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Profiles is the new public layer which has been added to RPS. Follow the steps on this page to get started.
UCL Profiles is UCL's new public profiles system. UCL staff and doctoral students populate their public profile by entering information in RPS (e.g. photo, contact details, biography). Changes made in RPS show in Profiles within a few minutes. This page is designed to help new Profiles users create an engaging basic profile in a few quick steps. Watch the video and follow the tips below to help you get started.
View this video in UCL Mediacentral. A transcript of the video is also available.
RPS ‘Edit Profile’ page
The RPS 'Edit Profile' page populates your UCL Profiles 'About' section, and the text summaries at the top of your Research and Teaching pages. Most of the data on this page can be manually edited. Some data has been migrated from IRIS, UCL’s previous public profiles system, and some fields are fed from HR systems. See the Profiles FAQ for information on how data has been migrated from IRIS. For a full list of where the fields in Profiles come from, and what data can be edited, see the table in our summary of data fields in RPS Edit Profile.
Viewing your public profile
Choose 'View my public profile' from the RPS homepage, or click on 'View Profile' while in Edit mode. To access or return to RPS from your public profile, use the 'edit your profile' link at the bottom left of any page in Profiles.
Key things to do in RPS
Log in to RPS and click ‘edit my profile’ link on your RPS Homepage, then work through the steps below. It is best practice to add or update as many fields as possible on the 'Edit Profile' page, but the actions below are recommended as a minimum. Any fields/pages which you do not populate are automatically hidden on your public profile.
- Activating your public profile
All UCL staff and research postgraduates have an RPS account. If you have recently joined UCL, you will need to activate your public profile in RPS: find the privacy setting at the top of the 'Edit Profile' page, and change it from 'internal' to 'public'. Your public profile will be active after a few minutes from making this change. If you were at UCL when Profiles launched in September 2023, your profile was set either to 'internal' (hidden to the public) or 'public', depending on your staff/PGR category. See our FAQ 'Who can have a UCL public profile?'. Activate your profile using the instructions above.
- Add a profile photo
Profiles with photos receive more views than those without. Adding a recent (i.e. within the past few years), recognisable photo of yourself is highly recommended. Choose 'Upload a photo' or 'Manage photo' at the top of the page, to replace or remove an image. Please be aware that any photos previously added to RPS will now be displayed to the public.
Generally, photos with clean backgrounds and soft natural lighting work well. Try to avoid low resolution, blurry images - you can use files up to a maximum size of 6MB. Your face should take about 60% of the image space: after selecting an image, you will be able to select a square area and crop it. You should be the only person in the photo.- Add your overview / bio
The Overview section in RPS populates your ‘Bio’ in Profiles (on your About page). This is likely to be the first thing people will read. The first few lines are included in search results, so visitors to Profiles are likely to decide to click through to your profile based on your opening statement. We recommend being concise and selective in this section, bearing in mind that other pages in your profile will highlight your activities (publishing, roles, taught modules etc.). You may want to consider your target external audience when deciding on your writing style. Your entry is indexed for free text and keyword searches, so consider including keywords associated with your area of expertise. We recommend writing this section in the third person.
In the About section of your 'Edit Profile' page in RPS, click on ‘Add’ (if this section is empty) or ‘Edit’, underneath and to the right of the Overview box. Add, or check and update if your biography has been imported from IRIS.
- Add your research and teaching summaries
The Research and Teaching interests sections in RPS populate the summaries at the top of the Research and Teaching pages in Profiles. The text you enter here is used in the system search, so consider including key terminology associated with your area of expertise. We recommend writing this section in the third person.
Research and Teaching interests are found underneath 'Overview', in the About section of your 'Edit Profile' page in RPS. Click on ‘Add’ or ‘Edit’. Add, or check and update if imported from IRIS.
- Set your availability
Use the optional labels to indicate your availability for activities such as supervision, media enquiries, outreach, consultancy etc. Visitors to Profiles can filter search results by these availability labels, so this is useful tool for making connections.
Click 'Add labels' or 'Manage labels' next to Availability. You will see a 'Search for a label name' box. Clicking in this box will list the options available for selection. After choosing or removing labels, click 'Add' and 'Save changes'.
- Review/add your fields of research (academic discipline) labels
UCL is launching Profiles with a modified version of the Fields of Research 2020 classification scheme, developed by the Australian and New Zealand funding bodies but with widespread applicability.
Disciplinary labels are displayed in search results in Profiles, and at the bottom of your public profile. Visitors to Profiles can filter search results by these labels. Where possible, broad disciplinary labels from this scheme have been assigned to you on the basis of your publications. In addition, around 1,500 granular labels are available to select in RPS. We recommend that you review the labels assigned to you, and adjust and add to them as appropriate. The original scheme is available, and the UCL version used in Profiles can be viewed.
Click 'Manage labels' or 'Add labels' next to Fields of Research 2020. Start typing keywords, beginning with broad subject terms and narrowing as appropriate. Labels will be suggested while you type. After choosing or removing labels, click 'Add' and 'Save changes'.
- Add webpage and social media links
Add links that will appear in the left hand tile of your public profile. Scroll down to near the bottom of the RPS 'Edit Profile' page. Click 'Add a web address' in the Addresses section. Choose 'type' (e.g. LinkedIn) and provide the URL. 'Label' is optional, but recommended if not selecting a type.
- Add professional activities (Profiles Expertise and Experience page)
The Expertise and Experience page in Profiles lists professional achievements and activities migrated from IRIS as well as new activities added directly in RPS. It is not necessary to add all of your roles and activities, just the ones that you want to highlight. The easiest way to add a professional activity is from your RPS Homepage (Professional Activities > + Add New). You can also navigate to your list of Professional Activities from the 'Edit Profile' page (Professional Activities > Manage professional activities), where you can filter, view and edit existing activities, and add new ones using the + button. There are 14 broad types of activity to select from.
Most activities include a drop-down menu giving you the option to select a sub-type (e.g. 'Conference/event activity' includes 'Conference organisation', 'Invited speaker' etc.). This sub-type will not display in Profiles. The other Essential Information fields will all appear in Profiles if you populate them. Fields marked with a red asterisk are mandatory.
Please note that organisation/institution fields can be confusing to populate at first. Follow the help text in RPS, or see our FAQ entry 'How do I add an Organisation/Institution to a professional or teaching activity?'.
- Add a teaching activity
The Teaching page in UCL Profiles lists modules, programmes and short courses added in RPS. It is not necessary to add all your teaching, just what you want to highlight. Student support, committee work and other teaching-related roles and activities should be added as professional activities.
The easiest way to add a teaching activity is from your RPS Homepage (Teaching activities > + Add New). You can also navigate to your list of Teaching Activities from the 'Edit Profile' page (Teaching Activities > Manage teaching activities), where you can filter, view and edit existing activities, and add new ones using the + button.There are 4 types of activity to select from: Module led, Module taught, Programme led and Short course taught. The Essential Information fields will all appear in Profiles if you populate them. Fields marked with a red asterisk are mandatory.
Please note that organisation/institution fields can be confusing to populate at first. Follow the help text in RPS, or see our FAQ entry 'How do I add an Organisation/Institution to a professional or teaching activity?'.
- Manage your publications
RPS finds publications and either offers them for you to review and claim (or reject), or automatically claims them for you based on your identifiers (e.g. your ORCID). The Publications page in UCL Profiles displays works that you have claimed in RPS, except any that you have opted to make private. Guides are available to help you manage your publications in RPS, including claiming publications and uploading files, configuring ORCID, and adjusting how the system searches for your name to return publications.