Crop Science Centre
Crop Science Centre is a research partnership between the University of Cambridge and the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB), dedicated to advancing sustainable agriculture through innovative crop science. The centre focuses on developing resilient, high-yielding crops using cutting-edge genetics and biotechnology to address global food security challenges. By collaborating with researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders, the Crop Science Centre aims to reduce agriculture’s environmental impact while improving productivity and sustainability for farmers worldwide.
The Crop Science Centre partnered with Supereight Studio to create a modern, flexible website that would effectively communicate their groundbreaking agricultural research while being easy to manage and update. Their previous digital presence lacked the scalability and usability needed to support a growing network of researchers, policymakers, and industry partners. Supereight was tasked with designing and developing a platform that could showcase research projects, publications, and collaborations in a dynamic and accessible way.
At the core of the solution was a fully custom WordPress setup, so we partnered with Blucube providing the Crop Science Centre team with a powerful but intuitive content management system. Supereight developed a tailored backend that allowed researchers and administrators to update content effortlessly, from news articles and project pages to team profiles and funding information. This modular approach meant that new pages and sections could be created without technical expertise, ensuring the site could evolve alongside the centre’s research initiatives.
To support the academic nature of the Crop Science Centre, Supereight integrated key research tools such as Google Scholar and ORCID, allowing the automatic display of published research linked to individual researchers. These integrations streamlined the process of keeping academic credentials up to date, providing an authoritative and accurate reflection of the centre’s contributions to global crop science.
Security and performance were also a top priority. Supereight set up a bespoke managed hosting environment, ensuring high-level security, regular updates, and optimised performance for global visitors. This included automated backups, robust firewalls, and monitoring tools to keep the site safe and running smoothly at all times. The result was a high-performing, secure, and easily maintainable website that positions the Crop Science Centre as a leader in sustainable agricultural innovation.
RESULTS
Since the launch of the new website, the Crop Science Centre has seen significant improvements in visibility, engagement, and operational efficiency. The streamlined WordPress CMS has empowered their team to easily manage and update content without technical assistance, ensuring that research projects, news, and academic publications remain current and accessible. This has reduced reliance on external support and improved the speed at which new information is published.
The integration of Google Scholar and ORCID has enhanced the visibility of the centre’s research output, making it easier for scientists, industry leaders, and policymakers to discover and reference their work. This has led to an increase in citations and collaboration opportunities, reinforcing the Crop Science Centre’s position as a leader in sustainable agriculture research.
On the technical side, the secure managed hosting environment has provided robust protection against cyber threats while ensuring high performance for visitors worldwide. The website now loads faster, experiences minimal downtime, and scales efficiently to accommodate growing traffic.
Overall, the project has transformed the Crop Science Centre’s digital presence into a dynamic, easy-to-maintain, and highly secure platform that effectively showcases their research and global impact.
Supereight Studio created a beautifully designed, user-friendly website that perfectly showcases our research and impact. Their expertise in UX design and WordPress development made content management seamless, allowing us to easily engage with scientists, policymakers, and industry partners. They truly understood our vision and delivered a platform that reflects the innovation and sustainability at the heart of our work.Christian Rogers, Head of Operations, Crop Science Centre
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