Event Reflection: ALPSP Redux Conference 2026

By Gareth J Johnson, University of Warwick Press

This year I was able to attend The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publisher’s (ALPSP) annual REDUX conference, where the focus was squarely on university presses (UPs) of all sizes and shapes. Hosted at the University of Liverpool, I was curious to see how much the event would appeal and resonate with someone like myself running a small, open-access, not-for-profit press. I was pleasantly surprised that despite a strong proportion of the delegate base hailing from the larger, more commercially-configured UPs, the programme was rich with representation from the ‘new’ UPs who make up OIPA’s membership. This ran counter to what I’d heard might be the case in advance of attending. Certainly many delegates commented how it perhaps demonstrated the current surge of new university presses within the UP community as a whole both nationally and internationally. There was also an exciting trans-Atlantic aspect too, as the event was very well attended by people from UPs over in the States, which was an unexpected bonus in terms of diversity of experience and insight on offer.

The conference though was a very rich event in terms of content and breakout tracks, framed around a number of keynotes and plenary sessions. Hence, it would be, perhaps, disingenuous to spotlight any particular sessions as there was something to takeaway or consider in every paper delivered. Nevertheless, from a personal perspective I found much to celebrate in the session entitled Starting Small and Scaling UP, given its focus in sharing authentic insights around creating and establishing a new university press. Here John Atkinson (Westminster), Phillippa Grand (LSE) and Alison Shaw (Bristol) all provided much of practical use. I was especially emboldened by comments on the mismatch between traditional metrics for successes contrasted with the author-centric culture advantages which new community-led university presses enable. I was also fascinated to observe during this, and other sessions, the diversity of career path which have brought people into the UP realm – given a question I often have to field from local ECR scholars is ‘how do I start a career in publishing?’

The two twin spectres at the publishing feast – GenAI and the HE financial crisis – certainly also made their presence known in conversations and papers alike. George Walkley’s (Consultant) session for example offered a series of predictions and scenarios relating to how the impact from GenAI might play out in publishing. Helpfully, he outlined how UPs might respond, pivot or adjust to accommodate the ‘new world order’ in each case, which provided some pragmatic insights and options to the delegates: certainly this session led to one of the most dynamic Q&A sessions of the whole event too! As a counter point, the final session I was able to attend focused on Open Access in Challenging Times, where Andrew Barker (Lancaster), Kate Petherbridge (White Rose) and Paula Kennedy (University of London) offered reflections on addressing the current financial tensions within the sector. Much was said here about championing the institutional values of open-access publishing and presses, and routes those to justify their existence with those who hold our financial and political purse-strings. It was especially heartening to hear Paula expounding on the role of OIPA was playing in helping individual presses make, and keep making, their business rationale to their stakeholders by drawing on the shared membership experiences. If anything, despite the challenge of this current era of HE finances, this made it an exceptionally uplifting session to close out my own conference experience.

On a related note, this was not an inexpensive conference to attend, and one for which I personally had to make a significant case to my employer to attend. It was however, on reflection, worth the coin as some weeks later I’m still going over my experiences and notes to glean further insights and support in my own work. Hence, my thanks to the hosts, organisers and speakers too for delivering an invaluable developmental opportunity for this press manager at the very least!