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Striving to lead the way in curating and aggregating the conference presentations from leading scientific conferences, Underline Science is pleased to announce the launch of our streaming video and poster presentation platform for institutional access: https://underline.io/library

Libraries are the cornerstone of information access and research material. As such delivering the Underline Science conference video collection for unlimited, institutional use is central to the Underline Science mission. 

The Underline Science Library offers a truly academic viewing experience; this is no YouTube! Each conference presentation features searchable transcripts, citation tools, linked DOIs, abstracts, linked proceeding papers and posters, and a forum for ongoing discussion and collaboration between presenters and fellow researchers.

And the Underline site is now in full compliance with a range of recent American and Canadian accessibility guidelines, including WCAG and ADA guideline adherence. 

With more than 25,000 presentations in the streaming product, our partners include The American Institute of Physics, Peking University, Wiley, The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, and many more. It is important to note the Underline Science collection includes public access, open access, and premium content to honor the access aims and mandates of our scholarly publishing partners.

Streaming video platforms in the academic, public library, and corporate research market have typically focused on delivering content ranging from documentary film, to lectures, to visualized experiments, and short, instructional or informational content. Until now, no platform has sought to curate and aggregate presentations from scientific conferences around the globe.

“It is impossible for a researcher to attend every mission-critical conference,” noted David Parker, head of product for Underline Science. “And even if they could, accessing those critical conference presentations days, weeks, or months later has never been an option. At Underline Science we are filling an important gap in the scholarly communication information access landscape.”

Underline Science is leading the way in enhancing and supporting academic research access. By growing the scope of the scientific network and tapping into the global ecosystem of scientific conference presentations, Underline Science is supporting the search for information to support inquiry into some of the most pressing research challenges of our time. Join the community today.

www.underline.io

Underline Science Announces the Launch of the World’s First Aggregation of Scientific Conference Presentations

Striving to lead the way on accessibility, Underline Science recently enhanced its website in order to achieve full WCAG and ADA compliance. These new features promote equitable access for the vision- and hearing-impaired and persons with photosensitive epilepsy and ADHD, among other disabilities impacting website user experience.

Libraries are the cornerstone of information access and educational material. As such equitable access to digital content should no longer be negotiable—but an ethical priority.

As a provider of public digital content to the university library community, Underline Science aims to promote the fullest use of its resources to the greatest number of people. The new website integrates AI technology to reduce common barriers that might otherwise hinder access to videos and library content for people with disabilities and impairments. This provides every visitor, student, faculty, staff member, and researcher equal access to a database filled with scholarly conference presentations.

Governments around the world have recently taken steps to center digital content accessibility for people of all abilities. Laws such as the 2019 Accessible Canada Act, EU Web Accessibility Directive, and European Accessibility Act strive to create an internet free of barriers.

The Underline site is now in full compliance with a range of recent American and Canadian accessibility guidelines, including WCAG and ADA guideline adherence. Users can configure the new Accessibility widget to meet their personal needs, clicking on the blue icon at the middle-left corner of their page.

Some of the measures readers can activate include:
•	Seizure-safe profiles with reduced color and flashing images
•	Vision-impaired profiles with ARIA best behavioral adjustments, enhanced visuals, and text size adjustability
•	ADHD-friendly profiles with fewer distractions and a highly focused layout
•	Cognitive disability profiles with assisted reading and a streamlined layouts
•	Optimized keyboard navigation for motor-impaired users
•	Content highlighting, to emphasize selected elements only
•	Audio muting
•	Printing mode
•	A search engine linked to Wiktionary and Wikipedia, so users with cognitive differences can easily grasp the meanings of phrases, slang, and complex terms

These are just a handful of the ways in which users can configure content to meet their precise needs. By putting these users in the driver’s seat of their own research experience, Underline democratizes the research experience like never before.

“University library patrons—faculty, students, researchers, and others—are a microcosm of the larger society; a society that includes between 10% and 20% of people with disabilities,” points out David Parker, Director of Product Management at Underline Science. 

“Our website and our product must serve 100% of our community. It’s a good social practice and it’s good business,” he adds.

Centering accessibility is also an ongoing process. As such, the site will continue to change and develop to stay at the forefront of meeting compliance regulations and users’ needs.

