEUP board
What are the benefits for individual researchers as well as scholarly community at large in publishing their research with institutional presses or academic library publishing services? When is publishing with prestigious commercial publishers the most suitable choice? How can institutional presses meet scholarly needs best?
Lightning talk: The cooperation between Graz University Press and Springer – an early account (Elisabeth Stadler (Graz University Press) & Francesca Bonadei (Springer))
Panel discussion: Margo Bargheer, chair of the AEUP board; Lucie Galčanová, specialist at the Office for Population Studies, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University; Miloš Barták, editor-in-chief of Czech Polar Reports, professor at the Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University; Hana Lipovská, instructor at the Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Administration, Masaryk University 
16:30-16:45Break
16:45-17:45Exploring (New) Ways of Publishing within the Program Hamburg Open Science (Axel Dürkop, Florian Hagen; Isabella Meinecke, Hamburg University Press)
AEUP Publishers’ Slam
17:45-18:15Discussion, summing up
18:30-19:00Drinks reception
19:00-22:00Conference dinner sponsored by AEUP
Friday 14/6/2019 
8:45-9:00Warm-up session
9:00-9:45Keynote 2 
Alena Mizerová (Masaryk University), Andrea Slováková: European book publishing: A proposal for a new international study programme 
9:45-11:00Session 3: How does an ideal editor of academic literature look like in times of digital publishing and what skills does the editor need to have?
Chair: AEUP board
What are the qualification and skills needed for institutional presses editors? Do formal training courses for editorial skills exist at universities and what do they focus on, or what should they focus on?
Lightning talks: Antonia Schrader (Leipzig University of Applied Sciences): Towards a sustainable Open Access monograph publishing workflow for academic institutions; Jacob Andersson, Survey on Editorial skills, (Malmö University Library); Vladimír Polách, Lenka Pořízková (Palacký University): Text editing and book studies at Palacký University: concepts and problems
Group discussions
11:00-11:30Coffee break sponsored by Helbich Printing House
11:30-12:45Session 4: What defines a professional press within higher education?
Chair: AEUP board
How do university presses fit in the publishing ecosystem of their institution? What comes out if traditional publishing virtues meet technical challenges/opportunities? Reward, profit and quality – old and new models
Lightning talks: Andrea Bertino, ‘Festina lente’. Developments and Mission of a University Press in the context of an infrastructural project SUB Göttingen (HIRMEOS Project Manager); Leena Kaakinen, Publishing Director at Helsinki University PressThe opportunities and challenges of a new Open Access University Press; Christina Lenz, How does a small researcher driven University Press live up to professionalism? Perspectives from Library based Stockholm University Press, (Stockholm University Press)
12:45-13:30Discussions
13:30-14:30Lunch sponsored by Ubiquity Press
14:30-15:00Summing up

The venue, how to get there & accommodation

Venue 
Masaryk University
Komenského nám. 2
Brno, Czech Republic

Accommodation City Centre

Continental hotel
Hotel Slavia

If you prefer more basic options, there are some nice hostels, too:
Jacob Brno
Penzion Dvořákova

If you prefer to stay out of the city centre, you may consider Orea Hotel Voronež. It is about 20 mins by bus and tram to reach the conference venue.

Travel to/from Brno

Brno has an international airport. Regular scheduled flights go to London/Stansted, Milan/Bergamo and Berlin/Schönefeld. You could also travel to Vienna International Airport, from there you can go by train or bus to Brno (approx. two hours trip).

International train lines going through Brno, see the connections here.

If you travel to Brno by bus you could use the Regio Jet company.

Travel in Brno

The centre of Brno is rather small, so everything is within a walking distance.

Information on public transport + route planner

Taxi services: 
City Taxi Brno – tel. (+420) 14 004
Taxi Impuls Brno – tel. (+420) 14 014

For questions about the venue and local organisation, please contact Martina Dvořáková (dvorakova@press.muni.cz).