Sheffield Doctoral Publishing Prize 2024

The University of Sheffield and White Rose University Press are delighted to announce the winners of the Sheffield Doctoral Publishing Prize 2024. The prize celebrates doctoral research at the University of Sheffield by supporting recent PhD graduates to explore opportunities to develop their thesis into an open access book published by White Rose University Press. 

PhD-holders who received their award from the University of Sheffield since 1st April 2022 were invited to submit proposals for open access books based on their doctoral research. Two prize-winners were selected, each receiving a £250 cash prize and consideration for publication by White Rose University Press, with guidance and support provided through the peer review process. 

Where books are commissioned, all open access publication costs for the first edition will be paid for by the University of Sheffield Library.

The prize-winners

The winners and their projects (in alphabetical order) are:

• Lucas Gastiarena (Education) - Argentine tango through the lens of cynicism: Elements of disenchantment, pessimism, and rebelliousness in tango culture across its history
• Yiyun Liu (Music) - Rationality and sensibility in Handel’s London stage: A comprehensive study of his 1730-1745 works

Yiyun Liu, currently a Visiting Scholar at Queen’s University Belfast’s School of Arts, English and Languages, said, ‘I am deeply honoured to receive the Sheffield Doctoral Publishing Prize. This recognition provides me with an invaluable opportunity to develop my work into a monograph and to collaborate with White Rose University Press. I’m particularly interested in open-access publishing because it allows my research to reach a broader audience without financial or geographical barriers - my study is relevant not only to music scholars and historians but also to general readers interested in the cultural dynamics of eighteenth-century Europe. White Rose University Press’s reputation for supporting interdisciplinary research makes it an ideal partner for my work.’ 

Lucas Gastiarena commented: ‘I am thrilled to have the opportunity to publish an open-access monograph, as it aligns with my commitment to making high-quality research accessible to a broad audience. I aim to bridge the gap between the academic sphere and practitioners, participants, and consumers of popular art expressions, particularly in relation to dance. Collaborating with White Rose University Press is especially exciting due to their dedication to promoting innovative and impactful scholarship.’

Open access monographs are a growing area of publishing, with the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) currently indexing over 87,000 books. Publishing an open access monograph means that it can be shared, read, downloaded and reused by anyone with an internet connection, increasing the book’s readership and impact. White Rose University Press (WRUP) is a non-profit, open access digital publisher, run jointly by the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York. It publishes open access journals and books across all disciplines, and is committed to academic quality and innovation in digital publishing. The Press Manager, Kate Petherbridge, said, ‘At White Rose University Press, we are really excited to have the opportunity to work with the Doctoral Publishing Prize winners, supporting them through our peer review process and - hopefully! - in developing their monographs. As open access publications, their monographs will bring their research to the widest possible audience, across the academic community and beyond.’

This is the second time the Sheffield Doctoral Publishing Prize has been held. The University’s Deputy Vice-President for Research, Professor John Flint, commented,  ‘I am delighted that we have, again, received very high quality applications for the doctoral prize scheme and that the White Rose Press will be working with our postgraduate researchers to explore possibilities around the publication of their work. We know how important having research outputs published by a reputable academic press can be for early career researchers and are delighted that our partnership with the White Rose Press enables us to continue to support our PGRs in this way.’