Children decorate a tree stump with small stones, moss and a yellow paper flower as part of a creative project.

Låna en forskare

Background and challenge

Låna en forskare is run by Vetenskap & Allmänhet. Researchers visit schools and other organisations, in person or online, mainly during ForskarFredag week in September. Through the Forskaren återvänder hem initiative, researchers visit the municipality where they grew up, with support from Familjen Kamprads stiftelse.

The brief was to build a new booking website that makes it easier for researchers and teachers to connect, with accounts, availability, bookings and messages all in one place.

Solution

Låna en forskare is the most technically complex of Vetenskap & Allmänhet’s four websites. As a web agency in Stockholm we built it within the same WordPress Multisite as the main website and ForskarFredag, but with its own theme and a bespoke backend for accounts and bookings.

Researchers and teachers create an account and log in using BankID or a one-time code. Researchers complete their profiles and publish their availability, specifying a date range, time slots and a maximum number of bookings. Teachers search for researchers by research area, municipality, date, meeting format and language, then send a booking request.

Once the researcher accepts, the booking and messaging become available in both accounts, with email notifications. Researchers’ contact details are only visible to administrators. We maintain and develop the service ahead of each new season.