Why we built this
Professors and researchers are some of the most connected people in the world by reputation, and some of the hardest to actually find and collaborate with in practice. A brilliant researcher's most visible online presence is often a department page nobody updates, while the collaborator who could complement their work perfectly sits one search away, undiscovered.
Know Your Faculty is a free, global collaboration platform that matches professors and researchers by real research fit — shared interests, complementary expertise, and what each person is actually looking for — instead of job titles or mutual connections. Every profile is verified through institutional email and ORCID publication data, and a live Collab Score shows how closely two academics' research actually overlaps.
Vivek Semwal
Vivek is a digital marketing strategist with 10+ years of experience across higher education, e-commerce, and startups. He currently works as Digital Marketing Manager at Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH), where day-to-day work with faculty, stakeholder engagement, and institutional reputation made the gap in academic collaboration tools impossible to ignore.
His background spans founding and scaling an early-stage e-commerce brand, leading performance marketing and stakeholder communication across sectors, and applying data-driven, full-funnel thinking to institutional growth. He built Know Your Faculty applying that same approach to a problem he saw firsthand: professors deserve better tools than a static department page.
Connect on LinkedInThe path here
- 10+ yearsA decade in digital marketing and brand strategy across higher education, e-commerce, and startups — performance marketing, SEO, and analytics.
- FounderCo-founded and directed an early-stage e-commerce brand, gaining hands-on experience with full-funnel growth and bootstrapping.
- LeadershipLed performance marketing and stakeholder communication programs across sectors, including higher education.
- 2024–PresentDigital Marketing Manager at BIMTECH, and founder of Know Your Faculty — built to solve the academic discovery problem seen up close every day.
What we believe
Collaboration should be matched on shared research interests and complementary expertise — not LinkedIn-style connections or institutional prestige.
Every profile is backed by institutional email and ORCID data, so what you see is a researcher's real, verified academic record.
Core matching, messaging, and the Opportunities Board are free for every professor, worldwide — with optional paid features for those who want to move faster.
Not a general professional network with an academic skin — every feature is designed around how research collaboration actually happens.
Find your next collaborator
Free to join. Verified profiles, real research-fit matching, worldwide.
Explore Know Your Faculty →