Underline Science is leading the way in academic research capabilities. Grow your scientific network and tap into the global ecosystem to help solve some of the most pressing research challenges of our time. Join the community today.

www.underline.io 

The Underline platform includes an accessibility widget to allow a more inclusive user experience.

Underline Furthers Inclusion With Website Accessibility Update

# Underline Science Curating Scientific Conferences

We created Underline Science in 2019 with a specific vision of curating scientific conference presentations into a streaming video platform. Our founder, Alex Lazinica an AI/robotics researcher, and our experienced team understood it is impossible for researchers to be at every important conference, let alone attend every important presentation at the conferences they are able to be at in person. The solution, an academic-ready video platform with the search and browse experience of a consumer streaming video platform, like Netflix, but with the attributes of a scholarly research platform. And then a global pandemic struck and the world shut down in person events overnight.

At Underline we had already built the infrastructure to support video capture at in-person events, so a pivot to supporting the overnight demand for virtual events was a contribution to the scholarly research process we knew we must make. Fast forward two and a half years and we have supported hundreds of events, captured tens of thousands of presentations and, today, we are proud to announce the launch of our Underline Science Library Product: https://underline.io/library

In addition to the exceptional streaming content that we have captured at the events we have supported; we have invited academic and scholarly societies to add their conference content to our platform. Our partners include IEEE, MIT, AIP, The Peer Review Congress, and many more. The Underline Science Library Product includes more than 25,000 presentations and we are adding new conference content constantly. 

The Underline Science Library Product offers a truly academic viewing experience; this is no YouTube! Our presentations feature searchable transcripts, citation tools, linked DOIs, abstracts, linked proceeding papers and posters, and a forum for ongoing discussion and collaboration between presenters and fellow researchers. Take a look at what we mean by a academic video player and experience: https://underline.io/lecture/14096-big-data-and-health

We are only just beginning! Please reach out to our team to learn more about Underline Science and our commitment to streaming the world’s best science!


Announcing the launch of the Underline Science Library Product!

Announcing the World’s First Curation of Scientific Conference Presentations: Underline Science, Streaming the World’s Best Science

What an amazing and exciting event this was! The bar was set (very very) high. 5 days packed with 23 workshops, 2 satellite conferences, keynotes, plenaries, posters, with 6 thematically organized parallel sessions and live Q/A and interactive discussion immediately after the talks.

The idea of this unique undergoing was to create a full democratic and equal experience for every attendee, on-site and online. Not everyone could enjoy the beautiful Barceló Bávaro Convention Centre and surroundings in Punta Cana but we did our best to bring the atmosphere to everyone on their computers and to make them feel as if they are there with us. Physical distance didn’t exclude anyone from participating actively in real-time.  

The idea was grand in itself but so are the numbers that proved us right! With 500 people on site and 4,000 virtually attendees, 23 workshops including 600 presentations, and 1,500 papers from the main conference on 6 parallel tracks, we can proudly claim, we fulfilled our goals and paved the way for events of the new era.

Better than reading about it is to experience the **[Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing, EMNLP 2021 ](https://underline.io/events/192/reception)** for yourself!

As it often is, with ideas this big, those 5 days were not always smooth sailing for us. This was the biggest hybrid conference we ever did and the pressure was high.
Our AV team, led by **Luka Šimić**, Head of Video and Media, faced some truly difficult challenges on site. The conditions were tough and we seemed to have been hitting strong waves constantly. But we knew what we were signing up for and we were more than ready to make this tough sail into a wonderful experience.

*''In November, the Underline team successfully coordinated the biggest scientific hybrid livestream event with more than 500 participants on site and 4000 remotely, in the Dominican Republic. With different knowledge, experience and diversity of skills, 8 team members effectively navigated 2796 lectures and 1735 speakers in 5 days. Due to the complexity of combining in-person with virtual audience, creating a successful hybrid event required a lot of planning and brainstorming. It was not easy, but as my dear colleague Dan Luise liked to say during those 5 days: “A problem was not a problem, only an opportunity for success”. So with a focus on seamless streaming, technical solutions and end user experience, Underline overcame all challenges and exceeded all expectations. This proved to us that we are more than ready for scientific hybrid events as a new normal in the industry,''* Luka said.

