Programme

Tuesday 25 February 2025

08:30  Registration — CONVERSATION

09:30  Welcome — INTRODUCTION

Speaker
Mark CARDEN, Managing Consultant at Mosaic Search & Selection
(no recording available) Slides (PDF)

09:45  Opening Keynote — INSPIRATION

Speaker
Professor John WILLINSKY, Stanford University (emeritus) and Public Knowledge Project founder
(no recording or slides available)

10:30  Workshops – First Meeting — COLLABORATION

Workshop Manager
Jayne Marks, Head of Business Development, EMEA at Maverick Publishing Specialists

Workshop A: Peer Review Innovations:
What are strategies for implementing solutions across scholarly communications?

Facilitators
Tony ALVES, SVP Product Management at HighWire Press
Jason DE BOER, Growth Director at Kriyadocs
Alice ELLINGHAM, Founder and Director at Editorial Office
Elizabeth HAY, Associate Director at Editorial Office
Dr Christopher LEONARD, Director of Product Solutions at Cactus Communications

Workshop B: More Power to the Reader: How can we improve research communication by making content more readable?

Facilitators
Laura DORMER, Co-Founder & Editorial Director at Becaris Publishing
Dr Joana OSÓRIO, Communications Team Leader at Oxford PharmaGenesis
Sarah THOMAS, Publications and Communications Senior Manager at Ipsen
(Kathryn FUNK is no longer able to participate)

Workshop C: Research Integrity:
How do we guarantee image and data integrity in the age of AI?

Facilitators
Dr Phill JONES, Co-founder, Digital and Technology at MoreBrains Cooperative
Dr Fiona MURPHY, Co-founder, Partnerships & Community Development at MoreBrains Cooperative
Dr Joris van ROSSUM, Program Director at STM Solutions

Workshop D: Open Science in a Resource-constrained World:
What is our shared definition of pragmatic open science?

Facilitators
Godwyns ONWUCHEKWA, Head of Communities at eLife
Sara ROUHI, Director, Open Science/Publishing Innovation at AIP Publishing
Marc SEGERS, Head of Product Innovation at AIP Publishing

Workshop E: Enhancing Global South Scholarly Publishing:
How can we drive sustainable development in publishing?

Facilitators
Sarah PHIBBS, Director, Director, Equity & Inclusion, STM
Blessing MAWIRE, Program Lead at Research4Life

Workshop F: Pain Points in the Research Process:
How can collaborative infrastructure further support researchers?

Facilitators
Dianne BENHAM, Product Director at GetFTR (Independent Consultant)
Tracy GARDNER, Head of Marketing at GetFTR
Hylke KOERS, CIO at STM Solutions
Dr Heather STAINES, Director of Community Engagement at Delta Think

11:30   Break with Lightning Talks — CONVERSATION & INFORMATION

Lightning Talk Manager
Haseeb IRFANULLAH, independent consultant on environment, climate change, and research systems

KGL Smart Review: Peer Review, Reimagined
Marion MORROW, Director of Sales, Europe at KGL
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube – no slides)
Collective Funding for OA Books: Pledge to Open
Becky HILL, Head of Open Research at Taylor & Francis
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)
What Comes After the PDF? Video!
Dr Ben KAUBE, Co-founder at Cassyni
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)

12:15 From Research to Policy and Practice:
Navigating the path to influence — DISCUSSION

Moderator
Damian BIRD, Publishing Director at CABI
Panellists
Louis COIFFAIT-GUNN, CEO at CILIP
Toby GREEN, Publisher at Coherent Digital
Dr Catherine HADDON, Programme Director at The Institute for Government Academy
Dr Jaron PORCIELLO, Global Director, Evidence and Policy, CABI (online)
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube)

13:15  Lunch with Lightning Talks — CONVERSATION & INFORMATION

Why Don’t Researchers Share Their Data?
Daniel KEIRS, Head of Journal Strategy and Performance at IOP Publishing
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)
Unlocking the Potential from the Scholarly Conference Corpus
Paul KILLORAN, CEO at Ex Ordo
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)
Reviewing the SFU Open Access Fund
Ioana LIUTA, Digital Publishing Librarian at Simon Fraser University
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)
AI Tools Revolutionizing Peer Review
Mary MISKIN, Global Operations Director at Enago Charlesworth
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)

