Guest Authors:

Helen Hardy, Research Policy and University Collaboration Coordinator, Cambridge University Press (Academic) Rosalind Grooms, Cambridge University Press Archivist, Cambridge University Library; Needham Research Institute Archivist, Needham Research Institute (NRI), Cambridge University Lucy Rhymer, Senior Commissioning Editor, History & Asian Studies, Cambridge University Press (Academic)

The University Collaboration Budget (UCB) funds initiatives that involve direct collaboration between the University and Cambridge University Press (Academic). Winning initiatives strive to further our shared aims, such as research excellence and integrity, scholarly communication and challenging elitism. UCB initiatives are wide-ranging – from developing free online teaching resources for learning scientific computing, to hosting a major academic event to celebrate the anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth and visit to Cambridge.

Dr Dorothy Needham studied, researched and taught biochemistry at Cambridge University all her adult life and made a significant contribution to knowledge through her experiments and publications. For all her accomplishments, however, Dorothy Needham is far less well-known than her husband. We spoke to applicants Rosalind Grooms and Lucy Rhymer to find out more about their UCB initiative ‘A celebration of the life and achievements of Dr Dorothy Needham (FRS)‘.

Tell us about your initiative itself – what activities do you plan to carry out?

To maximise the reach of this initiative, we plan to host events for both academic and lay audiences.

Current research will be disseminated to a wide academic community via an in-person conference at the Needham Research Institute (NRI), with short presentations from a range of speakers, time for discussion, and international participation via Zoom. Participants will be sought from Cambridge colleges, Cambridge University Press (Academic), the NRI, relevant University departments, scholars from China and beyond. The conference aims to foster collaboration amongst researchers, to engage and inform.

An exhibition and talk as part of the Open Cambridge programme will allow a non-academic audience to visit the Needham Research Institute and learn more about Dorothy Needham’s fascinating life. The Open Cambridge Public Engagement team will assist promotion to a wide audience, as will social media posts by Cambridge University Press (Academic). Visitors will listen to a lecture by Dr Gordon Barrett (University of Oxford) and explore a Dorothy Needham exhibition within the NRI.

How will your initiative help achieve the University and Cambridge University Press (Academic)’s shared aims?

Colleagues at Cambridge University Press (Academic) will champion the equality focus of this initiative by creating a specially curated online collection on Cambridge Core organised around the theme of ‘Women in Science’ . This collection will draw from their books and journals list, with some content made freely available as appropriate.

As publisher of Dorothy Needham’s magnum opus, Machina Carnis, Cambridge University Press (Academic) will coordinate a display of books on biochemistry, China and female scientific role-models at both events. Likewise, Cambridge University Press Bookshop will curate a window display of Machina Carnis and related titles. These displays, plus a discount of 20% off the paperback edition of Machina Carnis,will promote Dorothy Needham to both participants and visitors to Cambridge.

What impact do you expect your initiative to have? How will you measure your success?

We hope both events will contribute to public awareness of the Institute’s mission to create a wider understanding of the historical contribution of the people of China, Japan and Korea to the scientific and technical culture of humankind, through research, publication and public outreach.

High participation levels and positive feedback from the colloquium and Open Cambridge programme will demonstrate success in raising Dorothy Needham’s profile. As a hybrid event, we hope to welcome global participants to the colloquium and observe knowledge exchange online on social media.

The conference Reflections on the life and career of Dr. Dorothy Moyle Needham, FRS will take place on Friday 16^th September 2022 at the Needham Research Institute in Cambridge. For further information, visit the event website. To register for free to attend in-person or online, please e-mail library@nri.cam.ac.uk.

The Open Cambridge event will take place on Saturday 17^th September 2022 at the Needham Research Institute in Cambridge. To register, please see the Open Cambridge event page.

For more information on the UCB, please see our website.