Researcher Manager
Overview
In summer 2026, Researcher Manager will launch, providing a new modern platform with better security and a better user experience for managing the researchers within a project.
Unlike other recent software releases that were direct replacements of individual components of the Project Leader suite (e.g., Protocol Manager and Sampling Unit Manager), Researcher Manager effectively combines four previous modules into one application. This page serves as both change documentation and also a basic User Guide.
Researcher Manager is grouped into three modules:
Manage Researcher by Project - a tool for viewing and managing researchers by project
Manage Individual Researcher - a tool for viewing researchers' system-wide profile and adding researchers to new projects.
Add Unregistered Researcher - a tool for adding unregistered researchers.
This table shows the crosswalk for the legacy Project Leaders applications and the corresponding new module in Researcher Manager.
Project Leader application | Researcher Manager module(s) |
|---|---|
Researcher Access | Manage Researcher by Project, Manage Individual Researcher |
Edit Researcher | N/A; please contact Point Blue for assistance to update an individual researcher’s profile (e.g., email address changed) |
Add Researcher | Add Unregistered Researcher |
Check User Status | Manage Individual Researcher |
Common workflows
I want to: | Module to use: |
|---|---|
Inactivate a researcher in my project | Manage Researcher by Project |
View which of my projects a researcher is in | Manage Individual Researcher |
Add an unregistered user to my project | Add Unregistered Researcher |
Promote a registered user to project leader | Manage Researcher by Project |
See if a researcher has access to any of my projects | Manage Individual Researcher |
Add a researcher to another one of my projects | Manage Individual Researcher |
See who the project leaders are in one of my projects | Manage Researcher by Project |
Add a researcher not currently in one of my projects to a project | Not available - please direct the researcher to the Request Project Access Form. |
New features
Workflows have been streamlined into one page, minimizing clicks needed to complete a task and eliminating the need to select a project each time a user navigates to a different function.
Improved usability of tables, especially those with a lot of data, such as collapsing of long project lists, static header rows, and pagination on the individual researcher table to prevent long load times.
Smoother transition between projects.
Inclusion of researcher initials in table views and on the form to add Unregister Researchers.
Deprecated features
Researcher lists cannot be downloaded as HTML, DOC, or PDF files (CSV is still available)
Project Leaders can no longer generate a Print view of the researcher list
Project Leaders can no longer search the entire AKN user list for a researcher to add to their project. This change was made to limit exposure of user’s personal information.
Changed features
Streamlined workflows with less overlap of information
Researcher management functions have been consolidated into one application, grouped into three modules: Manage Researchers by Project, Manage Individual Researchers, and Add Unregistered Researcher
Researcher roles are explicitly shown (see note below).
Project Leaders can no longer see all Researchers in the AKN. To give project access to a researcher currently in project for which you are not a Project Leader, the researcher will need to use the Request Project access form.
The old links will be deprecated. Please update any links you have to the new link: https://data.pointblue.org/science/projectmanager/researcher_manager
https://data.pointblue.org/apps/projectleaders/index.php?page=check-user-status
https://data.pointblue.org/apps/projectleaders/index.php?page=project-access
https://data.pointblue.org/apps/projectleaders/index.php?page=add-researcher-simple
https://data.pointblue.org/apps/projectleaders/index.php?page=list-researchers
Note regarding Researcher roles
Currently, the AKN has three user roles that are not clearly conveyed in Project Leader: Biologist, Project Leader, and a simple researcher without a login account. All of these are considered “Researchers,” but have varying levels of permissions to use system tools. Biologists and Project Leaders can login to system tools at varying levels and interact with data, while simple researchers cannot login (and likely are unaware of the AKN at all), but can be associated with data as the recorded observer by a Biologist or Project Leader entering data. The Researcher Access page shows if someone has Project Leader permissions, but does not distinguish between the Biologist role and the simple researcher role. Project leaders currently have no clear way to identify who within their project has an AKN login and who does not.
In Researcher Manager, these three researcher roles within projects have been made more descriptive to indicate both their level of permission and their access to AKN tools. Researchers will now be referred to in short form as Unregistered Researcher (short form is Unregistered for display), Users (formerly referred to informally as Biologist), or Project Leaders. This change to explicitly show the role allows for the easier integration of new roles in the future.