UAE Research Map
One national platform for the UAE's research community: funding, careers, experts and R&D centres on a map.
| Client | Advanced Technology Research Council |
|---|---|
| What we built | National research platform |
| Platform | Drupal + React |
| My role | Product lead, from inception |
| Live site | uaeresearchmap.ae |
The brief
Before the UAE Research Map, the country's research information lived in dozens of places. The Advanced Technology Research Council wanted a single front door for researchers, institutions and industry.
It brings together grants, careers, collaborations, competitions, policies and publications, with an Expert Finder and an interactive map of R&D centres across the Emirates.
Built with
Product & UX lead This one was mine from the first workshop: the product, the roadmap, the team and every release.
What I did
- Ran the inception with ATRC: workshops with researchers, universities and industry, and a written product specification.
- Wrote the product roadmap and split the platform into phased releases.
- Designed the information architecture for grants, careers, collaborations, experts and R&D centres.
- Chose a headless Drupal and React architecture with the tech lead, for content scale and speed.
- Led design and development through every release, and kept improving the platform after launch.
The impact
- 1front door for the national research community
- 6resource types: grants, careers, collaborations, competitions, policies and publications
- 10,000+researchers and experts in the Expert Finder
- 500+R&D centres and labs on the map
The call I made
Headless from day one
A national platform keeps growing in content and in channels. Separating the Drupal content engine from a React front end let us release in phases and redesign screens without touching the data.
What shipped
- A headless Drupal CMS with a React front end
- An interactive map of R&D centres across the UAE
- An Expert Finder that connects people with field specialists
- A resource library: funding, careers, competitions, policies and publications
- Personal dashboards to save resources and manage profiles
- A phased roadmap, released and improved after launch
On screen