The talented people that comprise the Underline team have learned so much through the extraordinarily challenging times of the past year. With event cancellations, stay at home and safety measures, events like this are rare and it is more important than ever to provide access to such valuable content to everyone. 

Our CEO **Alex Lazinica** is honored to have Underline be part of this groundbreaking experience: *“We are honored to work with ACL on EMNLP and their flagship conferences"*, so we take this opportunity to thank EMNLP 2021 Chairperson **Marie-Francine Moens** and **Priscilla Rasmussen**, ACL Chief Executive.

Gone are the times when we looked back. Now, we only look ahead and set our sails high(er)! This is only the beginning as we already have more hybrid events planned in the near future.

We dare to say that in the post Covid world, events will be better (and more sustainable)! 

**About Underline Science**

Underline is the premier virtual conference platform for events in science, medicine, academia and other professional fields. Underline’s mission is to capture and disseminate scientific knowledge through video, making it globally accessible by enriching and preserving both virtual and hybrid conference content. Underline’s groundbreaking scientific [Digital Video Library](https://underline.io/library) is providing new opportunities to access and expand the scientific record and accelerate scientific discovery. For more information, visit the Underline [website](https://underline.io/) and follow Underline on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/underlineio).

Discover why the **[EMNLP 2021](https://underline.io/events/192/reception)** was such a unique experience and what it means for the future of events.

Going beyond (incredible) numbers: How Underline created a game-changing experience  


**The Largest Scientific Hybrid Conference To Date**

*Thousands projected to participate in EMNLP 2021*

NEW YORK- October 27, 2021  - Some three thousand scientists and researchers are expected to participate in the upcoming [EMNLP 2021](https://2021.emnlp.org) (2021 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing). Based on current estimates, 600+ people will be in beautiful Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, with thousands more attending and presenting online. 
Unique in the design is that every attendee, whether local or virtual, will have a rich engaging immersive experience. Presenters and attendees can either be local or remote, with full and equal participation for all.

It is easier said than done with an  [exciting program spanning 5 days](https://2021.emnlp.org/program) (November 7-11 2021), with 21 workshops, 2 satellite conferences, many parallel sessions, keynotes, plenaries, posters and more. 

Powered by [Underline ](https://underline.io)(underline.io), EMNLP 2021 is easily one of the larger scientific conferences, unique in that it is promoting a full democratic and equal experience for every attendee, with the notable exception that the online participants will not physically enjoy the beautiful Barceló Bávaro Convention Centre and surroundings in Punta Cana.

EMNLP 2021 Chairperson Marie-Francine Moens explained that “EMNLP has a long rich history of successful conferences that our community is looking forward to every year.  We were hoping that by November 2021 much of the world would already be past the pandemic. As the situation is fluid and changing daily, we needed to find a way to hold the event so every participant and presenter would have a deeply engaging and satisfying experience, regardless of their ability to attend in person.”

Priscilla Rasmussen, ACL Chief Executive said “running a conference of this size is always challenging. This becomes infinitely more difficult during the pandemic; especially when our goal is to provide an equal, engaging, interactive experience that is seamless, whether you are in or virtual. Besides the technical challenges, people’s availability change daily due to personal, health and country mandates.  
We are happy to partner with Underline to produce this conference since their platform and services will host much of the technical and organizational challenges both virtually and in-person.”

Alex Lazinica, CEO of Underline added “We are honored to work with ACL on EMNLP and their flagship conferences. Having produced Hybrid events of various kinds for many months, our team provides white-glove service and an unbeatable online platform to leading associations such as ACL, IEEE and many others.” 
                                                     
**About ACL and EMNLP ** 

The Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) provides the preeminent forum for dissemination of the latest developments in computational linguistics and natural language processing. In recent years, ACL conferences have enjoyed a growth spurt.  Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP) is a leading conference in the area of natural language processing and artificial intelligence.  EMNLP is organized by the ACL special interest group on linguistic data (SIGDAT) and was started in 1996. According to Microsoft Academic, EMNLP is the 14th most cited conference in computer science.