14:15  Strategies for transition to an open science culture:
What works, what doesn’t — CLARIFICATION

Moderator
Graham SMITH, Open Data Programme Manager at Springer Nature
Panellists
Riana BAHL, Biomedical Science graduate at Kings’ College London
Dr Mark HAHNEL, VP of Open Research at Digital Science
Dr Beth MONTAGUE-HELLEN, Head Librarian at the Francis Crick Institute
Recording (partial audio recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)

15:15  Break with Lightning Talks  — CONVERSATION & INFORMATION

Wiley’s Purchasing Power Parity Pilot
Leila MOORE, Director, Open Research EMEA at Wiley
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)
Open Pharma
Dr Joana OSÓRIO, Project Lead, Open Pharma at Oxford PharmaGenesis
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)
Introducing Dimensions Author Check
Tyler RUSE, Director of Publisher Solutions at Digital Science
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)

16:00 Business Models — EXPLANATION

Avoiding the Seventy Year Itch:                                                       
‘Transformative’ Open Access via Diamond Funding Models

Speakers
Dr Kira HOPKINS, Scholarly Publishing Outreach Officer at Copim Open Book Futures
Dr Rose HARRIS-BIRTILL, Editorial Director at Open Library of Humanities (online)

Shaping a Better Future:
Why US Libraries Should Move Beyond APC-based Publishing

Speaker
Doug WAY, Dean of Libraries at University of Kentucky

Recording (partial video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)

17:00  Workshops – Second Meeting — COLLABORATION

18:00  Evening Reception — CONVERSATION & LIBATION

19:00  End of First Day — INTERMISSION

Wednesday 26 February 2025

08:30  Registration — CONVERSATION

09:00  Trust indicators for research integrity:  
Combating mis- & dis-information in the scholarly record — DISCUSSION

Moderator
Dr Heather STAINES, Director of Community Engagement at Delta Think
Panellists
Tom DEMERANVILLE, Product Director at ORCID
Dr Hylke KOERS, CIO at STM Solutions
Jennifer WRIGHT, Research Integrity Manager at CUP
Recording (audio recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)

10:00  Workshops – Third Meeting — COLLABORATION

11:00   Break with Lightning Talks — CONVERSATION & INFORMATION

Bibliodiversity and Open Access Book Platforms
Dr Ronald SNIJDER, CTO / Head of Research at OAPEN Foundation
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)
A New Terminology for Peer Review
Dr Hylke KOERS, CIO at STM Solutions (for Dr Joris van ROSSUM)
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)
Peer Review as the Cornerstone of Trust in OA Publishing
Giulia STEFENELLI, Scientific Communications Lead at MDPI
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)
Open Access Usage Data Governance and Sharing
Charles WATKINSON, Associate Librarian at University of Michigan
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)
Open Access Opt-Outs: A Case Study
Stephen WILKES, Product Manager at Royal Society of Chemistry
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)
Institution-Facing Models for OA Transition
Brian O’CONNOR, Global Sales Manager, Institutional Partnerships
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)
Catching Research Integrity Problems Before Publication
Dr Kaveh BAZARGAN, Director at River Valley
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)

11:45   Debate — DISPUTATION
Resolved: Scholarly Publishers Are No Longer Necessary

Moderator
Rick ANDERSON, University Librarian at Brigham Young University
Speaking for the motion
Caroline BLACK, Publishing Director, STM Journals at Cambridge University Press
Speaking against the motion
Keith WEBSTER, Dean of Libraries at Carnegie Mellon University
Recording (partial audio recording on YouTube)

12:45  Lunch with Lightning Talks — CONVERSATION & INFORMATION

Open Access Usage Data Governance and Sharing
Charles WATKINSON, Associate Librarian at University of Michigan
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)
Open Access Opt-Outs: A Case Study
Stephen WILKES, Product Manager at Royal Society of Chemistry
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)
Institution-Facing Models for OA Transition
Brian O’CONNOR, Global Sales Manager, Institutional Partnerships
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)
Catching Research Integrity Problems Before Publication
Dr Kaveh BAZARGAN, Director at River Valley
Recording (complete video recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)

