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Need help searching the Expertise Directory?

Basic searches

To perform a basic search simply enter at least one keyword and click the "search" button. If you know the name of a contact you are looking for try entering their surname.

If you enter more than one search term, it will automatically search for the phrase. The search engine will only return results that term or phrase you entered, so if your search isn't returning any results try using fewer terms or using an "OR" search (see below).

Advanced searches

You can increase the accuracy of your searches by using additional advanced search operators. These operators can be entered in the keywords search box at the top of the screen.

  • Wildcard searches
    You can search for all words or phrases with the same stem by using the asterisk (*) as a wildcard. (e.g. biolog* would find: biology, biological science, biological sciences etc).
  • Excluding words with "-"
    Sometimes you may need to exclude words from your search that aren't appropriate to your interests. You can exclude a word from your search by putting a minus sign ("-") immediately in front of the word you want to avoid. Ensure that you inlude a space before the minus sign. (e.g. physics -astronomy would find all physics related expertise that isn't related to astronomy)
  • Phrase searching
    You can search for phrases by enclosing multiple words in quotation marks. Only search results including the exact phrase (e.g. "risk management") will be shown.
  • "OR" searches
    The Expertise Directory search engine supports the logical "OR" operator. To retrieve results that include either one word OR another, use an "or" between terms. (e.g. physics OR chemistry would return all results containing the terms physics or chemistry)