**About Underline Science **

Underline is the premier virtual conference platform for events in science, medicine, academia and other professional  fields. Underline’s mission is to capture and disseminate scientific knowledge through video, making it globally accessible by enriching and preserving both virtual and hybrid conference content. Underline’s groundbreaking  scientific Digital Video Library is providing new opportunities to access and expand the scientific record and  accelerate scientific discovery. For more information, visit the Underline website and follow Underline on Twitter. 

Thousands projected to participate in EMNLP 2021



EMNLP -Largest Hybrid Scientific Conference to Date

**Underline Science, the premier virtual conference venue and digital video library for events and content in science, medicine, academia and other professional fields** has partnered with **Anderson Publishing, Ltd.**, publishers of *Applied Radiology* to house more than 200 medical imaging videos featuring radiology professionals.

***Applied Radiology*** are physician-authored clinical review journals in publication since 1972. It is currently published six times per year and distributed to more than 25,000 radiology professionals by Anderson Publishing, Ltd. *Applied Radiology* contains practical information designed to educate radiology residents and today’s practicing radiologists on a multitude of levels through clinical-review articles, case studies, and timely, thought-provoking columns covering all aspects of medical imaging. Through its online and digital platforms, *Applied Radiology* reaches more than 50,000 radiology professionals worldwide. To learn more about *Applied Radiology*, please visit their website: https://appliedradiology.com/.

“We are excited about the opportunity to increase access to our diverse library of video-based content through this partnership with Underline,” said **Kieran Anderson, Vice President & Group Publisher at Anderson Publishing**. “Our mission to create and deliver expert content designed to advance medical imaging and patient care is only enhanced by the global platform and community Underline continues to build.” 

**Underline’s mission is to capture and disseminate scientific knowledge through video, making it globally accessible by enriching and preserving both virtual and hybrid conference content.** Through Underline, conferences – physical and virtual – can reach new global audiences, while conference attendees have the flexibility to watch and re-watch any lecture any place, any time. Underline enriches hosted conferences and lectures with transcriptions, real-time language translations, DOIs, MARC records and presenters’ slides and profiles. In addition to enabling conference participants to connect with speakers, lectures can be easily cited, shared and searched, thus, turning presentations into sources of collaboration and conversation. **With a custom-built virtual conference platform, Emmy Award-winning production team, and exclusive digital library – Underline is fast becoming an important destination for research, teaching and learning.**

“We are honored to partner with *Applied Radiology* and Anderson Publishing to host their important medical imaging videos in our digital video library,” said **Alex Lazinica, CEO of Underline Science.** “The content from scientific conferences, presentations and technical meetings represent critical scientific literature for scientists and the medical community to learn about the latest breakthroughs and research. At Underline we are working to accelerate discovery in an open and connected world by making these scholarly lectures available to all who need them, regardless of geography.”

**MEDIA CONTACTS:**

Darin Dusan
+1 (323) 691-3810 
[darin@underline.io](https://)

Kieran N Anderson
+1 (908) 337-3366
[kieran@appliedradiology.com](https://)


Leading Medical Imaging Journal to Make More than 200 Videos Available on Underline

Underline Expands Digital Video Library With Medical Imaging Video Content From Applied Radiology

Underline Science, the premier virtual conference venue for events in science, medicine, academia and other professional fields, is currently hosting the **28th Annual International Conference on Computational Linguistics (COLING 2020), through Friday, December 11th**. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and uncertainty about international travel, the COLING Steering Committee shifted to a virtual format, from the face-to-face meeting that was due to be held in Barcelona, Spain.

**COLING, the International Conference on Computational Linguistics, is one of the premier conferences for natural language processing and computational linguistics.** Often grouped within the field of artificial intelligence, but actually pre-dating the development of artificial intelligence, advances in computational linguistics and natural language processing are now some of the major drivers behind the use of artificial intelligence for commercial and social applications – for example, on-line search, machine translation and with voice-assisted conversational devices. 

