cemmap

Cemmap needed a digital platform that would reflect the rigour and impact of its research while supporting an academic audience of researchers, students, and policymakers.

We partnered with the IFS digital and communications team to deliver a completely new website that would act as a dynamic repository of cemmap’s research outputs, events, and academic network. From initial stakeholder workshops through to taxonomy planning, technical implementation, and custom API integration, our work aimed to future-proof the site while ensuring ease of use for non-technical editors.

Technical Implementation and Developer Capabilities

• Advanced content structuring and taxonomy design
  
  • We began with an in-depth discovery phase, including workshops with IFS and UCL stakeholders. The goal was to ensure the site’s taxonomy could accommodate complex relationships between researchers, topics, and publications.
  • We developed a custom tagging and classification system that allows for filtering and cross-referencing by author, research theme, event type, and publication format.
• Research publication and DOI integration
  
  • One of the most technically demanding aspects of the project was integrating with Crossref’s API to allow seamless association of research papers with their Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs).
  • Our developers built a custom plugin for WordPress that automates DOI metadata retrieval and ensures published outputs are properly formatted and persistent—vital for academic citation and discoverability.
• Granular editorial control and multisite collaboration
  
  • As content would be maintained by contributors across multiple partner institutions, we developed a granular role and permissions system within WordPress. Editors are able to manage content by type and section, without exposing core site settings or unrelated materials.
• User-focused design for academic audiences
  
  • While the design is clean and modern, it is also deeply functional. Content discovery is enhanced with smart filters, keyword search, and contextual links between related events, papers, and researchers.
  • The design accommodates both deep exploration and quick access—ideal for time-pressed policymakers or academic users conducting in-depth research.

The new cemmap site provides a professional and highly functional digital presence that reflects the credibility of the centre’s research and the prestige of its academic partnerships. The site serves as a trusted and easily navigable resource for researchers, policymakers, and civil servants across the world.

This project demonstrates our ability to:

• Translate complex academic needs into a coherent, user-friendly interface
• Engineer custom WordPress plugins and API integrations (e.g., Crossref)
• Design and implement structured taxonomies and tagging frameworks for advanced filtering
• Support multi-organisation collaboration and non-technical editors
• Deliver robust, accessible, and research-friendly platforms on open-source technology