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EVENT: Meeting HRH The Princess Royal

Two weeks ago, we found ourselves part of the 30th anniversary celebrations for the School of Advanced Study (SAS), of which the University of London Press is an integral part. SAS marked the occasion with a special event attended by the University of London’s Chancellor, HRH The Princess Royal.

SAS was celebrating 30 years of supporting, promoting and advocating for the humanities in the UK, and marked the occasion with an event held at Senate House on Wednesday 12th June. The event featured an exhibition that explored key milestones in the School’s history and a reception with representatives from a selection of current projects and initiatives across SAS.

This exhibition included the University of Press, and during the day members of the Press team met HRH The Princess Royal, who asked some great questions about book sales and Open Access publishing.

HRH The Princess Royal speaking with Professor Jo Fox, Dean of the School of Advanced Study and Paula Kennedy, the University of London Press’s Head of Publishing.

The Press had a stand with books and marketing materials on display, as well as a timeline showing the evolution of the Press over the last 30 years, which is included below.

This timeline of the Press was on display at the event. Read more about the long history of the University of London Press.
Members of the Press team, Journals Manager Sara Charles, Marketing and Sales Manager Katharine Nelson and Head of Publishing Paula Kennedy at the Press stand.
Along with the timeline showing the history of the Press, a number of recently published books were on display for The Princess Royal’s visit.

Books on display included the Press’ first Open Access title, London and beyond, as well as more recent publications including Freedom Seekers, Before Grenfell and Law, Humanities and the COVID Crisis.

Professor Jo Fox’s speech at the event stated that: ‘A critical, creative, and human approach is not only valuable in addressing global challenges – it is indispensable’. That rings very true to us as we work on the Press’s strategy for the years ahead and continue to work towards our mission to ‘open up humanities research’.

HRH The Princess Royal giving a speech in celebration of SAS’s 30th anniversary.

Dr Adam Rutherford was also due to speak at the event, but was unfortunately unable to attend. His abridged speech, in which he discusses the relative importance of Taylor Swift and Charles Darwin, is available to read here.