13:45  The Future of Research Integrity — EXPLANATION

Speakers
Nicko GONCHAROFF, Commercial Lead and Co-Founder at Signals
Dr Elliott LUMB, Co-Founder at Signals
Recording (audio recording on YouTube) Slides (PDF)

14:15  OA, Preprints, and the Future of Research Communication — CLARIFICATION

Moderator
Christopher PYM, Key Account Manager, Funders at ACS Publications
Panellists
Colin ADCOCK, Publishing Manager, Open Science at American Physical Society
Ashley FARLEY, Senior Officer at Gates Foundation (online)
Ben MUDRAK, Senior Product Manager at ChemRxiv
Recording (audio/video recording on YouTube)

15:15  Break — CONVERSATION

16:00  Workshop Feedback — COLLABORATION

Workshop Supervisor
Maria MACHADO, Affiliate Consultant at Maverick Publishing Specialists
(no recording available) Slides (PDF)

16:30  Closing Keynote — INSPIRATION

Speaker
Professor Kamran ABBASI, Editor in Chief at The BMJ
(no recording or slides available)

17:15  Conference Conspectus — SUMMARISATION

Speaker
Mark CARDEN, Managing Consultant at Mosaic Search & Selection
(no recording available) Slides (PDF)

17:30  End of Conference — CONCLUSION

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Sponsors

Our sponsors provide much-needed financial support for the Researcher to Reader Conference, and for the scholarly communications community, while also increasing awareness of their brands, products and services. Without the generous support of our sponsors, registration cost would be around 50% higher for our delegates.

The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a globally respected organisation dedicated to advancing chemistry. Through research, education, and collaboration, the RSC promotes excellence in chemical science. RSC members drive innovation, address global challenges, and foster sustainable solutions. From supporting groundbreaking research to inspiring the next generation of chemists, the RSC plays a vital role in shaping the future of science.

MDPI is a pioneer in scholarly, open access publishing, that has supported academic communities since 1996. Based in Basel, Switzerland, MDPI has the mission to foster open scientific exchange in all forms, across all disciplines. MDPI’s 379 diverse, peer-reviewed, open access journals are supported by more than 115,000 academic experts who support MDPI’s mission, values, and commitment to providing high-quality service for our authors. MDPI’s articles are freely available and distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

Digital Science is an innovative technology company offering digital solutions across the research ecosystem. In partnership with researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers, Digital Science works towards advancing global research for the benefit of society. The Digital Science brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Dimensions Research Integrity, Figshare, ReadCube, Symplectic, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, Overleaf, Writefull, OntoChem, Scismic and metaphacts – help to solve problems and drive progress for all.

Ex Ordo conference management software is built specifically for the needs of scholarly events (e.g. content heavy, peer review workflows and a view to interoperability with the research lifecycle). It is a powerful, intuitive events workflow system for authors, reviewers, chairs and admins. The platform covers all stages of the events life cycle and can be used end-to-end or in partnership with other tools.

Mosaic Search & Selection has been providing international executive recruitment services for publishers and related organisations for over 20 years.  The Mosaic team uses their many years of sector and recruitment experience, and their professional executive search skills, to enable organisations to hire exceptional new talent cost-effectively and with minimal risk.

KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. (KGL) is the premier industry provider of peer review, production, consulting, online hosting, association management, institutional sales & marketing, and transformative solutions for every stage of the content lifecycle. KGL unites content and technology expertise with over 200 years of experience serving the publishing market and is powered by intelligent solutions and delivery platforms including Smart Suite and PubFactory.

Frontiers is an open access publisher connecting researchers worldwide. Their role is to provide the world’s scientists with a rigorous and efficient publishing experience. Powered by custom-built technology, artificial intelligence, and a collaborative peer review, Frontiers community journals give experts in more than 1,800 academic fields an open access platform to publish high quality, high impact research.

Registration

The 2025 Researcher to Reader Conference will be our normal 2-day interactive, collaborative conversation.

When registration is open, you can create your new Conference registration by going to our Registration Site. There is more information below and throughout our website about our outstanding Programme, great Testimonials and excellent Feedback.

Our registration site is designed to allow an application for one ticket by one person, who will need to create (or update) their own account. If you want to register on behalf of someone else, you can do this by creating a new account on their behalf, using their email address; they will receive the ticket by email. If you have already registered for yourself, and now wish to register for a new person, you may need to log out, or use an ‘incognito’ browser window, to be able to create a new account for that person.

