As part of our blog post series looking at how Cambridge University Press works with Cambridge University, we learn more about the University Collaboration Budget.

What is the University Collaboration Budget?

The University Collaboration Budget was designed to fund collaborative projects between the University the Academic department at Cambridge University Press. Applications must be supported by at least one Cambridge University and CUP Academic colleague, and any suggested initiatives should help achieve one or more of the following aims that both the University and Cambridge University Press (Academic) hold:

• Scholarly communication or better dissemination of research to a wider academic community. For example, this could involve developing new tools, services or insights regarding Open Research;
• Research excellence or integrity;
• Teaching excellence;
• Cambridge University or Cambridge University Press’ local or global presence;
• Diversity, inclusion and challenging elitism.

Funding applications were then assessed by a judging panel to determine if applications were feasible, cost-effective and involve direct collaboration between Cambridge University and Cambridge University Press.

What kind of initiatives have been awarded the funding?

We speak to Kiera McNeice about the Cambridge Data Champions Programme, which was recently awarded funding for their bimonthly forums.

“Data Champions are volunteers across different departments of the University and Cambridge University Press, who advise the research community on proper handling of research data. The funding supports their bimonthly forums, which facilitates networking, discussion of key issues, problem solving as a collective, training, and knowledge development.

The main benefit of our collaboration with the Data Champions has been sharing knowledge from our complementary perspectives on the research life cycle. As a publisher our primary expertise is in how research outputs can be shared after work has been completed, while the Data Champions have first-hand experience managing data from the moment it is collected or generated. The Press and Data Champions have a shared goal of making research data as FAIR as possible – Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable – and through forum discussions and workshops we’ve each benefited from a better understanding of each other’s needs as representative stakeholders, and how our work fits into the broader open research landscape.

More generally, collaborating with the Data Champions has helped strengthen our ties with the Office of Scholarly Communication and expanded informal networks between Press and University staff, which has already led to some ideas about future collaborative projects.”

You can find out more about how we work the university from our blog post series here.

Do you want to set up an initiative that involves direct collaboration between Cambridge University and Cambridge University Press?

Are you employed by Cambridge University or Cambridge University Press? If so, apply for the new University Collaboration Budget funding. Applications open 8th November 2021-31st January 2022.
To find out more about the application process, please visit: www.cambridge.org/ucb