A Research Canvas for Exploring How Ideas Intersect
A different way to explore research
Vennis is a visual research tool that helps students and researchers explore how concepts intersect across the literature. Instead of returning a single ranked list of results, Vennis maps knowledge into conceptual intersections — revealing connections, evidence clusters, and potential research gaps.
The vennis model
Vennis evaluates three research concepts simultaneously and organises results into a seven-segment Venn diagram. Each segment represents a different relationship between ideas, allowing researchers to explore how topics connect across the literature.
how it works
• Enter three research concepts
• Run the search
• Explore the conceptual intersections
• Investigate the literature within each segment
what you will see
• how results distribute across conceptual intersections
• where ideas strongly overlap
• where interdisciplinary connections emerge
• where potential gaps in the literature may exist
Example
A researcher might begin with three concepts:
Climate Change
Extreme Rainfall
Drainage Infrastructure
Vennis reveals how research connects these ideas across the literature, helping to clarify the structure of the topic.
Seeing the research journey
Research is not only about what is found, but how it is found.
Vennis captures the steps taken during a research session and presents them as a visual Session Map, showing how concepts evolve and how the investigation develops
designed for universities
Vennis supports:
• research methods teaching
• literature exploration
• dissertation topic development
• interdisciplinary research
By making conceptual relationships visible, Vennis helps students develop more structured and defensible approaches to research..
why this might be relevent
Vennis may be particularly useful for those involved in:
• teaching research methods
• supporting literature search skills
• supervising student research
• exploring interdisciplinary topics
It provides a structured way to explore how ideas connect across the literature.
exploring potential use
We are currently working with a small number of academic collaborators to explore how Vennis might support research methods teaching and literature exploration.
If this is of interest, we would be very happy to:
• give a short walkthrough of the platform
• explore potential use in your teaching or research
• gather feedback to help shape development