We are delighted to announce the publication of A Connected Curriculum for Higher Education by Dilly Fung. 

Is it possible to bring university research and student education into a more connected, more symbiotic relationship? If so, can we develop programmes of study that enable faculty, students and ‘real world’ communities to connect in new ways? In this accessible book, Dilly Fung argues that it is not only possible but also potentially transformational to develop new forms of research-based education. Presenting the Connected Curriculum framework already adopted by UCL, she opens windows onto new initiatives related to, for example, research-based education, internationalisation, the global classroom, interdisciplinarity and public engagement.

A Connected Curriculum for Higher Education is, however, not just about developing engaging programmes of study. Drawing on the field of philosophical hermeneutics, Fung argues how the Connected Curriculum framework can help to create spaces for critical dialogue abouteducational values, both within and across existing research groups, teaching departments and learning communities. Developing synergies between research and education can empower faculty and students from all backgrounds to engage with diversity and contribute to the global common good by developing people as critical citizens. 

We are delighted to announce the publication of Memorandoms by James Martin, edited by Tim Causer.

Among the vast body of manuscripts composed and collected by the philosopher and reformer Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), held by UCL Library’s Special Collections, is the earliest Australian convict narrative, Memorandoms by James Martin. This document also happens to be the only extant first-hand account of the most well-known, and most mythologized, escape from Australia by transported convicts. 

On the night of 28 March 1791, James Martin, William and Mary Bryant and their two infant children, and six other male convicts, stole the colony’s fishing boat and sailed out of Sydney Harbour. Within ten weeks they had reached Kupang in West Timor, having, in an amazing feat of endurance, travelled over 3,000 miles (c. 5,000) kilometres) in an open boat. There they passed themselves off as the survivors of a shipwreck, a ruse which—initially, at least—fooled their Dutch hosts. 

This new edition of the Memorandoms includes full colour reproductions of the original manuscripts, making available for the first time this hugely important document, alongside a transcript with commentary describing the events and key characters. The book also features a scholarly introduction which examines their escape and early convict absconding in New South Wales more generally, and, drawing on primary records, presents new research which sheds light on the fate of the escapees after they reached Kupang. The introduction also assesses the voluminous literature on this most famous escape, and critically examines the myths and fictions created around it and the escapees, myths which have gone unchallenged for far too long. Finally, the introduction briefly discusses Jeremy Bentham’s views on convict transportation and their enduring impact.

We are delighted to announce the release of Sri Lanka at the Crossroads of History, edited by Zoltan Biedermann and Alan Strathern.

The peoples of Sri Lanka have participated in far-flung trading networks, religious formations, and Asian and European empires for millennia. This interdisciplinary volume sets out to draw Sri Lanka into the field of Asian and Global History by showing how the latest wave of scholarship has explored the island as a ‘crossroads’, a place defined by its openness to movement across the Indian Ocean.

 Experts in the history, archaeology, literature and art of the island from c.500 BCE to c.1850 CE use Lankan material to explore a number of pressing scholarly debates. They address these matters from their varied disciplinary perspectives and diverse array of sources, critically assessing concepts such as ethnicity, cosmopolitanism and localisation, and elucidating the subtle ways in which the foreign may be resisted and embraced at the same time. The individual chapters, and the volume as a whole, are a welcome addition to the history and historiography of Sri Lanka, as well as studies of the Indian Ocean region, kingship, colonialism, imperialism, and early modernity.

We are delighted to announce that the University Redux Conference 2018 will take place on Tuesday 13 and Wednesday 14 February 2018 at The British Library Conference Centre. This conference will be curated and hosted by UCL Press with support provided by ALPSP.

Following the success of the founding University Press Redux conference in 2016, organised by Liverpool University Press (LUP), The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) announced that they will now be partnering with university presses to deliver the event every two years.  

At the inaugural University Press Redux conference, more than 150 delegates from a range of presses - large and small, commercial, open access, library-based, UK, US, and European -  and associated industries, heard the views of authors, funders, students, librarians, and some of the most dynamic figures in university press publishing, and gathered to discuss the past, present and future of institutional presses. Anthony Cond, Director of Liverpool University Press said: ‘There was such strong support for the conference that we immediately saw the potential to continue the conversation.’

Audrey McCulloch, Chief Executive of ALPSP said: ‘The university press sector has undergone a transformation and revitalisation worldwide. Many of our members were involved in the Redux conference and it was an obvious next step to offer administrative support. We are delighted to be involved.’

Speakers

We are delighted to announce that the following speakers have confirmed their attendance at the 2018 conference.

• Peter Berkery, Executive Director, Association of American University Presses
• Amy Brand, Director, MIT Press
• Richard Charkin, Executive Director, Bloomsbury Publishing
• Max Landry, Chief Executive, The Conversation, UK
• Frank Smith, Director, Books at JSTOR
• Jan-Peter Wissink, Managing Director, Amsterdam University Press
• Timothy Wright, Chief Executive, Edinburgh University Press

More speakers to be announced soon.  In the meantime, please direct any speaker enquiries to:

Lara Speicher, Publishing Manager, UCL Press
E: l.speicher@ucl.ac.uk
W: www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-press

Delegate and sponsorship enquiries:

Sabia Morrison, Professional Development & Conference Coordinator, ALPSP
E: sabia.morrison@alpsp.org
T: +44 (0)1442 864563