First established in 1965, the biennial COLING conference is held in diverse parts of the globe and attracts participants from both top-ranked research centers and emerging countries. Today, the most important developments in our field are taking place not only in universities and academic research institutes, but also in industrial research departments and in technological startups. COLING conferences provide opportunities for all these communities to showcase their exciting developments. **To register for COLING 2020, or to learn more about the conference, please visit: https://coling2020.org. **

**The 4-day live stream/virtual conference features talks from world-renowned scientists, a selection of webinars, panel discussions, live tutorials, workshops, online presentations, interactive Q&A sessions and special events** with leading professionals in the field of natural language processing and computational linguistics. Invited speakers include, among others: **Amanda Stent, Bloomberg LP; Harald Baayen, University of Tübingen; Margaret Mitchell, Google Research and Machine Intelligence; Monica Lam, Stanford University; and Tal Linzen, New York University.**

“These are extraordinarily exciting times for our field. Computational Linguistics is no longer just the future: it’s already here!” said **COLING 2020 General Chair, Donia Scott, Professor of Computational Linguistics, University of Sussex**. “The presentations and discussions at COLING 2020 will showcase the state-of the-art in natural language technologies and forefront some of the challenges that arise when language is viewed as not just data but as the most vital part of human communication in all its complexities.”

**COLING 2020 content, including all live streams, presentations and lecture videos, is currently available for viewing on underline.io. With attendees joining the conference from around the globe and from different time zones, Underline’s platform maximizes the scholarship, interactivity and networking opportunities for this year’s COLING 2020 conference.**

Underline’s mission is to capture and disseminate scientific knowledge through video, making it globally accessible by enriching and preserving both virtual and hybrid conference content. Through Underline, conferences – physical and virtual – can reach new global audiences, while conference attendees have the flexibility to watch and re-watch any lecture any place, any time. Underline enriches hosted conferences and lectures with transcriptions, real-time language translations, DOIs, MARC records and presenters’ slides and profiles. In addition to enabling conference participants to connect with speakers, lectures can be easily cited, shared and searched, thus, turning presentations into sources of collaboration and conversation. With a custom-built virtual conference platform, Emmy Award-winning production team, and exclusive digital library – Underline is fast becoming an important destination for research, teaching and learning.

“We are honored to partner with the COLING 2020 chairs and organizers to host this important meeting on the Underline platform, and with no geographical barriers, we are pleased to help them expand their audience,” said **Alex Lazinica, CEO of Underline Science**. “Conferences and technical meetings are critical tools for scientists to learn about the latest breakthroughs and research. Like the globally oriented team on the COLING committee and with the International Committee on Computational, at Underline we are working to accelerate discovery in an open and connected world.”

Top Scientific Conference for Natural Language Processing Goes Virtual for 2020

 UNDERLINE Hosts 28th International Conference On Computational Linguistics (COLING 2020)

**Underline Science**, the premier virtual conference venue for events in science, medicine, academia and other professional fields, will host the first two days of the **44th Annual UKSG Conference and Exhibition, on Monday, April 12th and Tuesday, April 13th**. The final day on April 14 will feature demos on the UKSG website. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and uncertainty about international travel, the UKSG Steering Committee shifted from the face-to-face meeting to be held in Harrogate to a virtual format.

**The annual UKSG Conference and Exhibition is a major event in the scholarly communications calendar which attracts more than 900 delegates each year from around the world - librarians, publishers, content providers, consultants and intermediaries. The conference combines high-quality plenary presentations, lightning talks and breakout sessions with entertaining social events and a major trade exhibition.** **To learn more about UKSG 2021 please visit: https://www.uksg.org/.**

The x-day live stream/virtual conference will feature talks from world-renowned scholars, a selection of webinars, panel discussions, live tutorials, workshops, online presentations, interactive Q&A sessions and special events with leading professionals in the research education and publishing sectors.

UKSG 2021 content, including all live streams, presentations and lecture videos, will be available for viewing on underline.io. With attendees joining the conference from around the globe and from different time zones, Underline’s platform maximizes the scholarship, interactivity and networking opportunities for this year’s UKSG 2021 conference.

“After a detailed search for a vendor, UKSG has selected Underline to work with us to make UKSG 2021 a success. We were pleased to see the list of current customers who use Underline who are already members of UKSG, and are excited for the possibilities to move our dynamic, engaging, fun conference online” said **Bev Acreman, UKSG Executive Director**. “We have a reputation for the quality of our content and delivery and we do not intent to compromise on that in these new times.”

