BU Research Blog

If you are wanting to build up your research network, then Piirus may be just what you need.

You will not only be able to link with other academics but also receive email updates or Twitter feeds from Pirrus. In addition, if you sign up now, Piirus will also send you a copy of their case study on co-authoring.

The following information is from the Piirus website. There is also a short video about this service.

What is Piirus?

Piirus helps you to connect with other researchers – it’s as simple as that.

If you want to make contacts, or find a collaborator, within your field or from a different discipline, then Piirus is a quick and easy tool to help you get in touch.

How does it work?

Sign up and create a short profile with your collaboration interests, research areas and methodologies. You can also add links to external sites where other users can find out more about you, such as your LinkedIn, your blog or your Academia.edu entry.

As soon as you have a profile, Piirus will suggest researchers with whom you may be interested in collaborating, based on the information in your profile. You can also search for users with particular interests, expertise or techniques.

What can Piirus do for me?

It can help you to:

• make contacts for your research and your career, both within your institution and beyond
• find expertise on a specific topic or technique
• make interdisciplinary connections to refresh your work and widen funding opportunities
• improve the visibility of your research outside your institution

Who can sign up to Piirus?

Piirus is open to any researchers from academic institutions and research centres. This includes doctoral researchers, early career researchers and research active staff.

You’ll need to sign up using your academic email address.

How is Piirus different from sites like LinkedIn and Academia.edu?

Piirus is a quick and easy tool to help you make contacts and find collaborators. We keep it simple by focusing on connecting researchers. On Piirus you make yourself known for what you are wanting to research or collaborate on RIGHT NOW, and it’s simple to link out to all the other websites that you are currently on, such as your departmental profile or portfolio, blog, LinkedIn or Academia.edu profiles. There is less effort to create and maintain a Piirus profile because you don’t have to enter all the information your other profiles contain separately onto your Piirus profile.

About Piirus

Piirus started life in 2011 as Research Match, a service designed for researchers within the University of Warwick to find their research match. Users found the site so useful that we decided to expand it, so that more people could enjoy this tool.

Piirus is managed by the University of Warwick.

Our values

• Ethical – developed and funded by the sector for the sector. Any surplus is invested back into Piirus to help fund and accelerate global research.
• Impartial – Piirus grew out of the Library at University of Warwick so it is no surprise that it naturally crosses boundaries of discipline and field.
• Integrity – a global network dedicated only to researchers so they can make meaningful connections.
• Clarity – we build profiles and connections based on researchers’ current activities and not on historic data based on publications.
• Genuine – real connections with real researchers. We never create fake profiles or analytics.
• Value – we are not about vanity metrics – only the quality of interaction for our research community.