This update aims to bring our community up to speed on the latest developments with our website following the summer period.
The initial transition of academic content began in July with 30,000 pages of information being redirected to the new platform which is intended to provide a more integrated user-centred architecture with a view to creating connections between information, and using a data driven approach to help maintain the accuracy of that information.
The transition is a complex piece of work that has a number of problems which have been reported by colleagues who have expressed concerns with the content and the way the new site works. We have been working hard to address all concerns and requests and would like to thank those colleagues who have engaged with us over the last few weeks. If you have returned from your summer vacation and are unaware of the changes to our website, we would like to recommend that you look at this summary of common questions.
Some frequent questions/problems and answers are:
- I don’t seem to have a staff profile
Please check if you are currently in scope, and make sure your profile is set to ‘public’.
- Not all of my information appears in my profile, or it’s incorrect
Please make sure your information is up to date on the new system: create your new staff profile for the website. If you can’t make required changes using the guidance, please get in touch with the DUX team or Pure support. It is possible that this may be due to an issue with the way the data is pulling through, an update to the imported tool is being released by 30 September
- My research project is missing
The agreed categories for funded research projects that are now live are: UKRI, UK Charities, EU Awards, Overseas Awards and Other Awards. NIHR funded projects are now in scope and should be transitioned before 30 September 2022.
- My research project is missing critical information
Please check that check that Pure is up to date with the correct information. If there is still a problem, please get in touch with the DUX team or Pure support.
- My profile doesn’t appear to be associated with my research group
A new, more flexible approach using keyword tagging has been agreed, which will allow profiles to be more easily associated with multiple research entities. This is already underway as a pilot in each faculty and will roll out over the next 8-10 weeks.
A Web Oversight Board, chaired by Wendy Appleby, Vice-President (Operations), has been established to make sure concerns are being heard and addressed, to agree priorities and to ensure the successful delivery of the new website. We are totally committed to addressing any problems that have arisen as quickly as possible. There are currently five priority areas:
- Factual accuracy – correcting information as soon as it is requested.
- Staff profiles – resolving data import issues.
- Groups, centres or institutes – ensuring all groups, centres and institutes are visible on the new platform.
- Research projects – ensuring that all those in scope in the initial transition are showing correctly.
- Navigation and architecture – to continuously monitor the system to ensure it is performing as it should, and visitors can find the information they need.
Requesting a change
If you have found an error in the website content or it simply needs updating, please send details as soon as you can. There is a dedicated process that logs the issue so that you know it is being addressed: Report a problem or request a change.
Further improvements – September/October
To ensure we improve the experience with our website, several new content releases and projects are expected to launch over the coming weeks.
- Research entities (groups, centres and institutes)
By the end of October, all groups, centres and institutes will also be visible in the new Research institutes, centres and groups listings page. These have already been added to school pages.
Not all research groups, centres and institutes have been established on Pure (the main research database) and therefore could not be transitioned in July. Their content is still available on the original platform via the original URLs.
A longer-term more sustainable solution is currently being piloted with each faculty to fully integrate these entities into the new web platform. This is based on keyword tagging of people and their research outputs and projects in Pure. It will provide the necessary information to implement the ‘finder tools’ on the site and the flexibility to associate people with relevant research entities. This work has already started, and we aim to have tagging completed by December.
- Staff profiles
- Information feed error from Pure – a new data import to resolve issues with this feed will be implemented by 30 September 2022.
- Emeritus professors added to the staff listing – the data feed to add these profiles to the staff listing will be implemented by 30 September 2022.
- Staff profile guidance – working with stakeholders to review and update guidance materials to support staff in presenting their profile information by 30 September 2022.
- Research projects – adding additional funding types (e.g. NIHR)
As agreed with the Associate Deans Research, the first phase of research projects to be transitioned were UKRI-funded. On 8 September we added a further 3,000 Research projects from the following funding sources: UK Charities, EU Awards, Overseas Awards and Other Awards. NIHR funded projects are now in scope and should be transitioned before 30 September 2022.
- Subject level pages
Where there has been a request for greater visibility and there is potential to support certain UG courses that do not have a current Subject page, a list is being created and new Subject pages will be created to ensure that we are using every opportunity to attract students. New Subject page performance will be monitored and reviewed.
Further improvements – by December
There are several additional aspects of the new website which will be addressed before the end of this calendar year. These are:
- Enable people to search for staff based on research group, centre or institute.
- Enable more than three research projects and outputs to be highlighted on a group, centre or institute page.
- Add additional job families to those eligible for staff profiles.
- Review the effectiveness of school, subject and course pages.
Why have we changed the website?
Our old website platform had grown organically and without governance or a considered structure. After more than two decades, it contained factual inaccuracies, significant replication of information, and it failed accessibility standards that we are required to meet.
