Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Dr Paul Ayris

Posted on 24th March, 2026

On 17th March, more than 100 colleagues, friends and members of the academic community gathered  to celebrate the life and work of Dr Paul Ayris, and to mark the launch of his open access book, Thomas Cranmer’s Register, which was the result of more than 40 years of extraordinary academic endeavour.

Speakers reflected on Paul’s significant contributions to UCL and to the wider scholarly community:

• Professor Jennifer Hudson, Vice-Provost (Faculties) reflected on her work with Paul during the past two years, and his leadership of LCCOS (Library, Culture, Collections and Open Science) at UCL
• Professor Emeritus David Price, former Vice-Provost (Research) at UCL, who shared warm recollections of working closely with Paul and spoke about their long-standing friendship.
• Professor Richard Rex, Professor of Reformation History at the University of Cambridge, who placed Paul’s pioneering research on Thomas Cranmer’s Register in its wider scholarly context and reflected on their academic collaboration.
• Dr Michael Spence, President and Provost of UCL, who led the audience in a moment of remembrance.

Paul was founder, CEO and a champion of UCL Press, and dedicated most of his career to UCL. He joined in 1997 as Deputy Librarian and later became Director of UCL Library Services, where he strengthened the university’s commitment to openness and public engagement. In 2018, he was appointed Pro-Vice-Provost of LCCOS (Library, Culture, Collections and Open Science) with an expanded portfolio, and his leadership in Open Science helped shape practice across the sector. His influence played a key role in establishing UCL Press as a global leader in open access publishing.

Paul also volunteered his time to a range of organisations across the sector in service of his vision of an open, accessible and publicly engaged higher education ecosystem, including as President of LIBER, the Association of European Research Libraries, and as Chair of League of European Research Universities’ Working Groups on Roadmaps for Open Access, Research Data and Open Science. He was latterly proud to serve as Chair of the LERU Group for Open Science Ambassadors.

Paul’s impact is felt across UCL, within the international library and scholarly communications communities, and among all who had the privilege of working with him. 

Find out more about Paul Ayris’ life and work: https://uclpress.co.uk/in-memoriam-dr-paul-ayris-ba-phd-frhist/

Read and download Thomas Cranmer’s Register: https://uclpress.co.uk/book/thomas-cranmers-register/