For 2025 we are keeping ticket prices to the same level as 2024. We believe that we continue to be significantly less expensive than many other events, including those offering two days of content spread over three days, and we continue to offer our usual discounts for ‘early birds’, librarians, academics, returning delegates and concessions. All prices are in GBP plus 20% tax. Payment is by debit or credit card. Terms and conditions apply.

The registration rates are:

Regular Participant Rate: For anyone who does not qualify for a discount under any of the other tariffs.

Returning Participant Rate: For anyone who has attended a previous Researcher to Reader Conference.

Librarian or Academic Rate: For anyone whose main occupation is as a librarian or an academic researcher.

Concession Participant Rate: For anyone who is unemployed, who works in an organisation that has a complement of between 1 and 8 people, or is a resident of a country on the Research4Life eligibility list.

Sponsor Discounted Rate: For any employee of an organisation that is a sponsor of the upcoming event, at time of registration. Some sponsorship packages also include one or more complimentary admissions.

^{Contributor / Speaker Rate: Free or discounted admission to the Conference is offered to all speakers or other contributors who are invited to participate in delivery of the programme (excluding Lightning Talk presenters). Details are given on the Call for Papers webpage, and eligible contributors will be provided with a special code, once the programme is finalised. We do, however, encourage contributors to volunteer to support the Conference by paying a full or concessionary rate on registration if this is affordable for them or their organisation.}

Additional Information

For more information about the Conference, and for details of our registration and cancellation terms, please review the whole of this website, including the pages about the Programme, our Terms & Conditions and our Privacy Notice.

Feedback

Summary

Participant feedback for the 2025 Researcher to Reader Conference, which took place at BMA House in London on 25-26 February, once again demonstrated continued high levels of satisfaction with the event, with delegates rating the Conference very positively.

Of those responding to the survey (with about a 50% response rate),100% rated the Conference ‘Relevant’, while 99% rated it ‘Valuable’.

The overall event content, structure and administration continues to be highly rated, although scores for the food and the AV production dipped a little, compared with last year.

Plenary sessions in the main hall had average scores ranging from 2.9 to 3.5 (out of 4), with an overall average score of 3.2. This represents a very small reduction in scores from 2024 (3.1 to 3.7), encouraging us to curate next year’s programme even more vigorously.

Four out of the five breakout workshops received 100% positive feedback, with the average score for each of the five workshops ranging from 3.3 to 3.9 (out of 4), and an average score overall of 3.6. The lightning talks scored even better, with about the same range, but an average of 3.4 overall.

The structure of the event (timetable, mix of sessions, etc) was positively scored (92%), the food was highly regarded (95% positive), and the event administration got 96% positive feedback.

Detailed Report

Sentiment

The survey, completed by over 50% of participants, showed 98% of respondents agreeing that the Conference was Relevant to them professionally, and 100% saying it was Valuable use of their time. 98% of those responding said they would recommend the event to others – we hope they will do so!

Content and Format

The overall content of the Conference was positively reviewed, with almost all respondents giving very positive scores and comments on the scope, content and delivery of the sessions. A few people suggested we should give more attention to the humanities and to books, and we will definitely aim to improve on this. Including more funder voices was also mentioned, and we would welcome any funders who wanted to join our conversations. We also continue to strive to include more voices (on the platform and amongst the participants) from outside Europe and North America, and would welcome ideas and proposals that would help with this.

The overall format and timetable for the Conference was positively reviewed by nearly 90% of respondents. We pack a lot into two days, and some people say that they find the timetable a bit intense, but others seemed to like the energy this generates. Quite a lot of people said that they thought the days were too long, and also suggested shortening the sessions and the breaks, or even extending the meeting over 3 days. But others really value the longer conversations and networking time and want to keep all the content crammed into two days. Many people (rightly) said that starting the second workshop at 5pm was too late.

Numerous people were unhappy that we schedule the lightning talks during the breaks, but others really value not being expected to network for all the breaks. We are keen to keep commercial presentations optional for the delegates, which means not scheduling them in the plenary timetable. It is also hard to see how we could integrate about 90 minutes of this material into the main programme without extending the duration. Video recordings of the lighting talks were made available after the Conference, so that people who wanted to focus on conversations with fellow participants on the day don’t have to miss out on this content.

