A research institute website built for its members
We designed and built the website for the Nexus Institute of Research and Innovation (NIRI), a not-for-profit research institute in Nepal. It brings NIRI's people, publications, projects and reporting into one site the team updates itself.
- Research non-profit
- Website design and development
- WordPress and Elementor
The client
NIRI describes itself as an independent, not-for-profit-sharing institution, established in 2020, that promotes research and innovation across natural, applied and social sciences. Its work covers multidisciplinary research, training and mentorship, inputs to policymaking and turning research findings into products.
The institute is run by researchers and professionals, some of them based abroad, and has a sister organisation, NIRI USA, linked from the site's header.
What they needed
A research institute is judged on who its people are and what they publish. Judging by what the live site does, the site needed to show investigators by discipline with their credentials, keep a publication list that grows every year, and carry news, notices and calls for proposals.
It also had to work for people who want to get involved: prospective members, volunteers, donors and job applicants. And because NIRI is a not-for-profit, it needed a clear place for impact reports and audited financials.
What we built
A WordPress site with sections for the institute, its people, its output and the ways to support it. Everything below is live on nirinepal.org.
Institute and governance
Pages for what NIRI is, its board of directors, members, units, ethics committee, staff and collaborators, plus a disclaimer and FAQ.
Investigator profiles
Profiles split into social sciences and natural and applied sciences, each with role, affiliation, education, research interests and contact details.
Publications by year
A running publication list grouped by year, with authors, journal and DOI or source link for each paper.
News, notices and events
Blogs and articles, notices, newsletters, press releases, calls for research proposals and an events calendar with an iCal feed.
Membership and community
Routes to join the NIRI community, become a member or life member, and apply for jobs, with forms for sign-ups and enquiries.
Impact and financials
A page for annual impact reports, campaign reports and audit reports by fiscal year, plus a support page with donation details.
Stack
Detected from the live site's HTML and response headers.
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| CMS | WordPress |
| Page building | Elementor, with ElementsKit and Essential Addons widgets |
| Events | The Events Calendar, with an iCal feed |
| Forms | Contact Form 7 |
| Delivery | LiteSpeed web server and LiteSpeed Cache, behind Cloudflare |
| Analytics | Site Kit by Google |
How we worked
This is how we run website projects of this kind.
Agree the structure first
We start from the organisation's audiences and the content it already has, and agree a sitemap and page types before any design work.
Design the key templates
Home, a listing page and a detail page get designed and reviewed first. Everything else reuses those patterns.
Build on WordPress
Pages are built as reusable Elementor templates so the client's team can add news, people and reports without a developer.
Load content and test
We move content in, check forms, mobile layouts and page speed, and fix what the review turns up.
Launch and hand over
After go-live we walk the team through editing and keep supporting the site if they want us to.
What the client said
Collaborating with Dignep Group on the NIRINepal Research website was a truly rewarding experience. Their team listened carefully, understood our goals, and turned them into a clean, functional, and impactful digital presence. I deeply appreciate their professionalism, creativity, and genuine passion for meaningful innovation.
For another website we rebuilt, see the ShardaGroup case study.
Have a project like this?
Book a 30-minute discovery call. Tell us who your site has to serve and what your team needs to update, and we'll send a written proposal within two working days.
