Getting started with your public profile

Profiles is UCL's public profiles system. This page is designed to help new Profiles users create an engaging profile in a few quick steps.

Profiles is the public layer of RPS. Follow the steps on this page to activate your profile and populate key fields.

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View this video in UCL Mediacentral. A transcript of the video is also available. 

Activate your public profile

• UCL staff and doctoral students populate their public profile by entering information in RPS (e.g. photo, contact details, biography), on the RPS 'Edit Profile' page. See this summary of how the fields on this page are populated.
• Activate your public profile by changing the privacy setting at the top right of the RPS 'Edit Profile' page from 'internal' to 'public'. 
• Changes made in RPS show in Profiles within a few minutes.
• Once your public profile is active, view it by choosing 'View my public profile' from the RPS homepage, or click on 'View public profile' while in Edit mode. Access RPS from your public profile using the 'edit your profile' link at the bottom left of any page in Profiles.

Populate your public profile 

Log in to RPS and click ‘edit my profile’ link on your RPS Homepage, then work through the steps below. Most are very quick. For a complete profile, it is recommended that you populate at least six of the key fields. Any fields/pages which you do not populate are automatically hidden on your public profile.

Key fields

1. 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 left of the page, to upload, replace, or remove an image. 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. Zoom in and out by using the slider. 

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 6.3MB. You should be the only person in the photo.

2. 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.

Add or update your bio in the Overview box in the About section of your 'Edit Profile' page in RPS. Formatting and links can be added using the icons. Make sure to click save at the bottom of the About section when you are finished. 

3. Add your research interests

The Research interests section of RPS populates the summary at the top of your Research page 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 interests is found underneath 'Overview', in the About section of your 'Edit Profile' page in RPS. Add or update your entry, using the icons to add links and formatting if required, then click save at the bottom of the 'About' section. 

4. Add your teaching summary

The Teaching summary section of RPS populates the summary at the top of your Teaching page 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.

Teaching summary is found underneath 'Research interests', in the 'About' section of your 'Edit Profile' page in RPS. Add or update your entry, using the icons to add links and formatting if required, then click save at the bottom of the 'About' section. 

5. Add Availability, Fields of Research and UN SDG filter labels

These controlled sets of labels function as filters, allowing visitors to Profiles to find your profile and make connections between your profile and other UCL profiles, by selecting from labels in a list, or by navigating to your profile from other profiles that contain the same label. It is advisable to add as many labels as you feel may be appropriate, in order to ensure that your profile appears in all relevant filters. The labels will display on Profiles in the order that you add them in RPS. They will appear in search results and at the bottom of your 'About' page. 

Availability

Use these labels to indicate your availability for activities such as supervision, media enquiries, outreach, consultancy etc. Scroll to the Labels section on the RPS 'Edit Profile' page and 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'. 

New filter labels can be added to the Availability scheme, but they must have the potential to be used in a sufficiently large number of UCL profiles to make them helpful as a filter. To suggest additions or changes, please complete our UCL Profiles filter labels request form. Requests are reviewed regularly, and the information that you have provided will be used to inform a decision.

Fields of Research

Profiles uses a modified version of the Fields of Research 2020 classification scheme. This scheme was developed by the Australian and New Zealand funding bodies, but has widespread applicability.

Where possible, broad disciplinary labels from this scheme were assigned to those who were at UCL when Profiles was launched (14 September 2023) on the basis of their 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. Here is the full scheme:

• UCL Fields of Research

  UCL Fields of Research

In the labels section on the RPS 'Edit Profile' page, 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'.

New filter labels can be added to the Fields of Research scheme, but they must have the potential to be used in a sufficiently large number of UCL profiles to make them helpful as a filter. To suggest additions or changes, please complete our UCL Profiles filter labels request form. Requests are reviewed regularly, and the information that you have provided will be used to inform a decision.

Sustainable Development Goals

The 17 UN SDGs are the core of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. They are increasingly used across sectors and around the world, and provide a common terminology that can help with establishing collaborations, both with external partners and in cross-disciplinary activities in UCL. UCL's SDGs Initiative aims to maximise UCL's impact on the Goals. 

The targets in each SDG can help you to identify which of the goals align with your work. Where possible, SDGs have been assigned to those who were at UCL when SDGs were made available in Profiles in July 2024, on the basis of their publications. We recommend that you review the labels assigned to you, and adjust and add to them as appropriate.

Click 'Manage labels' or 'Add labels' next to UN Sustainable Development Goals. 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'. 

6. Appointments

All UCL Profiles should have a ‘University College London Appointments’ box on their Profiles About page, underneath Bio, showing current UCL appointment and department. This should match the entry under your name/photo at the top of the page. This field is locked in RPS and cannot be edited. New starters must currently request that the UCL Appointment box is activated by providing the required details in a request in MyServices. Our FAQs include instructions for new starters on populating the UCL Appointments box, and also for updating department and current appointment.
 
Previous appointments at UCL, and current or previous appointments elsewhere, should be entered in the 'Academic appointments' box in the 'Experience' section of RPS Edit My Profile - this is a key field for Profile completion. Click save after adding each entry. They will appear beneath the 'University College London Appointments' box discussed above, in a box labelled 'Academic Positions'.

7. Add degrees

Staff

The Degrees section only appears in your RPS 'Edit Profile' page once it has been populated. Staff should not add degrees to the Certifications section of RPS. To populate or update your Degrees field, follow the two-step instructions below. This ensures that HR records contain the same information as RPS/Profiles. The process of adding degrees to RPS/Profiles will be streamlined in future.

1. Log in to MyHR and select UCL Employee Self Service > My Personal Information > Education and Qualifications. For each degree, enter the following fields, which are required for RPS/Profiles:
   - type of qualification (mandatory in MyHR);
   - title;
   - actual completion date;
   - qualification letters and; and
   - awarding/examining body.
2. Submit a Profiles service request in MyServices. Select 'None of the Above', indicate that you would like your degrees to be updated, and provide the details that you entered in MyHR, above. 

Doctoral researchers

Doctoral researchers should populate their degrees in the Certifications section of the RPS 'Edit Profile' page.

8. Add professional activities (Profiles Expertise & 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.

Add a professional activity from your RPS Homepage (Professional Activities > + Add New). You can filter, view and edit existing activities by clicking on the 'Professional activities' box on your RPS homepage. 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 'How do I add an Organisation/Institution to a professional or teaching activity?'.

9. 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. 

Additional fields

10. Add teaching activities

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.

Add a teaching activity from your RPS Homepage (Teaching activities > + Add New). You can filter, view and edit existing activities by clicking on the Teaching activities box on your RPS homepage. 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 'How do I add an Organisation/Institution to a professional or teaching activity?'.

11. 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.

12. Add your YouTube videos

YouTube videos can be embedded in the About page of Profiles. It is not currently possible to add other types of video. Scroll down to the bottom of the RPS 'Edit Profile' page, enter the details (type, URL and description) and save.