Rachel Bruce, head of Open Research at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) heads up international conference on frontiers in research

15 March 2021

Jisc and CNI reveal keynote speakers for research and scholarly communications conference.

Jisc and the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), a joint project of the Association of Research Libraries and EDUCAUSE, today revealed the line-up of keynote speakers for their online summer conference. 

Speaker, Rachel Bruce who is UKRI’s head of Open Research will outline how UKRIs forthcoming open access policy will drive change whilst speaker Francine Berman, Hamilton distinguished professor of computer science at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will address challenges around knowledge representation and discovery. Both speakers will explore how the university library can be a catalyst for best practice. 

Clifford Lynch, CNI’s executive director, says: 

“There is no doubt the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the research landscape. Through the conference theme, ‘frontiers in research practice - the university library as a catalyst’, we will be exploring topics such as research continuity, data science, open scholarship, future research environments and evolving research collections.” 

The conference will explore the pivotal role the library plays in supporting the university’s research enterprise to adapt to new technologies and workflows and realising the potential any disruption will offer. 

Neil Grindley, Jisc’s head of content and resource discovery, says: 

“Improvements in technology and scholarly communications practices have positioned universities to meet the challenges of the pandemic. As we continue to face an increasingly uncertain and disruption-prone future, our attention must turn to improving our resilience more broadly. This year’s Jisc and CNI conference offers insights on how these organisations can equip themselves and respond”. 

Also confirmed as keynote speaker is Dan Cohen, dean of libraries and professor of history at Northeastern University.  

Find out more about the programme and speaker line-up for the Jisc and CNI leaders conference, taking place online from 7-9 July 2021. Tickets are on sale now.