Why the change?
Our website had its last major overhaul back in 2015. It was a fresh change at the time, and the website certainly served its purpose in terms of providing information and sharing news and member stories. However, a lot has changed in 10 years, particularly when it comes to technology and the internet, and people’s needs and expectations of a website have changed.
The platform our website was built on had become a little dated, which made it difficult for us to add necessary improvements or additions to the site.
Over the last few years, we have also received feedback from members that they sometimes found it difficult to find things on the website.
What’s new?
Key changes to the website:
- More stable and reliable
We have built the website on a more modern and stable platform. This ensures that we encounter fewer technical issues and makes it easier for staff to update and manage things, ensuring the most up-to-date information and features are available to users. - New menu structure & category system
Based on feedback from our members, staff team, and our developers, we have created a more streamlined menu structure for the website, which should create more logical ‘user journeys’ and help you to find what you are looking for quickly. We have also implemented a category system so that all website content is tagged with relevant topics and intended audiences, making it easier for users to search for and filter content, as well as find related content. - Accessibility features
Accessibility has been a key consideration throughout the website project. Equity, diversity and inclusion is very important to the BPS, and we believe in making our website equally available to all visitors. We have therefore made this site as usable and accessible as possible, following the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. A full list of features can be found in our website Accessibility Statement. - Updated look and feel
Taking into account accessibility requirements, as well as contemporary design practices, we have updated the way the website looks. This includes a refreshed colour scheme, new design assets, a new font, using more images (particularly of our members), and implementing subtle animations. We listened to opinions and requirements from across our membership and have created a website that we hope reflects the BPS and appeals to audiences from different backgrounds, generations, sectors and with different tastes. We plan to use this refreshed look to update the BPS’s brand over the coming months and years.
Please note that the My BPS portal is still the go-to place for managing your membership, event bookings, award applications and payments.
Collaboration
Developing the new website has been a team effort. The project has been led by Billy Nichols (the Society’s Digital Marketing & Communications Manager), but has had input from the whole staff team, from members (including the Society’s Council, Committees and Groups), and from several third-party contractors.
“In particular, we wanted to hear what members wanted from their new website and so we involved them throughout the development. This included inviting them to ‘discovery workshops’, presenting design options to committees and groups, and having members take part in testing and feedback sessions.” – Billy Nichols, Digital Marketing & Communications Manager
The BPS was pleased to work with Liquid Light, an award-winning web design and digital agency. They have over 25 years of experience in building digital solutions for non-profits and were able to advise how we could best achieve what our members wanted and provided the technological requirements to do so.
“It has been a hugely collaborative process. By bringing together members, staff and external expertise, we have built a website that I hope serves the needs of our members and the wider community. It’s also a website that is futureproof and can evolve and adapt as the Society grows and the world changes.
I want to thank everyone who has been involved in this project – especially to the members who joined our workshops and testing sessions, our supportive staff team, our Council, and our Website Intern, Joseph Tuma, who was vital in helping us get the project over the line.” – Billy Nichols, Digital Marketing & Communications Manager
What’s next?
Launching our new website isn’t the end of the project. We want to continue improving and developing the content and features. Some things to keep an eye out for in 2026:
- Updated Careers & Education section
Much of the content in our new Careers & Education section has been copied over from our previous website. We will work with members from various committees and groups to update and improve the information in this section over the next six months. - Ambassador map
Our Ambassadors play a vital role in representing and promoting the BPS in their institution, local area or country. To make it easy for current and prospective members to find their local BPS Ambassador, we plan to create an interactive map that highlights who our Ambassadors are and where they are based. - Global member map
The BPS has a global reach of around 5,000 members across 60 countries. We plan to highlight this on our website with an interactive heat map that uses anonymised data to show where our members are based around the world. - Profiles for committee and group members
We want to make it easier to find out who is representing your interests in our committees and groups. We plan to add individual member profiles to our Committees and Groups pages.
Your feedback & contributions
The new BPS website is primarily built for its members, and we want to hear from you. Here are some ways you can help:
Report bugs & issues
Whilst we have worked hard to ensure the new site functions as expected, there will always inevitably be some teething issues when launching anything new. If you do come across any issues or errors when using the new website, please report them to us via the Report a website issue form. We will do our best to fix them as soon as possible.
Share feedback
If you have more general feedback or ideas for things you would like to see added to the website in the future, you can fill out the New website feedback form.
Contribute to our content
We are always looking to publish blogs, articles and social media content from our members and the wider scientific community. If you are interested in creating content for us, you can pitch an idea.
In the meantime, we hope you enjoy your new BPS website!
