Event Reflection: OIPA Symposium 2026

By Kira Hopkins

I was fortunate to attend the OIPA symposium held at the University of Sussex on 18^th June in person, via a much-appreciated travel bursary from OIPA.

I had attended the previous symposium in York back in 2024, a stimulating day of presentations on many topics: introductions to OIPA members such as Edinburgh Diamond, experiences in collective funding, OERs, student-led publishing, and others.

The differences between the two symposia programmes reflected the very difficult time UK HEIs have had in the intervening two years. This was most stark in the very first panel HE in Crisis. Jane Harvell, the University Librarian at our host institution, spoke very movingly about the impact of the university’s recent announcement that 200 jobs would need to be cut. The day was bookended by another panel on advocating for university-based publishing to senior decision-makers/funders among other parties. The Polycrisis and its impacts, both realised and anticipated, on institutional publishing also threaded through much of what passed in between.

This may sound extremely pessimistic – and that is the reality that institutions and their publishing outfits face in 2026 in the UK. Yet what cannot be emphasised enough is that it was a day of much optimism and proactivity.

Both panels I have mentioned were hallmarked with solidarity and the generous exchange of useful information and advice. The sessions in between demonstrated that not everything is doom and gloom, between Scottish Universities Press’ expansion of their activities, and the University of Warwick’s ongoing deliberation around re-founding a press. Optimism was also very present in Simon Bowie’s lightning talk on practical and achievable ways to divest proprietary software.

As at the previous symposium, participating in the workshop was a real highlight, and emphasised the value of attending in-person. It was a wonderful opportunity to get around a table with so many people involved in institutional publishing, discovering shared anxieties, goals, and ambitions while setting the world to rights on several frenetic A1 pieces of paper. The Polycrisis continues with no end in sight. The University of Sussex staff have recently voted overwhelmingly to strike in September over the cuts which still hang over the staff in the library and elsewhere. But the symposium was a very timely reminder that there are still reasons to be hopeful, that there is a large amount of mutual goodwill and support available for institutional publishers, and that there are still so many people (several of whom were in the room) who are tirelessly advocating for, and implementing, institutional publishing and its missions. In times like this, a strong community with the desire and ability for mutual support is both more important and more appreciated than ever.

Watch the OIPA 2026 symposium recording.