I always think of an organisation’s website as its 'shopfront' – the face it presents to the world. And since I joined the Crick, I’ve been very conscious that our website has not adequately reflected the extraordinary and ambitious work we do. So I am immensely proud that we are now launching a new website that really showcases our ambition and research excellence
We wanted a place to demonstrate the outstanding work of our researchers; a place to highlight the Crick’s mission and values in an engaging way. It’s also important to show how we work with our partners – and to encourage new partners to come on board and collaborate with us.
Most of all, we wanted people to be able to find what they’re looking for quickly and easily, and to get high-quality information.
We started the project last year with a research and discovery phase to prioritise the key aims of the site and how it should work. Since then we’ve been testing as we develop, making sure that the navigation and content works for the people we hope will be visiting the website.
The site is now responsive, so it will be easy to view on smartphones and tablets. And as well as updating its design, we’ve overhauled how the information on the site is structured.
Each of our research groups and science technology platforms now has its own ‘mini-site’ within the overarching site.
We have much more information about Crick researchers than before. You can find a researcher, including group leaders, by using our A-Z of researchers, or you can look at our research topics section.
Our homepage now features a video with images from around the Crick’s building in London, and a link through to straightforward summaries of the seven research questions at the heart of our strategy.
Our improved news section means we now have more ways of telling stories about the Crick and our science. It’s also much easier to browse and filter, with content tagged by research area and article type. Similarly, events can be filtered by date, interest group or event type.
Our new careers and study section gives a flavour of what it’s like working at the Crick, along with descriptions of the many roles that make up the Crick community.
You can find out about our work to accelerate the transformation of research concepts into benefits for patients and the economy in the section about applying our research.
The work doesn’t stop here. We’ll be continuing to develop the site in response to testing and feedback, and developing new content to share more of the extraordinary work we’re doing.
Enjoy browsing our new website, and if you spot anything that isn’t quite right, or have an idea that could improve it, please send us a message or email public-website@crick.ac.uk.
Morag Reavley
