Connecting researchers. Crossing boundaries.
At Piirus we recognise those researchers who have been influential. The more researchers who are on Piirus, the more networking and collaboration opportunities there are for the global research community. Here is our latest top influencer: Jonny Williams, Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, UK A post-doctoral … [Read more...]
After having described the difficulties I face when attempting to write from home, and realising that I can only spend so much time in coffee shops before (a) they ask me to leave or (b) I consume way too much caffeine and cease to be able to use a pen, I’ve been exploring how to become more productive while sitting at my office desk in … [Read more...]
We recently made a couple of changes to Piirus in response to feedback from you, our users. Here’s what’s new. You asked for a feedback form so you can more easily give feedback. You will now find this on every page in Piirus. Your feedback is really important, so please let us know if you have any comments about using … [Read more...]
As well as blogging, we tweet regularly. We often tweet about which institutions researchers joining Piirus are coming from, and the collaborations that they are seeking. See our collated summary of what happened on Piirus in one week, on Storify: "Planet Piirus, 17-23 Nov 2014". Visit Piirus to create a quick profile and see if you … [Read more...]
There are lots of tools out there for collecting scholarly information sources. I used EndNote when I was at Warwick, and then I exported and then imported the bibliographic data into Mendeley, for future reference. Zotero also has a good reputation amongst researchers I’ve met, although it seemed to me that EndNote’s Desktop version was … [Read more...]
As my fellow correspondent Ian wrote for Academic Writing Month (#AcWriMo on Twitter), we each appear to have our ideal place in which to write. Personally, I feel deeply indebted to cafes around Nottinghamshire, the UK and beyond, for the completion of my doctoral thesis. Because unlike Ian, I find it pretty much impossible to write … [Read more...]
As well as blogging, we tweet regularly. We often tweet about which institutions researchers joining Piirus are coming from, and the collaborations that they are seeking. See our collated summary of what happened on Piirus in one week, on Storify: "Planet Piirus, 10-16 Nov 2014". Visit Piirus to create a quick profile and see if you … [Read more...]
As well as blogging we tweet regularly. We often tweet about who is joining Piirus itself and the collaborations that they are seeking. We've gathered a summary of these tweets and written about what happened last week, something which we plan to do regularly and which we are calling "Planet Piirus". See our collated summary of what … [Read more...]
At Piirus we recognise those researchers who have been influential. The more researchers who are on Piirus, the more networking and collaboration opportunities there are for the global research community. Here is our first top influencer: James Bowen, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham A chemist and engineer … [Read more...]
I have found that everyone seems to have different favourite places to write their journal manuscripts. You may enjoy the florescent tubes beating down on your back in the office; you may find a nook in the local coffee house where WiFi is freely available and caffeine can be brought in a drip-like fashion. You may even use the local pub … [Read more...]
Our survey of researchers in academia, held in September 2014, has helped us to understand researchers' collaborative practices and interests and will help inform future developments of the Piirus service. We asked both members and non-members of Piirus to take 5 minutes of their time to complete the survey, and now we are sharing the … [Read more...]
Fiona Colligan is Piirus’ founder, and she’s passionate about breaking down the barriers to how researchers connect. Fiona is aware that researchers need to cross what, at times, can be challenging boundaries of discipline, geography and career. She founded Piirus when managing the University of Warwick’s Wolfson Research Exchange, a … [Read more...]
These tips on motivating yourself to write are gleaned from last year's #AcWriMo tweets. There's a lot more good, practical advice to be found amongst last year's tweets, as collected and shared by the Wolfson Research Exchange, University of Warwick. … [Read more...]