Build Your Own Professional Academic Site
Build Your Own Professional Academic Site
Ditch The Boring Bio: Build Your Own Professional Academic Site
This hands-on workshop helps lecturers and academics move beyond the standard bio and build their own professional, corporate-style personal portfolio site which one that reflects the full scope of academic work: teaching, research, consultancy, grants, and speaking engagements.
In just 3 hours, using Canva, participants will design and launch a live, ready-to-share academic portfolio site with no coding or design experience required.
📅 Date: Saturday, 18th July 2026
⏰ Time: 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
📍 Venue: Ibn Taymiyyah Conference Room, Level 3, Kulliyyah of Economics and Management Sciences (KENMS), IIUM
🍽️ Breakfast, refreshments, and lunch will be provided
Workshop Objectives
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
1. Define their academic brand to understand how to present their full professional identity (teaching, research, consultancy, grants, and speaking) beyond a standard bio.
2. Apply professional design principles to create a clean, corporate-style layout that looks polished and credible.
3. Build and launch a live portfolio site using Canva, walk away with a ready-to-share personal academic website.
Trainer
Dr. Mohamed Syazwan Ab Talib
Senior Assistant Professor, School of Business & Economics (UBDSBE), Universiti Brunei Darussalam
A trainer who practices what he teaches — Dr. Syazwan's own professional portfolio site (syazwan-talib.my.canva.site) is a testament to how academics can build a powerful, polished digital presence. He is the right guide to help fellow academics move beyond the boring bio and take charge of their digital identity.
Supported By
Entrepreneurship Development Centre, IIUM
Prowell Consultant Sdn Bhd
Programme Tentative
|
Time |
Session |
Focus |
|
9:00 am – 9:15 am |
Welcome and Workshop Briefing |
Introduction, objectives, expected outputs, participant readiness |
|
9:15 am – 10:00 am |
Session 1: Academic Personal Branding and Digital Presence |
Understanding academic identity, visibility, credibility, and portfolio positioning |
|
10:00 am – 10:40 am |
Session 2: Design Principles for Academic Profiles |
Layout, visual hierarchy, colour, typography, spacing, consistency, readability, and brand board development |
|
10:40 am – 10:50 am |
Morning Break |
Refreshment |
|
10:50 am – 11:55 am |
Session 3: Building the Canva Academic Portfolio |
Hands-on development of a Canva website prototype or mini landing page |
|
11:55 am – 12:00 pm |
Wrap-Up & Next Steps |
Recap, Q&A, resources for continuing site development |
|
12:00 pm |
Lunch |
Lunch and informal networking |