Underline’s mission is to capture and disseminate scientific knowledge through video, making it globally accessible by enriching and preserving both virtual and hybrid conference content. Through Underline, conferences – physical and virtual – can reach new global audiences, while conference attendees have the flexibility to watch and re-watch any lecture any place, any time. Underline enriches hosted conferences and lectures with transcriptions, real-time language translations, DOIs, MARC records and presenters’ slides and profiles. In addition to enabling conference participants to connect with speakers, lectures can be easily cited, shared and searched, thus, turning presentations into sources of collaboration and conversation. With a custom-built virtual conference platform, Emmy Award-winning production team, and exclusive digital library – Underline is fast becoming an important destination for research, teaching and learning.

“We are honored to partner with the UKSG 2021 chairs and organizers to host this meeting on the Underline platform, and we look forward to helping them extend the reach of this important scholarly event,” said **Alex Lazinica, CEO of Underline Science**. “Conferences and technical meetings are critical tools for scientists and scholars to learn about the latest breakthroughs and research. At Underline we are working to break down geographical barriers and build global connections to accelerate discovery.”


Leading Scholarly Communications Conference Goes Virtual for 2021

UNDERLINE To Host 44th Annual UKSG Conference and Exhibition

Underline Science, the premier virtual conference venue for events in science, medicine, academia, and other professional fields, will host a one of a kind, global virtual conference, **SEE THE FUTURE, presented by Enago, November 17-18, 2020**.

Enago, the trusted name in author services for the global research community, invites researchers, university administrators, and publishing professionals to attend and participate in presentations and discussions with distinguished experts in scientific research and higher education, including a Nobel Laureate. Thanks to the participation of sponsors including Turnitin, authorcafé, Wiley and the Universidad de Medellín, Enago is presenting SEE THE FUTURE at no cost to registrants.

**The 2-day live stream/virtual conference will feature keynote speaker is Nobel Laureate Sir Richard J. Roberts, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1993 **for discovering introns in eukaryotic DNA and the mechanism of gene-splicing. Dr. Roberts will discuss the path to a Nobel Prize, and what future field-changing research will mean for today’s researcher. The event will also feature a selection of webinars, panel discussions, online presentations, and interactive Q&A sessions with leading professionals in the research education and publishing sectors. 

Other speakers include: **Ara Tahmassian, Chief Research Compliance Officer, Harvard University**, who will discuss Harvard University’s management of their Research Office during the pandemic; **Nunzio Quacquarelli, the Founder & CEO of QS Quacquarelli Symonds**, will look at the future of higher education and what a post-COVID education world might look like; **Judy Versus, EVP, Research, Wiley**, will talk about the future of research sustainability; **Philippe Terheggen, Managing Director, STM Journals, Elsevier**, will discuss  the future of Open Science and Collaborations; and **Sarah Tegen, SVP, Journals Publishing Group, American Chemical Society (ACS)**, will speak about the future of scholarly peer review. Other illustrious speakers include representatives from the **National Council of University Administrators (NCURA), Hindawi, and Karger Publishers. **

**To learn more about SEE THE FUTURE, please visit www.enago.com/see-the-future/conference-2020/.**

“There has never been a more important time to bring together the brightest minds in research and education to discuss the future,” said **Enago CEO Sharad Mittal**. “The pandemic has raised new questions for researchers and publishers, and never before has the world been so engaged with science and the pursuit of truth.”

SEE THE FUTURE content, including all live streams, presentations, and lecture videos will be available for viewing on underline.io. With attendees joining the conference from around the globe and from different time zones, Underline’s platform maximizes the scholarship, interactivity, and networking opportunities for SEE THE FUTURE.

Underline’s mission is to capture and disseminate scientific knowledge through video, making it globally accessible by enriching and preserving both virtual and hybrid conference content. Through Underline, conferences – physical and virtual – can reach new global audiences, while conference attendees have the flexibility to watch and re-watch any lecture any time, at any place. Underline enriches hosted conferences and lectures with transcriptions, real-time language translations, DOIs, MARC records and presenters’ slides, and profiles. In addition to enabling conference participants to connect with speakers, lectures can be easily cited, shared, and searched, thus, turning presentations into sources of collaboration and conversation. With a custom-built virtual conference platform, Emmy Award-winning production team, and exclusive digital library – Underline is fast becoming an important destination for research, teaching, and learning.

