The Francis Crick Institute, fondly named ‘The Crick’ by alumni and members, is a biomedical research centre in London, formed as a partnership between Cancer Research UK, Imperial College London, King's College London (KCL), the Medical Research Council, University College London (UCL) and the Wellcome Trust. It is the biggest single biomedical laboratory in Europe, with over 1,250 scientists. 

CrickConnect launched in 2018, and serves as the Crick’s online community for staff, alumni and students, supporting networking, collaboration and career development across the Crick community.  

“We launched our first alumni network with ToucanTech and have found the system so easy to use, with phenomenal support from their expert data and training team”

George Pyrgos, Alumni Network Engagement Manager, Francis Crick Institute

Careers are a big focus of the CrickConnect community team, with bi-annual round ups of opportunities and regular careers events to help steer alumni in the right direction. They made a smooth transition to virtual events by using the ToucanTech platform to continue to organise each step of the events process, leading to an engaging and interactive series of events. 

Crick Career Paths

Inspiring staff and alumni that are new into the Crick community, and those who may be looking to move out of the Crick and into their own labs, the Crick career path series gives alumni a chance to share their story in their own words. As a result, alumni hear from peers living and working around the world, in many different professions, on their challenges and how their time at the Crick helped them move forward. 

Working to translate research into treatments

A team of experts at the Crick Institute, connected online through their ToucanTech platform, are working tirelessly with researchers and partners to enable Crick science to be converted into potential benefits to patients. Their online group gives a space for members to connect with other experts, post new updates to share with the group and set up events to collaborate or share insight. 

Sharing knowledge through resources and mentoring

The Crick has a strong spirit of teamwork and collaboration, and through this they have set up a successful, long-running mentoring scheme to facilitate knowledge sharing. Advanced filters help mentees to find a good match for their interests, as they can narrow by field, expertise needed or country. They also bring insight to their local community, by promoting initiatives to inspire the next generation of scientists on their community site. 

“Our community engagement team at the Crick focuses on making sure that residents of the area immediately surrounding the Crick benefit from having the institute on their doorstep. Local employment schemes and our partnership with the community-led Living Centre are just two of the ways that we work with our neighbours.”

ToucanTech customers are creating strong community connections all over the world. Discuss ways to make your community more engaged with an experienced ToucanTech engagement evangelist; organise a time to talk to the team here.

You’ll find more fundraising, alumni and community management success stories here.