The Social Academic with Jennifer van Alstyne | Online Presence for Professors PhD Student Website That Shares Her Professional Journey with Hira Javed
Hira Javed is a PhD Candidate who created a personal academic website that shares her experience, skills, and thoughtful visual design. We talk about building her website, the 3 questions that introduce her research, and her thoughts for grad students thinking about creating their own space online. You deserve an online presence if it's something you want for yourself as an academic.
This is part of the series on featuring award winners from the Best Personal Academic Websites Contest 2025.
Visit Hira Javed's award-winning website https://hirajaved.com/
Here's what the judges had to say about the website https://theacademicdesigner.com/2025/winners-of-the-best-personal-academic-websites-contest-2025/#hira-javed
Entries for the 2026 Best Personal Academic Websites Contest will open tomorrow, June 11, 2026. We can't wait to celebrate your website too. Check out our past award winners https://theacademicdesigner.com/category/contest/
Hi there, I'm Jennifer van Alstyne (@HigherEdPR). This is The Social Academic, a podcast about online presence for faculty, researchers, and graduate students. I help academics like you feel confident when you show up online through my company, The Academic Designer LLC. You have agency in creating a stronger online presence for yourself.
The Social Academic Podcast https://TheSocialAcademic.com/podcast/
The Social Academic Blog https://TheSocialAcademic.com/blog/
Hira Javed is a PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto, Canada. Her research focuses on how civic service designers navigate the complex public sector landscape and develop relationships across multiple communities of practice. Her journey into design began not just as a creative pursuit, but as a method for understanding and reshaping complex social systems. This perspective has guided her design practice and academic research. In the past 15 years she has worked in a variety of design and strategy roles, helping organizations learn new ways of thinking and doing things to create human-centric experiences. She also developed the curriculum for a required undergraduate design course at the University of Waterloo, Canada and taught it for 6 years.
Visit her website https://HiraJaved.com/
Connect with Hira on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/hirajaved/
Let's build a strong digital footprint through your academic website, social media, and bio writing. Get done-for-you support at
https://TheAcademicDesigner.com
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Schedule your no pressure Zoom call with Jennifer to talk about working together on your online presence 🌟
https://higheredpr.as.me/meet-with-jennifer
Ways we can work together, view services https://TheAcademicDesigner.com/services/
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