“We are excited to host this meeting on our site and look forward to helping SEE THE FUTURE reach a large global audience,” said **Alex Lazinica, CEO of Underline Science**. “Scientific and academic research is global in nature, and we are pleased to bring together some of the best minds in the world, and using our platform, break down geographical barriers to scientific advancement.”


Top Global Researchers and Publishing Professionals Will Discuss the Future of Research and Higher Education at SEE THE FUTURE - A Conference by Enago



Underline to Host SEE THE FUTURE

**Underline Science, the premier virtual conference venue for events in science, medicine and academia**, announced today that it has appointed **Robert VanHees, President and Chief Financial Officer of ProQuest, and Rafael Sidi, formerly SVP at ProQuest and General Manager of the ProQuest Information Solutions business unit, to its board of directors.**

The announcement follows a significant investment in Underline from ProQuest, a global leader in educational technology, with additional investment from Rafael Sidi. This funding will enable Underline to extend the reach of its video platform for scientific and scholarly conferences, providing opportunities to accelerate scientific discovery.

Earlier this year, Underline launched the world’s first live-streaming platform specifically designed for scientific and academic conferences, lectures, and research discussions. Underline’s mission is to capture and disseminate scientific knowledge through video, making it globally accessible by enriching and preserving both virtual and hybrid conference content. Through Underline, conferences – physical and virtual – can reach new global audiences, while conference attendees have the flexibility to watch and re-watch any lecture any place, any time.

"We are pleased to welcome Robert and Rafael as new directors to the Underline Science board of directors," said **Alex Lazinica, founder and CEO of Underline Science**. "They join Underline at an exciting time as we continue to grow the company and scale Underline’s unique streaming conference platform. Their addition complements our board, and we are confident they will provide valuable expertise and leadership as we continue to execute our strategy and transform the scientific and academic conference industry."

“I look forward to working alongside Underline’s team and supporting their mission to extend the reach of scholarly events,” said **Robert VanHees, President and Chief Financial Officer, ProQuest**. “Building global connections to advance knowledge and education is a cornerstone of our work at ProQuest, and at the heart of Underline’s vision to advance scientific discovery.”

“Academic conferences and events play a central role in society, and this market is going through a digital transformation, accelerated by the impact of Covid-19,” said **Rafael Sidi**. “Underline is leading this evolution with their conference streaming and aggregation platform, and I am excited to join the Underline board and work with Alex and his talented team. I look forward to the creation of superior and sustainable conference experiences for all stakeholders and to making this important content accessible to the global research community.”

**About Robert VanHees**

Robert VanHees serves as President and Chief Financial Officer at ProQuest, where he oversees the company’s financial functions, including financial operations, accounting, procurement, treasury, taxation and investor relations. 

Mr. VanHees joined ProQuest from JLL Partners, a private equity firm, where he was an Operating Partner for five years, partnering with management to oversee strategy and operations. Prior to that, he served as CFO of the Learning Care Group, a childcare and early education provider. Earlier in his career, he was CFO for Corporate Express North America and Corporate Express Europe, and held several roles in financial planning and analysis, treasury, and audit functions. Mr. VanHees earned his B.A. in Accounting and an MBA at Michigan State University. 

**About Rafael Sidi**

Rafael Sidi is a senior information industry executive recognized for leading content and education technology businesses in creating world class innovative information and analytic SaaS products. Rafael served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for ProQuest Information Solutions, the largest ProQuest business unit, focused on developing information and analytics solutions to improve researcher’s and librarian’s outcomes in global academic and education technology markets. Mr. Sidi joined ProQuest in 2013 after a dozen years at Elsevier, where he held several senior management positions, including head of product management and development for many of the company’s largest, most successful and innovative information solutions. Prior to Elsevier, Mr. Sidi was Director of e-commerce operations for Bolt Media Inc., a social network platform. Mr. Sidi holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Istanbul’s Bosphorus University and an MA from Brandeis University.



Innovative Platform for Streaming Scientific and Scholarly Conferences Adds Two EdTech Industry Leaders to Board

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Underline Science Announces the Launch of the World’s First Aggregation of Scientific Conference Presentations

Underline Announcements