Over 100 different people registered to join the R2R Pre-Conference sessions that were held over the past three weeks. These were free online sessions, giving the opportunity for registered and potential participants in the Researcher to Reader Conference to meet some of the presenters and discuss their planned topic with them. Each session began with a brief overview of the planned topic, followed by a general discussion amongst those participating the meeting.

Amongst the people registered to attend these sessions were people affiliated with the following organisations: Accucoms, ALPSP, BMJ, Bristol University, British Institute of Radiology, Cabells, Cactus Global, Cambridge University Press, Centers for Disease Control, Company of Biologists, Copyright Clearance Center, Elsevier, Harrassowitz, Imperial College, London, JISC, Karger Publishers, Liverpool University, London School of Economics, National Institutes of Health, Northumbria University, PLOS, Rockefeller University, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, The Open University, The Royal Society, University of Ottawa, University of Pittsburgh, University of Sussex and Wiley.

The Conference topics covered in these pre-sessions included:

Interviews: China Research and Publishing (Nicko Goncharoff)
Panel: COVID-19 Rapid Review & Preprints (Sarah Greaves)
Panel: Inclusivity (Kim Eggleton)
Panel: Research Realities (Heather Staines)
Presentation: Funding OA Books (Martin Eve & Frances Pinter)
Workshop A: New OA Models (Tasha Mellins-Cohen & Stuart Taylor)
Workshop B: Academic Writing (Christine Tulley, Sara Rouhi & Anna Sharman)
Workshop C: Antiracist Framework (Jocelyn Dawson & Sabby Kaur)
Workshop D: Usage Metrics (Lorraine Estelle & Catriona MacCallum)
Workshop E: Peer Review (Iratxe Puebla & Chris Graf)

More information on each of these Conference topics can be found in our Programme. These simple pre-Conference conversations took place using the Zoom video conferencing application; the full R2R Conference will be using an online platform for the main event and a virtual room application for informal networking. Registration is still open for the Conference which will take place on 23-24 February. 

Mark Carden
15 February 2021