The Researcher to Reader Conference, which takes place each February, is the premier forum for discussion of the international scholarly content supply chain – bringing knowledge from the Researcher to the Reader. The Conference has now been running successfully for over 5 years, and is one of the most highly-regarded and well-reviewed events in the sector.

The Conference is a highly-interactive conversation amongst senior people across the scholarly communications world, who spend two days working collaboratively to explore the key issues through workshops, panels and debates. The Conference has an outstanding reputation for usefulness, engagement and efficiency, with 94-100% of survey respondents in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 agreeing that the Conference was “Relevant to me professionally” and “Valuable use of my time”.

Delegate Demographics

Delegate numbers continue to grow over the years, and currently the event attracts around 150-200 senior people from the scholarly communications world, including publishing chief executives, library directors, research professors and technology specialists. The delegates have the opportunity to discuss the practical, commercial and technological realities of scholarly communications with colleagues, thought leaders and suppliers.

Typically about 60-70% of the Conference delegates are from the UK, and about 10-20% from the USA, although the event is attracting an increasingly global audience, encouraged by active international outreach, and by the 2021 and 2022 event being accessible online. Over 30 countries have been represented over the past events.

Under half of the delegates at any R2R event are publishers, with the balance being librarians, academics, funders, university managers, consultants, distributors and technologists. Because of the cross-sectoral nature of our programme, delegates are often highly influential members of their organisations, with executive or strategic responsibilities, although we also encourage a diverse range of participants, so all voices are heard. Normally about 60-70% of the delegates are at the ‘chief officer’ or ‘executive’ level, including CEOs, library directors, deans and full professors. We have a strong focus on attracting academics – both researchers and editors – and typically the Conference will have anywhere from 20 to 40 PhDs amongst the participants.  

The gender balance, both amongst delegates and on the platform, varies from year to year, but is consistently within a 40:60 ratio. For the 2021 and 2022 Conferences, our platform was about 55% female.

Past Sponsors

Our past sponsors have included publishers, technology suppliers and other members of the scholarly communications ecosystem. Feedback provided by the sponsors after the most recent conferences included:

“R2R has become a vital date in our sponsorship calendar.”

“Very impressed”

“Your team did an amazing job at running the event as a hybrid”

“Our sponsorship created even more opportunities to connect with attendees.”

“R2R is always a valuable meeting for us.”

“We were especially impressed with how well-run the virtual event was.”

We are now inviting current sponsors to renew, and new sponsors to join the Conference, in order to be able to directly engage with the delegates and to actively promote their brands, products and services before and during the event.

The Next Researcher to Reader

The next R2R Conference is planned to be a hybrid event, with both physical participants at our venue in central London, and fully-engaged participants online around the world. This will build on our very successful 2021 (online) and 2022 (hybrid) events, which were positively received by delegates and sponsors alike.  

Many online conferences held during the pandemic have been a disappointment for sponsors, as organisers replaced real conferences with lacklustre online webinars, offering little opportunity for networking or direct engagement, and very weak branding and messaging power. R2R promised and delivered one of the few exceptions to this experience, with a fully-live programme that included online engagement in Q&As, workshops and networking, delivering great value for delegates and sponsors alike. Our plan is to continue with our ambitious commitment to delivering a real R2R Conference, but this time in a hybrid environment, so that both online and physical delegates can feel completely involved. This offers an exceptional opportunity for sponsors to show support and to get their messages across. 

The Conference will continue to feature a stimulating programme of presentations, panels, debates and workshops, and both physical and online delegates will be able to engage fully with the event and with all their fellow participants.

Sponsors will have the opportunity to show their support for the scholarly communications community, and to get their brands, products and news out to a receptive audience of senior publishers, librarians and other key industry participants.

Sponsorship Options

There are several sponsorship options available (with standard packages costing from £750 to £5,000), as well as some custom alternatives.

Sponsor	Bronze Sponsor	Silver Sponsor	Gold Sponsor
Sponsors who are visible, and are recognised for showing their support for the event and the community	Valued sponsors who are very visible, and are promoted for showing their support for the event and the community	Up to four senior sponsors who have prominent visibility and active promotion, to demonstrate their support for the event and the community	The one premier sponsor who has primary visibility and very active promotion, to demonstrate the highest support for the event and the community

In addition to these sponsorship levels, we are also able to offer the opportunity to sponsor specific segments of the programme, including:

• Pre- and post-conference online sessions
• Lightning talks, workshops and the debate
• Networking breaks, receptions and the speaker dinner

We are also offering all registered delegates, including representatives of sponsoring organisations, the opportunity to offer a ‘lightning talk’ session during the Conference. These optional sessions will probably be scheduled during the breaks in the main programme, and may be offered in parallel threads or be repeated, depending on the final schedule.  These presentations, unlike the rest of the programme, may be commercial topics or ‘product pitches’, and this is a free option for all sponsors. Non-sponsoring commercial organisations who wish to offer a lightning talk will be asked to make a contribution of £250.

We also encourage sponsors to offer free delegate places at the Conference for customers, prospects or partners, either on an individually-targeted basis or through a marketing promotion. This can be done using places included in the Gold, Silver & Bronze sponsorship levels, or by purchasing discounted places. Free attendance at the Researcher to Reader Conference is a particularly attractive proposition for publishers to offer to editors and academics, given the event’s name, programme and collaborative ethos. Providing support for people from under-represented demographics to attend R2R can also be an excellent way for an organisation to demonstrate its commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Sponsors have also gained value and visibility at the Conference by offering staff to assist with the event.  As well as supporting R2R, this can provide valuable event management experience for marketing assistants and online platform facilitators.  We would welcome any offers of practical support.

We would be happy to discuss these additional sponsorship opportunities with you.

Sponsor Benefits

Benefits for sponsors, depending on level, include the lightning talk speaking opportunity, networking and a physical or online sponsor venue, complimentary or discounted delegate places and vigorous promotion of brands and messages. Sponsors will be mentioned on the Conference website and will be included in promotional mailings and materials, so an early decision to sponsor the event will increase the coverage and effectiveness of the investment.

	Sponsor	Bronze Sponsor	Silver Sponsor	Gold Sponsor
Opportunity to present in a commercial lightning talk	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Online & in-person networking, with a delegate list in advance	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sponsor ‘venue’ with online meeting space, and physical signage	Yes	Yes	Prominent	Primary
Promotional message(s) included in R2R’s delegate & marketing email copy	–	–	1 message	2 messages
Included complimentary delegate places for staff or guests	–	1 person	2 people	3 people
Discounted delegate places for staff	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sponsored complimentary places for guests	Option to purchase	Included or  purchased	Included or purchased	Included or purchased
Name, logo & text on website, in marketing and at registration	Yes	Yes	Prominent	Primary
Name, logo & text in programme, on slides and online	Yes	Yes	Prominent	Primary
Promotional leaflet and/or gift distributed to delegates	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Acknowledgement of sponsor support for event by in-event moderators	Yes	Yes	Prominent	Primary
Acknowledgement of sponsor support for specific session or activity	Per session or activity	Per session or activity	Per session or activity	Per session or activity
Participation in informal speaker dinner (if available and at own cost)	1 person	1 person	2 people	3 people

We are also open to additional sponsor-related initiatives, and would be happy to discuss these with potential sponsors. Early booking of your preferred sponsorship package is encouraged, in order to get maximum marketing visibility before the Conference. Please contact us to discuss your needs or request a booking form.