The Find an Expert (FaE) Resource

The Find an Expert (FaE) resource provides a comprehensive collection of data describing academic expertise and real-world search interactions at the University of Melbourne. It comprises the following components:Profile DataA set of 8,984 academic profiles containing rich contextual information, including:Biographical descriptionsResearch interestsAcademic positions and appointmentsAuthored publicationsExternally funded research projectsEach profile is represented as a structured JSON record with multiple nested fields (see schema section below).The collection captures 474,576 unique publications and 25,064 unique projects, providing extensive coverage of scholarly activity.Profile-level statisticsPublications per profile: min = 0 | median = 33 | mean = 80 | max = 2,250Projects per profile: min = 0 | median = 1 | mean = 4 | max = 188Profile size (kB): min = 2 | median = 77 | mean = 199 | max = 5,573Field-level characteristics (in characters)preferred_name: min = 4 | median = 13 | mean = 13.4 | max = 46title: min = 2 | median = 2 | mean = 3.0 | max = 8bio: min = 18 | median = 1,233 | mean = 1,396 | max = 3,998primary_interest: min = 1 | median = 23 | mean = 30.6 | max = 225publication_title: min = 1 | median = 95 | mean = 98.3 | max = 1,384project_name: min = 1 | median = 31 | mean = 40.3 | max = 255Availability indicatorssupervisor_avail: 31.9%industry_avail: 7.0%media_avail: 6.8%ext_news_source_agree: 1.9%These statistics illustrate the diversity and completeness of the profiles, with substantial variation in text field richness and engagement attributes.Interaction LogsA 239-day log dataset (January–September 2025) comprising 712,937 interaction records from 89,582 users.The logs capture search queries, result clicks, and temporal sequences of actions, enabling the analysis of authentic expert-seeking behaviour at scale.Search Results (SERPs)A collection of 530 fifty-item search result pages (SERPs) corresponding to queries that resulted in at least one profile click.Each SERP includes ranked profile identifiers and click metadata, allowing fine-grained analysis of ranking positions and user engagement.FaE Profile SchemaEach profile record contains the following key categories of fields:Identifiers: id, fae_profile_url, orc_idPersonal and professional details: title, first_name, last_name, preferred_namePositions: primary_fac_position (faculty, school, department, role)Research interests: primary_interest, bioSupervision and industry engagement: supervisor_avail, supervision_statement, industry_avail, industry_statementAcademic outputs: authorship_objects, editorship_objects, translatorship_objectsProjects: project_objects (project ID, funding type, scheme, sponsor, value, start/end dates, description)Keywords: user_keywords, wordcloud_keywords, publication_keywordsMetadata: last_updatedData AvailabilityThe FaE resource will become available upon publication of the corresponding paper. Access will require a signed license agreement, after which the full dataset will be shared upon request via direct contact with the authors.Public SampleTo facilitate reproducibility, we provide a sample package containing:A small subset of the interaction log—approximately ten sessions that include user interactions and click-throughs to one of two sample profiles.The corresponding two example profiles.All 530 search result pages (SERPs) in their original HTML format, each corresponding to a query that resulted in a profile click.This sample provides a transparent view of how user interactions, retrieved profiles, and query data are structured within the full FaE resource. It is designed to help researchers replicate key analyses and understand the data organization without requiring access to the full dataset.CitationTo cite this resource, please reference the forthcoming paper describing the dataset.A BibTeX entry will be provided upon publication.Users of this dataset are expected to acknowledge and cite the paper in any derived work.