About
Built by people who understand research
Academic Digital builds websites and digital platforms for research projects, networks, and consortia. We have been doing it for over fifteen years, for organisations with a lot to say, limited technical capacity, and a fixed budget.
Why we exist
Most of what we build exists to move knowledge out of institutions and into the hands of practitioners, policymakers, and community organisations who can act on it. Research websites usually outlive the grant that paid for them, so we plan for that from the first conversation – including what happens when the funding stops.
Who you'll work with
Academic Digital is led by Martin Muir. Martin has been building websites for research projects since 2010, while completing a PhD at the University of Dundee on climate change adaptation for freshwater conservation. He went on to work in the university's digital marketing team, and incorporated Academic Digital in 2014.
He then spent ten years at the marine conservation charity Blue Ventures, rising to Director of Digital and Communications, and now leads digital and design at Maliasili, an African conservation organisation.
So he has sat on every side of the table: as a researcher with a grant to report against, inside a university marketing team, and leading digital teams at international non-profits. He knows what a research website has to do, and that it has to keep working long after the project team has moved on.
You work with Martin directly, from the first conversation to launch and beyond.
Two practices, one team
Academic Digital works with universities and research teams. Conservation Digital, our sister non-profit, does the same for conservation organisations. The people are the same; each site shows the work most relevant to the organisations it serves.
- We understand the contentOur background is in academic research, conservation, and global health communication, not generic web work. We can read your outputs and tell you how they should be organised.
- We build things that lastResearch websites usually outlive the grant that paid for them. We plan for that from day one, including what happens when the funding stops.
- We are straight about costA fixed budget buys a fixed amount. We say plainly what it covers and what it does not, and there are no add-ons or upsells down the line.