4 October 2023
Commissioned by UKSG
- Issue Date: 4 October 2023
- Deadline for expressions of interest and requests for clarification: 11 October 2023
- Deadline for response: 20 October 2023
- Interviews and presentations: Early November 2023
- Maximum commissioned budget: £10k + VAT
- Project duration: Up to 3 months
Introduction and context
UKSG wishes to appoint a highly experienced individual or team to carry out a research project to examine the positioning of the UKSG conference within the current landscape of similar events; to review stakeholder perceptions of the current UKSG conference offer and to make recommendations about the positioning, organisation and development of future UKSG conferences.
UKSG’s strategic vision commits the organisation to “connecting the knowledge community”. In particular, this involves:
- representing the diversity of the global knowledge community;
- bringing together different voices and perspectives;
- providing a community of practice for professional development, exchanging ideas and sharing expertise, solutions and best practice;
- creating a cross-sectoral space to enable understanding of each other’s values, perspectives and goals;
- acting as a catalyst for initiatives that benefit and develop our community.
The UKSG conference is a key mechanism for achieving this vision. This commissioned research should help us to understand how the current conference offer is perceived by stakeholders, how it fits into the wider landscape of conferences within the knowledge community and how future conferences can optimise their benefit to UKSG members and the wider knowledge community.
About UKSG
UKSG is a charitable organisation whose members represent the full range and diversity of stakeholders in the scholarly communications field and include the knowledge community of library and information professionals, knowledge management, publishing, data analytics, aggregators and vendors. UKSG’s existing membership is international in nature, but membership has historically been associated with in person attendance at the organisation’s annual conference, held in the United Kingdom. The most recent conference took place over 3 days in April 2023, attracting approximately 800 attendees.
UKSG’s activities support both the conduct and dissemination of research relevant to scholarly communications, and provide opportunities for training, networking and career development, such as free or subsidised seminars, webinars, workshop and events; awards and bursaries for students and early career professionals.
UKSG also publishes its own open access journal: Insights: the UKSG journal.
Project specification
UKSG is inviting tenders to undertake a commissioned piece of research to explore the positioning and perceptions of the UKSG annual conference, considering the views of a range of stakeholders, including previous conference attendees, sponsors and exhibitors.
The commissioned research should aim to:
- Identify and map other national and international conferences serving the knowledge community;
- Compare these other conferences to the UKSG conference in order to understand points of similarity and distinctiveness, and gaps in conference coverage, articulating the current and potential positioning of the UKSG conference;
- Analyse feedback from the most recent post-conference survey, identifying themes in stakeholder perceptions of the conference;
- Interview a representative sample of delegates, sponsors and exhibitors to gain insight into their expectations and experiences of the conference, including who organisations choose to send to the conference and why;
- Make specific recommendations to inform the future positioning, development and organisation of the UKSG conference.
The key research questions are:
- How is the UKSG conference currently positioned relative to other national and international conferences serving the knowledge community?
- How is the conference viewed by stakeholders including (a) past conference attendees and (b) sponsors and exhibitors?
- How could the UKSG conference position itself in future to optimise its benefit to members and the wider knowledge community and to ensure sustainability?
- What practical steps could UKSG take when considering future conference positioning, development and organisation?
Key deliverables
Expected types of deliverables are:
- Gathering of appropriate types of qualitative and quantitative data. This will include desk research; analysis of existing survey data; conducting semi-structured interviews.
- Final written report, including recommendations, to be presented to the Board of Trustees along with a final slide deck.
Timetable
Below is a draft timetable of the potential project milestones for this commissioned research:
Invitation to tender published 2 October 2023
Deadline for responses 20 October 2023
Supplier interviews 30 October – 3 November 2023
Contract award 10 November 2023
Project completion 31 January 2024
Budget
The maximum available budget for the delivery of this project is £10,000 (exclusive of VAT).
Evaluation criteria
Tender submissions will be evaluated on a combination of:
- your proposed approach to addressing the project specification (25%);
- the relevant experience of the proposed project team (20%);
- your proposed approach to meeting the deliverable requirements (15%);
- your proposed approach to working practice, communication and project management (10%)
- overall cost and budget breakdown of your proposal (30%)
Submissions
Please respond to this opportunity by addressing the following:
- Project specification: Describe how you would meet the requirements described in the Project Specification including any additional approaches or methodologies you might utilise to address the research questions.
- Experience: Provide evidence of your relevant experience and expertise, including examples of relevant projects successfully completed in the past three years. This should include your experience of working with some or all of the key project audiences.
- Key deliverables: Provide an outline of how you will ensure the deliverables meet UKSG’s requirements.
- Working practice, communication and project management: Provide an outline of how you would ensure good communication and close working with UKSG throughout the project, and how you would ensure that the project is managed effectively.
- Cost: Provide a total price for you to deliver the project, as well as a detailed budget breakdown showing staff time and any other costs.
Support available from UKSG
UKSG Executive will provide the 2023 conference feedback survey data and can provide assistance with approaching delegates, sponsors and exhibitors to invite their participation in the interviews. A small group of UKSG Trustees and Sub-Committee members will work with the successful contractor to steer the research and review draft outputs.
Submissions
You are encouraged to send an expression of interest and any requests for clarifications to bev@uksg.org by 11 October 2023. Responses to requests for clarifications will be shared with all bidders who have expressed interest in this opportunity no later than 18 October 2023.
Please submit your proposal to bev@uksg.org by 17:00 BST on 20 October 2023.