Tag Archives: Cambridge University Press

The Nine Dots Prize competition for creative thinking on social issues

A new prize is being inaugurated, the $US100,000 Nine Dots Prize for creative thinking and it’s open to anyone anywhere in the world. Here’s more from an Oct. 21, 2016 article by Jane Tinkler for the Guardian (Note: Links have been removed),

In the debate over this year’s surprise award to Bob Dylan, it is easy to lose sight of the long history of prizes being used to recognise great writing (in whatever form), great research and other outstanding achievements.

The use of prizes dates back furthest in the sciences. In 1714, the British government famously offered an award of £20,000 (about £2.5 million at today’s value) to the person who could find a way of determining a ship’s longitude. British clockmaker John Harrison won the Longitude Prize and, by doing so, improved the safety of long-distance sea travel.

Prizes are now proliferating. Since 2000, more than sixty prizes of more than $100,000 (US dollars) have been created, and the field of philanthropic prize-giving is estimated to exceed £1 billion each year. Prizes are seen as ways to reward excellence, build networks, support collaboration and direct efforts towards practical and social goals. Those awarding them include philanthropists, governments and companies.

Today [Oct. 21, 2016] sees the launch of the newest kid on the prize-giving block. Drawing its name from a puzzle that can be solved only by lateral thinking, the Nine Dots prize wants to encourage creative thinking and writing that can help to tackle social problems. It is sponsored by the Kadas Prize Foundation, with the support of the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge, and Cambridge University Press.

The Nine Dots prize is a hybrid of [three types of prizes]. There is a recognition [emphasis mine] aspect, but it doesn’t require an extensive back catalogue. The prize will be judged by a board of twelve renowned scholars, thinkers and writers. They will assess applications on an anonymised basis, so whoever wins will have done so not because of past work, but because of the strength of their ideas, and ability to communicate them effectively.

It is an incentive [emphasis mine] prize in that we ask applicants to respond to a defined question. The inaugural question is: “Are digital technologies making politics impossible?” [emphasis mine]. This is not proscriptive: applicants are encouraged to define what the question means to them, and to respond to that. We expect the submissions to be wildly varied. A new question will be set every two years, always with a focus on pressing issues that affect society. The prize’s disciplinary heartland lies in the social sciences, but responses from all fields, sectors and life experiences are welcome.

Finally, it is a resource [emphasis mine] prize in that it does not expect all the answers at the point of application. Applicants need to provide a 3,000-word summary of how they would approach the question. Board members will assess these, and the winner will then be invited to write their ideas up into a short, accessible book, that will be published by Cambridge University Press. A prize award of $100,000 (£82,000) will support the winner to take time out to think and write over a nine month period. The winner will also have the option of a term’s visiting fellowship at the University of Cambridge, to help with the writing process.

With this mix of elements, we hope the Nine Dots prize will encourage creative thinking about some of today’s most pressing issues. The winner’s book will be made freely accessible online; we hope it will capture the public’s imagination and spark a real debate.

The submission deadline is Jan. 31, 2017 and the winner announcement is May 2017. The winner’s book is to be published May 2018.

Good Luck! You can find out more about the prize and the contest rules on The Nine Dots Prize website.

Cambridge University Press and the Materials Resarch Society

The July 25, 2012 press release from Cambridge Journals announces a new single point access for all things in materials research science,

The Materials Research Society (MRS) and Cambridge University Press announced today the launch of  Materials360 Online, a news resource designed specifically for the materials research community. Materials360 Online captures the most important materials science news in one place, saving readers huge blocks of time navigating various resources across the web.

Through rigorous reporting, detailed fact checking, and clear writing, a dedicated editorial staff provides original news articles, videos and podcasts—all with the unique perspective of an organization devoted to the advancement of materials science. Visitors gain insight into the latest materials information not available elsewhere on the web.

