Piirus, Warwick’s online tool to help researchers make connections and contacts, both within institutions and beyond, officially launched at our Alliance partner institution Monash on 1 April.

Piirus is a user-friendly tool that connects research staff and graduate research candidates with others in their own field or other disciplines, helping them to build networks and explore ideas. It has been developed at Warwick by Research Exchange and Postgraduate Hub Manager, Fiona Colligan, who demonstrated its functions at the launch.

Monash-Warwick Alliance Academic Vice-President, Professor Andrew Coats, said:

For postgraduate and early career researchers, Piirus can help them establish cross-disciplinary and international connections and connect to relevant researchers in their field. Piirus can also help academics identify potential postgraduate candidates and connect with researchers in other fields, which may help with interdisciplinary research.”

Monash University Librarian, Cathrine Harboe-Ree, said a group of Monash researchers had trialled Piirus and the results were encouraging:

We’ve already had around 100 Monash researchers register and over 40 Monash-Warwick connections have been made through Piirus to date.”

Robin Green, Warwick’s University Librarian, said:

We’re delighted with the support for Piirus we’ve received through the Alliance and look forward to the new research connections it will foster.”

To use Piirus, researchers simply register and create a short profile with collaboration interests, research areas and methodologies. Links to external sites, such as LinkedIn, Academia.edu or blogs can be added. Based on profile information, Piirus will suggest potential collaborators from registered researchers. Users can also search for researchers with particular interests, expertise or techniques.

Find out more

Warwick will host an official launch event for Piirus in June this year, which will involve the creation of an interactive game for big screens to get multiple locations and communities involved. A brainstorming session to shape the game was recently held and more information will be shared with staff and students as the game develops.

• For more information on Piirus, visit https://www.piirus.com/
• You can also watch a short video on Piirus to find out more about how it can connect you with other researchers.
• For more information on the Monash-Warwick Alliance, visit http://warwick.monash.edu/