Currently The Coral Reef Research Hub is building a community outside from Facebook dedicated to promoting coral reef careers and networking. This currently takes the form of a social media style networking platform that allows you to complete a detailed profile about yourself and search for other members who have similar interests, or just find members who have skills or experience that you might want to learn more about. Our direct messaging service makes this easy and private.

Why are we building this community outside of Facebook?

Facebook functionality is not built to allow easy networking, it is filled with paid promotions, and not popular with many of those joining or already part of the coral reef research field. It also uses algorithms that choose what content you see, and due to this posts seemingly disappear as soon as you’ve seen them. Ever tried looking for a post you saw yesterday because you want to show a friend? It can be a very frustrating process!

Our community site improves on networking with detailed and searchable profile fields, has zero advertising and does not use algorithms to decide what posts you see. Posts display in the order they were posted, and do not change order based on posted comments or popularity. They are always right were you last saw them!

What else do we currently offer?

Aside from networking we also provide a number of other premium services designed to try and help you in your career journey. Coming out of University and wanting to get into this highly competitive field, or already being in it and wanting to develop your career, is not easy. To try and help with this we provide up-to-date career opportunity postings, mentorships, knowledge sharing masterclasses, small research grants, publication hosting and more. These services are going to be expanded on and added to over time, with 2024 an exciting year for us with what we have planned.

What future services will be offered?

As we develop and grow we are currently looking to attract coral reef employers to our site, who will use our platform to find potential employees or contract personnel. As an employer they will have access to enhanced profile search features and will be able to get in touch with you directly via our messaging service if they feel you would be a valuable asset to them. Over the coming years we hope to become the go-to place for coral reef researchers to be head-hunted!

Is it free to join?

Yes, we have a free membership tier that gives you access to the community networking pages of our site. From here you can search for and message other members as you need. We also have paid membership levels that provide access to premium content mentioned above. See below for a breakdown of what is included with the different membership tiers.