Case study

How CERN unites alumni for continued innovation with Hivebrite

The scientific organization partnered with Hivebrite to unlock the immense value of its diverse alumni community.

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“Hivebrite has been instrumental in building and nurturing our CERN Alumni Community. Its flexibility and robust features allow us to connect our alumni globally, ensuring they remain engaged and connected to CERN’s mission.”

Rachel Bray
Head of CERN Alumni Relations, CERN

10,000

Number of active members signed up in 7 years

75%

Total account activation rate of members

85%

Average engagement rate of activated members

About CERN

CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) is the world’s leading particle physics laboratory. Uniting scientists from over 120 countries, CERN is where cutting-edge research and groundbreaking discoveries take shape, powered by advanced facilities like the iconic Large Hadron Collider.

Mission

In 2017, CERN embarked on a mission to create a thriving alumni community with four core objectives:

  • Foster meaningful connections between alumni and CERN.
  • Cultivate a network of ambassadors to champion CERN’s future projects
  • Showcase the profound societal impact of the CERN experience.
  • Support early-career professionals transitioning from academia to industry.
Visit the community

The CERN Alumni Network provides those who have left the Laboratory with a means of keeping in touch with CERN and with each other.

CERN has been using Hivebrite since 2017. The team chose Hivebrite as their solution to bring former and current members of the CERN community together. CERN offers managed spaces for collaboration and sharing. Our platform enables them to stay connected to the Organization, share their professional experience with other alumni, and advocate for CERN’s mission and fundamental research

The community challenge

Before 2017, CERN did not have a formal system in place to maintain meaningful engagement with its growing network of alumni. Despite having thousands of former scientists, engineers, and staff members spread across the globe, there was no centralized platform to keep them connected or to tap into their collective knowledge and influence. This gap limited CERN’s ability to foster ongoing relationships, encourage collaboration, or highlight the achievements of its alumni community, many of whom continued to make significant contributions to science, technology, and education worldwide.

Recognizing the immense value of this network, CERN launched an initiative to build a structured alumni community. The organization began searching for a robust community management platform that could support its unique needs: a global, multilingual user base with high expectations for data privacy, technical precision, and user experience. The platform had to enable peer-to-peer interactions, support content sharing and event coordination, and remain compliant with CERN’s stringent legal and IT standards. This effort marked a pivotal step in CERN’s strategy to create a lasting, engaged alumni network that reflects the organization’s spirit of collaboration and innovation.

Hivebrite’s full-stack community platform enabled CERN to:

Facilitate organic connections

Foster independent sub-communities to enable connections while maintaining institutional governance

Create a repository of knowledge

Build a centralized knowledge hub that leverages member expertise

Nurture career development

Support member career advancement through mentoring programs, job opportunities and networking tools

Encourage collaboration and innovation

Facilitate partnerships and networks to drive industry advancement and promote innovation

Promote advocacy efforts

Empower members to amplify their impact, collaborate, advocate, and drive engagement

Gather data and insights

Monitor user behavior, engagement metrics, and content performance to measure the impact of initiatives

The Hivebrite solution

After a comprehensive evaluation of options, CERN chose Hivebrite in 2017 as their trusted community management platform. Hivebrite not only met CERN’s technical requirements, including stringent data privacy and seamless integration capabilities, but it also aligned perfectly with CERN’s vision.

Hivebrite offers a suite of features tailored to CERN’s goals, such as an interactive directory complete with a member location map and direct messaging to foster peer-to-peer connections. The platform is a hub of opportunity, offering job postings, mentoring, member spotlights, and inspirational content to support the professional growth of its members.

Hivebrite’s powerful analytics system empowers CERN’s admin team to track key performance indicators and swiftly create reporting dashboards for stakeholders, ensuring transparency and progress.

Thanks to Hivebrite’s flexibility, CERN could customize user fields, menus, and features to suit their unique needs. They are implementing a gamification strategy with badges and crafted personalized onboarding journeys, significantly boosting user engagement and retention.

Key features designed for alumni networks

Groups and sub-communities

Create targeted engagement through private, public, or invisible sub-communities that empower group leaders to manage their own branded spaces with distinct permissions and communications for specific interests, locations, or specialties

Jobs and opportunities

Create a versatile opportunities board that enables sharing of jobs, internships, and volunteer positions while integrating external sources and leveraging community engagement through customizable workflows, notifications, and peer-sharing capabilities.

Events and ticketing

Create engaging online and in-person events through an integrated management system that enables RSVP tracking, paid ticketing, QR code functionality, and virtual delivery options while leveraging community features to enhance attendee experience before, during, and after each event.

The outcome

With Hivebrite, CERN has built a centralized platform that fulfills all its alumni needs.

  • The community has achieved remarkable milestones, including:

  • Growing from 0 to 10,000 members in just seven years.

  • Activating 75% of accounts.

  • Engaging over 85% of the community with weekly digests.

  • Involving more than 500 alumni ambassadors as speakers, interviewees, and event volunteers.

“With Hivebrite, we’ve created a dynamic platform that not only supports our organizational goals but also fosters meaningful relationships among our members. The support and receptiveness of the Hivebrite team to our needs have been exceptional, making them an invaluable partner in our community-building journey..”

Rachel Bray
Head of CERN Alumni Relations, CERN