Birkbeck Professor awarded 2024 Association of University Presses Stand UP Award

University presses acquire, develop, design, produce, market and sell books and journals; with a mission to publish work of scholarly, intellectual, or creative merit, serving the public good by generating and disseminating knowledge. The award recognises advocates who stand up from within the communities that presses work with, speak to, and serve. 

Martin Eve said: "I am deeply honoured to receive the Association of University Presses Stand UP Award. I have tried, in the often-hostile debate terrain of open access, always to defend mission-driven organizations and to devise funding mechanisms that do not put them at a disadvantage. I am most grateful to the board and my nominators for the prize." 

Martin is well-known for his work on open access and Higher Education policy, appearing before the UK House of Commons Select Committee BIS Inquiry into Open Access and writing for the British Academy Policy Series on the topic. He has also been a steering-group member for ten key projects, including the California Digital Library/University of California Press’s Humanities Book Infrastructure advisory board; the Jisc Scholarly Communications Advisory Group; and the Open Knowledge Foundation’s Open Access Steering Group. Martin founded the Open Library of Humanities, which merged with Birkbeck in 2021. 

Martin specialises in contemporary American fiction, histories and philosophies of technology, and technological mutations in scholarly publishing. From 2015-2020, Martin was a member of the UK English Association’s Higher Education committee. In 2021, Martin was named among the 100 most influential disabled people in the UK by the Shaw Trust. 

The award is being announced on 11 June at the Opening Banquet of the Association of University Presses 2024 Annual Meeting in Montreal.