Some comments on the format included:
“As always, nice balance of sessions and networking.”
“Honestly it looked bonkers on the programme, but it was really well paced.”
“Some of the sessions could be shorter and more dynamic.”
“The breaks could be shorter to condense the time.”
“The schedule is always jam packed but it’s good, so hard to suggest any less.”
“Perfect ratio of sessions, workshops and networking.”
“I enjoyed the structure of the event as a whole.”
“Great variety of topics and formats.”
“I like the variety of formats and the way they are made explicit.”
“Having a workshop track and then plenary sessions is really nice.”
“The first day was too long!”
“Shorter 2nd day.”
“Plenty of time to network.”
“More space between the sessions for moving around.”
“Perhaps less time spent on workshops?”
“More time for workshops with the opportunity to participate in more than one.”
“I think that the lunch break should be completely free of lightning talks.”
“Talks over lunch gave a chance to eat and listen rather than network which was restful!”
“Great to be able to do lightening talks OR break or both.”

Plenary Sessions

The plenary sessions at the Conference (including panels, presentations, round-tables and the debate) received highly positive ratings across the whole timetable. All sessions received an average rating of 2.9 to 3.5 (out of 4) with an overall average of 3.2. This consistent range of high scores shows that the vigorous curation of the programme is highly effective in ensuring all sessions are of high quality, and are valued by the vast majority of participants. Particularly highly rated were the Opening Keynote, the discussions on Policy & Practice, Trust Indicators and Open Science, and the presentation on Research Integrity.

Some of the comments about the sessions included concern about an excessive focus on STEM and journals, and a lack of attention to humanities and books. Several people expressed their appreciation for not having loads of AI content, but there was a feeling that we over-emphasised integrity. Several people asked for more librarians and funders on the platform, and more people from under-represented demographics and geographies; we would very much like to make that happen.

Below is a sample of the comments on the sessions overall:
“Really good speakers.”
“The speakers and different content styles were all very engaging.”
“High quality but quite samey.”
“A bit of repetition on research integrity.”
“Plenty of relevant sessions – interesting.”
“Good mix of trending topics with less discussed yet important ones.”
“I was glad the conference avoided going too heavy on AI.”
“Need more on AI technologies.”
“I felt the sessions could have asked much harder hitting questions.”
“There were some really interesting new perspectives this year.”
“I really enjoyed the topics and the speakers.”

Workshops

The highly interactive workshops were also all positively viewed, receiving an average rating of 3.1 to 3.8 (out of 4), slightly down on the 2024 figures, but still very positive. Workshop A (Peer Review) was viewed particularly positively, with 92% respondents saying it was ‘Great’. Additionally, Workshops E (Global South) and C (Research Integrity) were considered ‘Great’ by well over half their respondents).

Overall, about 80-90% of participants rated their workshop positively, demonstrating a consistent high standard. Just three people (out of 71) rated their workshop ‘Poor’.

As in previous years, some people said that we did not allow enough time for their workshop topic, while others said they wanted to attend multiple shorter workshops, so perhaps we have the balance about right!

Comments in the feedback show great enthusiasm for well-planned and well-run workshops, with about 30 people writing very positive comments, with a small selection here:
“Well facilitated and a good energy across the group.”
“Loved the format – really energetic and participatory!”
“It was very interactive and very well structured, and I enjoyed it.”
“Great workshop, bringing together people from all over the industry.”
“Very interesting and interactive, learnt a lot!”
“It was an interesting topic, and the moderators led it brilliantly.”
“Really enjoyed. Felt like I was doing something useful.”
“It was a great session, and I really appreciated how inclusive it was.”
“There was high participation, honesty, knowledge sharing and lessons.”
“Enthusiastic participation and varied perspectives.”

The R2R workshops are the most demanding part of our programme, both for the facilitators and the event management, but they are highly rewarding for the participants (and, usually, for the facilitators as well); we particularly welcome proposals for workshops in our Call for Papers.

Lightning Talks

The lightning talk sessions also received generally positive feedback, with the vast majority getting scores of 3.1 to 3.5 (out of 4). The lightning talks are proving to be consistently (and increasingly) popular, even though some are purely commercial presentations.

