Resources

Personal Academic Websites

Why have a personal academic website?

Traditional metrics (e.g. citations) by which scientists are evaluated are deeply biased and perpetuate exclusionary networks (Davies et al. 2021). These traditional metrics of “success” directly influence career advancement opportunities, funding, awards, distinctions, tenure, and more. Altmetrics, or alternative metrics, (e.g. social media activity, news articles, interviews, etc.) offer an alternative method for quantitative evaluation. Altmetrics aid in recognizing that valuable scientific impact takes many forms, including equitable communication and translation of science to general audiences (Davies et al 2021). Personal websites positively drive altmetrics, meaning that scientists can directly benefit from having a strong online presence in social media, websites, or press (Peoples et al. 2016). Promoting and evaluating scientific work in diverse ways dismantles perpetuating bias and reliance on traditional citation metrics (Davies et al. 2021).

Beyond this, personal academic websites offer the most complete opportunity to tell the story of yourself and your scientific work. By maintaining a personal website, you have control over keeping URLs, publications, email addresses, and CVs up-to-date, whereas an institutional page may not do so for you. You are also able to link research results, media and press, grant funding, and pictures all together in one place to engage in scientific storytelling with your audience. Funding bodies are now recognizing the value of this type of communication with general audiences, communities, and stakeholders, so having a personal website displays commitment to this broadening values system in science. It’s a no-brainer!

Choosing where to build and host your website
GitHub + Quarto Website

I have used GitHub and Quarto to build this website! You need a GitHub account and some intermediate familiarity with coding in R to build your own. There is no cost to host your site, and you can host it on any custom domain that you may own. I have found that design functionality is extremely limited unless you are willing to custom-develop your own styles.css documents, which is time-consuming. Importantly, you can only host one GitHub pages site per account.

I have an extensive tutorial on how to build your own Quarto website and host it on GitHub. Find it on my Coding page. To get started, Quarto also has a lot of information here.

Weebly

I have used Weebly to build my main personal website. I really enjoyed the ease of use and multitude of design options with Weebly. It is free to host your website with a ‘.weebly.com’ address, but you can also host on any custom domain that you may own. I purchased my custom domain through Weebly, and it was easy. There is a cost to remove banner ads at the bottom of your page, but they aren’t too distracting if you want to keep it free. No coding experience required, but it is helpful to know how to insert custom .html to embed code and links.

You can find my personal website on Weebly here.

Google Sites

Google sites are free with a Google account and don’t require any coding experience to build. My lab has a google-hosted website that I edit regularly, and I find it easy with great version control to use as a review process before you publish. Your site is hosted on a ‘sites.google.com/site/yourwebsitenamehere address’, or you can use any custom domain that you may own. There is decent flexibility with design and they have pre-made templates that can get you started.

Other Hosting Options - Squarespace, Wix, WordPress

I have not built websites with any other hosting service. I have peers that have successfully used Squarespace, Wix, and WordPress with mixed reviews. Most of these hosting services will require you to pay for a plan or to remove advertisements. You may also need to purchase a custom domain, but some, like WordPress, may allow you to host for free with a ‘.wordpress.com’ address.

Content for your Academic Website

Personal academic websites are a great tool for networking, sharing your research, and communicating science to general audiences. Think of your website as a digital repository of you as a scientist!

Best practices

  • Always include links to publicly-accessible content wherever you can. Example: You were in a working group that published a paper. The working group was established out of an academic society where you all met. You should link (1) the academic society website AND (2) the DOI and direct link to an open-access paper OR (3) a link to directly download a .pdf of the paper.

  • Better yet, embed content directly into the site! Example: You went to an academic conference and presented a poster. You should (1) register your poster online through a service that makes it citable, like figshare to link the DOI, AND (2) embed it directly on your website by uploading it as a high-quality .pdf, .png, or using a service that can be integrated into your website, like SCRIBD.

  • Present all material without scientific jargon and include as many interactive elements, photos, and links as you can.Example: You developed an R Shiny app for visualizing an equation you use in your research. You should (1) link your R Shiny app to your research page and explain why the equation is important to a scientific audience, AND (2) link the R Shiny app in your teaching or outreach page as a science communication opportunity! When you’ve developed multipurpose products and tools, they are worth sharing with multiple audiences in distinct ways.

Categories of academic website content

Academic website content has three main categories: Research, Science Communication, and Networking

Communicating Science

This is your opportunity to show how your research and work is valuable beyond immediate scientific outcomes. You can include outreach or teaching products, media links to interviews, podcasts, or science writing, your blog, embed social media feeds, and lots of images of you and your science! Wherever possible, consider sharing teaching or outreach resources in ways that are reproducible.

Networking

This is your opportunity to communicate who YOU are as a scientist. A positionality statement about your identities and how they influence your work is a great place to start. Discussing your engagement with programs, projects, societies, and institutions is another way to create an immediate connection with someone who may also be a member. Posting your CV is a great way to showcase yourself and your achievements, especially for early-career researchers. Providing concrete ways to get in touch, either through social media, email, or a contact form is important.

Research

This is your opportunity to translate the research that you do to general scientific and non-scientific audiences. Consider that interactive elements, such as recorded oral presentations, videos, apps, photos, embedded posters, accessible .pdfs, and protocols are all going to garner more audience engagement than simple text on a page. A quick few sentences about your ongoing work can spark a conversation with someone in the science community who may be interested in what you’re working on next.

LGBTQIA+ in STEM Resources

Coming soon!

STEM Education Resources

Coming soon!

Science Communication Resources

Coming soon!