Episode 1 · Leading at Scale with IEEE’s Dawn Melley

Leading at Scale with IEEE’s Dawn Melley
0:00 0:00
Listen To The Podcast
The future of scholarly publishing and introduction to IEEE
The future of scholarly publishing and introduction to IEEE 0:00
Dawn Melley's publishing journey and role at IEEE
Dawn Melley's publishing journey and role at IEEE 02:03
Key priorities for IEEE: quality, integrity, AI, and sustainability
Key priorities for IEEE: quality, integrity, AI, and sustainability 04:28
IEEE Publishing Portal and the vision for connected workflows
IEEE Publishing Portal and the vision for connected workflows 05:10
Scale, submission growth, and the impact of AI on publishing
Scale, submission growth, and the impact of AI on publishing 10:02
Responsible AI use, policy challenges, and maintaining accountability
Responsible AI use, policy challenges, and maintaining accountability 13:14
Supporting reviewers, editors, and the volunteer community
Supporting reviewers, editors, and the volunteer community 17:02
Industry collaboration, advocacy, and the broader publishing ecosystem
Industry collaboration, advocacy, and the broader publishing ecosystem 19:32
Research integrity, conferences, and cross-industry initiatives
Research integrity, conferences, and cross-industry initiatives 24:07
The future of scholarly publishing and final reflections
The future of scholarly publishing and final reflections 26:01

In our first episode of Upstream by Integra, host Ashutosh Ghildiyal, VP Growth & Strategy at Integra, sits down with Dawn Melley, Senior Director, Publishing Operations at IEEE, for a frank conversation about how scholarly publishing is changing under the pressure of scale, technology, and rising expectations. Dawn talks about the realities of running a large, complex publishing program, from designing connected workflows and the IEEE Publishing Portal to balancing efficiency with the need to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.

How do you keep quality at the center when everything is accelerating?

Together, Ashutosh and Dawn unpack how IEEE is thinking about responsible use of AI, sustaining a global volunteer editor and reviewer community, and working with industry bodies and peers to strengthen research integrity and advocacy. They explore where human judgment matters most, how collaboration across publishers, societies, and funders is evolving, and what it will take for the ecosystem to emerge stronger from this period of rapid change. If you care about the future of STM publishing, this conversation offers grounded insight and practical ideas you can take back to your own organization.