The top-rated lightning talks included Charles Watkinson’s session on Open Access Usage Data Sharing and Joris van Rossum’s talk on Peer Review Terminology (presented in the end by Hylke Koers).

Event Overall

The ratings for the audio-visual production dropped significantly this year. With our hybrid events in 2022 and 2023, we spent a lot of money on an external AV team to ensure that the online and physical participants had a great experience. This was not really affordable for a physical-only event, however, and for 2024 and 2025 we reduced our investment in production. Despite this, the AV production  went well in 2024, but we had some significant problems with the live production and the recordings this year, which we will try hard not to repeat in future.
“Despite a couple of hiccups with audio and online presenters, overall good.”
“Quite hard to see slides as room too light.”
“Sound guys had a nightmare – non-working mics, sudden massive feedback.”
“There was a problem with a remote speaker being unable to join.”
“Obvious issues with sound/online joiners.”

The Conference venue got many positive comments during the event, and the catering received 87% positive ratings in the feedback survey, although this is a little bit down from last year’s 95%. We might make the food a little less spicy next time (but still flavoursome). Most people with special dietary needs seemed to be very satisfied. Comments included:
“Delicious food, as always.”
“The food was truly awful.”
“Great choice and quality of food.”
“Way better than usual conference food.”
“Too many curry options.”
“Amazing service catering for food allergies!”

The overall dates and duration for the event received 98% positive responses, with people generally liking the format of two full days, and people seemed happy with the slightly earlier finish on the second day. Several people said the programme is too intense or the days are two long, but others really like the format. We will consider possible changes, but we are quite reluctant to spread over three days, reduce the content or have parallel sessions.
“I enjoy the two-day format, but the days are quite long.”
“The days are too long.”
“Have two half days and one full day (but everyone bails on the final half day).”
“Perfect length.”

We were also pleased to see that around 80% of respondents continue to feel that the R2R Conference is good value for money. Events are continuing to get more expensive to deliver, as the cost of venues, catering and other aspects rise, but we try to keep ticket prices affordable, helped by the support from our sponsors.

The event administration, managed by The Events Hub for the past 9 years, got 96% positive scores; this is always scored highly, typically 95%-100%. There were also positive reactions to our registration process (99%) and to our marketing messages (85%) – both improvements on last year’s good scores.
“Lovely helpful people.”
“Team did a great job.”
“The team was prompt, organised and highly flexible.”
“Well organised.”
“The organising team are great!”

Participation

R2R works hard to host a very inclusive event within the scholarly communications community, and this includes the breadth of our scope, the diversity of our participants and the collaborative ethos that we try to maintain during the meeting. It is perplexingly challenging to attract librarians and researchers to a ‘scholarly communications’ conversation, but we work hard on this and hope that our community will continue to help.

We also try to be a very inclusive meeting, with typically about 50% ‘first timers’ and 50% ‘old hands’, but we recognise that attending a new conference can be daunting. Our workshops seem to help in drawing people together from the start. Encouragingly, there were many positive comments in the survey responses about this, but we were concerned that a couple of people reported that they found it hard to get talking to people. We suspect and hope that this reflects the engagement and energy that people were putting into their interactions in the breaks, which can be off-putting to people who might be unsure how to join in. We will think about how to facilitate interactions between participants who don’t know each other.

“A varied programme that encouraged lively and respectful discussions.”
“Diverse audience, and fantastic breakout groups.”
“Excellent conversations and networking opportunities.”
“Good mix of professions among attendees and presenters.”
“It would be great to have more researchers represented and speaking.”
“More participants from the global south and libraries”
“Be more inclusive globally.”
“Great mix of people and plenty of time to network.”
“Not too big, so felt easier to mingle.”
“Great first conference, learnt a lot.”
“As a first timer, it did feel a little bit cliquey. “
“A good opportunity to meet people.”
“The ice was broken in a workshop setting.”
“Not so large you feel lost.”
“Exactly the right peer group.”
“Some shepherding of early or mid-career folks might be good.”

Conclusion

Overall the survey results, and other feedback, suggest that the 2025 Researcher to Reader Conference was, yet again, useful, enjoyable and good value for the overwhelming majority of participants. We are continuing to review all the feedback carefully to see what improvements can be made in future, to ensure that we keep up this very positive reputation.