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Where Knowledge Connects
AcademicFellows is a centralised research infrastructure built by researchers, for researchers, connecting people through institutional identity. It is powered by a structured knowledge graph of research interests, expertise, skills, tools, methods, publications, funding and affiliations, forming a unified collaboration framework across institutions. Whether you are a senior scientist, research manager or early career researcher whose work deserves wider reach, the ability to find the right collaborator has never truly existed at scale. Open and free for any researcher to join and explore.
Research shapes the future of our society. It creates knowledge that transforms industries, informs policy and opens possibilities we cannot yet imagine. Every piece of research carries value. The question is whether that value reaches the people and problems it could serve.
Institutions work hard to solve this internally, but this is not a problem any single institution can fix. It requires infrastructure that connects across them. There is no system that bridges organisational boundaries and allows knowledge to flow naturally towards meaningful collaboration. Research publishes success, yet the failures and dead ends that could save others months of work remain invisible. The next researcher encounters the same obstacle not because the solution does not exist, but because there is no way to find it.
We experienced this first-hand during our PhD and postdoctoral journeys at leading New Zealand universities. We watched colleagues spend months on problems that could have been solved in days if they had found the right person or equipment at the right time. The expertise was there. The infrastructure to connect it was not.
Across institutions, exceptional researchers are doing world-class work, yet their expertise remains scattered across departmental pages, personal websites and disconnected databases. Networking events bring people into the same room, but there is no lasting system to understand who was there, what they do and how to follow up meaningfully.
That infrastructure did not exist. We built it.
AcademicFellows maps researchers across more than one hundred dimensions, including expertise, methods, tools, publications, skills and research focus. It enables you to find precisely who you need, not just who you already know. Your work becomes visible beyond immediate circles. Your collaborations extend across departments and organisations. Your networks do not disappear after a single event.
The person working on your exact problem can find you in minutes rather than months. The collaboration that should happen, happens. Knowledge flows across boundaries instead of remaining trapped within silos.
This is infrastructure built for how research actually works, through connection, knowledge transfer and accumulated learning. We are creating the system that allows expertise to reach the problems it can solve, so research delivers the meaningful impact it was always meant to achieve.
AcademicFellows was founded by researchers who experienced these challenges firsthand and decided to build the infrastructure the community needed.
Algorithm Engineer and Technical Founder
Building the infrastructure that every researcher needs to connect, collaborate and create a meaningful impact.
Our Values
Begin with the researcher
We ground our work in the intent, constraints, and rigor of research, and build in response to that reality.
Integrity in practice
Accuracy, evidence, and transparency are fundamental. We ground our work in the scientific method and build trust through careful representation.
Connected by design
Research does not happen in isolation. We strengthen visibility, collaboration, and knowledge flow across Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond.
Human at the centre
Behind every output are people. We act with respect, fairness, and responsibility in how knowledge is created and shared.
We are assembling a small team of builders who believe research deserves better infrastructure. If you are a researcher frustrated by current systems, an engineer who wants their work to advance discovery, or someone committed to improving how knowledge is created and shared, we would like to hear from you.
Get in TouchOr reach us directly at Contact@academicfellows.com