The site also brings together materials news stories aggregated from many other major scientific publications and websites. A “Hot Topics” cloud offers an easy search on keywords of current importance, and a Twitter feed (@Materials_MRS) allows followers to share contributions to this ongoing stream of news, thoughts and opinions.

Rounding out the coverage, Materials360 Online also connects researchers to all MRS publications on Cambridge Journals Online (CJO ), keeping readers up-to-date on highlighted, most recent, and most viewed articles from MRS Communications, Journal of Materials Research (JMR), MRS Bulletin, and the MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL).

MRS is the first society to avail itself of this new offering from Cambridge University Press, which has developed the ability to deliver tailored, digital functionality for its portfolio of over 300 journals and its learned society partners. The Cambridge platform vastly improves the discoverability of materials science information—easily accessed via computers and mobile devices.

The launch of the new site comes just months after the birth of MRS’s newest journal to serve the materials research community, MRS Communications.

“This is a fantastic development for the materials research community. Materials360 Online cuts research time significantly, through aggregating information across the web in one easy-to-find place,” said MRS President Bruce Clemens. “We continue to be proud of our relationship with Cambridge University Press and this is just another example of how two world-class organizations can work together to create outstanding results,” he said. “Along with our new journal, MRS Communications, this new site will significantly improve the information flow to materials research professionals everywhere.”

Jamie Hutchins, Head of Journals, Americas said the new site was set to be the first of many, as other learned societies, already entrusting their journals and other publications to Cambridge, take the opportunity to create a new online presence through online hubs that offer much more than just a website.

“This new capability is a true game-changer for our distinguished partners like the Materials Research Society. We can now pull information from across the globe into a meaningful site that will save the academic community untold hours of research time.”

Some of  the materials on the website are free such as this video,

As they note in the press release, news is aggregated from many sources although I suspect they have the same problem I have, most of the material they access will be in English which leaves a good chunk of international research inaccessible. Still, this is a pretty impressive collection.

It’s not all free, from the Terms of Use webpage,

Materials360 Online (‘website’) is provided by Cambridge University Press (‘Cambridge’) and its collaboration partner, The Materials Research Society (‘MRS’).

Cambridge University Press is a syndicate of the University of Cambridge and its principal place of business is at The Edinburgh Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge, CB2 8RU. The Materials Research Society is an organization of materials researchers from academia, industry, and government that promotes communication for the advancement of interdisciplinary materials research to improve the quality of life and its primary place of business is at 506 Keystone Drive, Warrendale, PA, 15086-7537, USA.

The website provides access to four Journals:

• Online Proceedings Library
• MRS Bulletin
• MRS Communications
• Journal of Materials Research(‘the Journal(s)’)

By registering to access and using this website at www.materials360online.com for the journals you are indicating that you accept the terms and conditions set out below. Users who do not accept these terms of use are not authorized to use or continue using this website.

Cambridge or MRS may amend these terms of use at any time and any revised version will be effective immediately that it is displayed on this website. In the event of any comments or questions concerning these terms of use, please contact us by emailing The Legal Services Director at legalservices@cambridge.org or writing to The Legal Services Director at The Edinburgh Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge, CB2 8RU, England.

The website homepage, listings and full text displays of news articles, search listings, video links, alongside tables of contents and abstracts of Journal articles may be accessed free of charge by all users.

The full texts of Journal articles (referred to below as ‘the Materials’) may be accessed only by authorized users. ‘Authorized User’ is defined as either:

  • 1. A fully paid member of the MRS.
  • 2. An individual who is authorized to access the Journals through a secure network or proxy server (subject to the terms and conditions detailed below) at a subscribing institution, via his/her affiliation with a subscribing institution as a current student, faculty member, library patron, or employee
  • 3. An individual who holds a valid electronic personal subscription to Cambridge Journals Online.
  • 4. An individual who has purchased access to a single article on Cambridge Journals Online, and who accesses that article within the allotted timeframe.

Etc.

I hope they are able to keep this website active and interesting over time. Right now, it certainly seems like promising.