First set of speakers announced for May 20th FuturePub event

Back in January we ran our first #futurepub event at the British Library, to kick off a new year for science and publishing. It was a great evening, with the talks encouraging many lively and interesting discussions (both in the room and on twitter), and with such a positive reaction to the event we've decided to do it again!

There's now only a month to go to our second #futurepub event in central London, and it's time to reveal the first set of speakers for the evening:

Cheyne Tan, Co-founder and MD of BlikBook

Founded in 2010, BlikBook is a platform which connects students and their lecturers to help raise student engagement and encourage interaction, without increasing the workload on lecturers. Now in use at universities worldwide, Cheyne will give an overview of how BlikBook works, and discuss how it fits into the wider changes in science and education.

Joseph McArthur, Co-founder of the Open Access Button and Pharmacology Student at UCL

The Open Access Button lets scientists raise a virtual flag whenever they hit a paywall blocking access to research. Joseph is one of the co-founders, and will give a quick overview about what the Open Access Button is, the work that has been done since launch and extend an invitation to connect and work with people doing similar work in London.

Lou Woodley, Co-founder of MySciCareer and writer of 'Social in silico'

Recently launched, MySciCareer is a regularly updated resource of first-person stories about their science careers, to help spread the word on the diverse opportunities now available to scientists. Social in Silico is a project investigating how people, science and technology connect. Lou will talk a bit about both, and how they tie into science communication as a whole.

As you can see, all three speakers have been working on exciting new projects in scientific communication and engagement, and an emerging theme for the evening is on the interface between communication and publication in science and education.

Doors open at 6:30pm and the talks will kick off at 7pm. Tickets are still available - you can register on the eventbrite page, and if you're interested at speaking at this or a future #futurepub event please let us know by filling out this short proposal form.

Look out for another couple of speakers to be confirmed in the coming weeks, and I look forward to seeing you in London on the 20th!