Salford Authors

Trailblazers

New open access books initiative for Salford ECRs & PGRs. Apply now!

We are pleased to have launched Trailblazers, a new initiative with Liverpool University Press, Liverpool and Lancaster Universities, which will provide open access publication and specialist support bootcamps to selected PGRs/Early Career Researchers (ECR).

The Library will be supporting one PGR/ECRs from each of the Schools to have a book published open access with LUP and gain access to specialist support and expertise through a series of bootcamps with other authors chosen from Salford, Liverpool and Lancaster. 

You can find out more about the project at Open Access Monographs | University of Salford

To be considered for this opportunity please complete the trailblazers form by 30 April 2024. Submissions will be reviewed by your School, and you will be notified if you are to be put forward for the scheme by the end of May 2024. We aim to select one book for each School. Please contact the Library on library-research@Salford.ac.uk for more information.

Salford Authors Launch Event

The Library launched the new Salford Authors initiative in February with a week of in-person and online events. The launch was hugely successful with more than 150 attendees across the week, over 8000 views across social media, and positive attendee feedback asking for similar events in the future.

The main event, 'Love Your Salford Authors', held on February 14th, featured a lineup of Salford Authors speakers including Gordon Fletcher, Claire Mercer, Peter Hogg, Judith Kelly, Angela Tait, Adam Farrer, Anna Kruglova, Anthony Smith, Alicia Rouverol, Hazel Price, and Mohammed Banu Ali. Each speaker shared insights into their publishing journeys and research areas, fostering a sense of community and potential collaboration within the university.

Attendees provided brilliant feedback, describing the events as ‘inspiring’ and expressing appreciation for the diverse perspectives shared by researchers at various stages of their careers. One staff member even commented that it could convince them to finally write a book.

Throughout the week we also had two notable talks. The first being ‘Running a Student-led Publication: Bioscientist’, delivered by Sara Kassam and Wiktoria Wisniewska, the student editors of Bioscientist. They provided valuable insights into the operation of a student publication.

The second talk we hosted was ‘Publishing an Open Access Book: More than just Policy Compliance’, led by Eileen Fradenburg Joy from Punctum Books and Lucy Barnes from Open Book Publishing. Their presentations shed light on the significance of Open Access publishing in today’s publishing landscape. If you’re interested in Open Access then the Library’s Open Research team can support you: Open Access.

The week featured workshops such as a ‘Power Hour of Writing’ and ‘Choosing a Journal for Publication’, which were aimed to support staff looking to get published. The workshops were well-received by participants and if you’re interested in similar workshops, our Open Research team offers ongoing sessions which can be found here: Open Research Workshops.

Encouraged by the positive responses, the Library plan to organise similar events in the future, to further support and celebrate our Salford Authors.