10 good reasons to keep your staff web profile up to date!

Published: 14 March 2018

All IHW staff are encouraged to keep their web profiles up to date - and here's why!

We encourage all our staff to have information about their role, interests and activities on their staff webpage, and to review and update on a regular basis.

Here, our colleagues in the University of Glasgow Webteam explain why!

NOTE Currently, only research and teaching are automatically assigned a profile page to which text can be added, but professional services staff may also request that an editable page is put in place. Please contact Jane Goodfellow if you would like to take up that option.

Postgraduate research students may also add information to their profile page, as outlined on this webpage.

Short training sessions for staff have been arranged on Wed 28 Aug 2019, 1.30 to 3.30pm (book here) and Wed 02 Oct 2019, 10am to 12 noon (book here).

  1. If you have no staff profile it is very difficult for you to promote yourself and, worse, it makes it almost impossible for anyone else to champion you
    If there is no content within your staff profile then how do people find out about you, what you do and what you are interested in doing?
  2. You can highlight your research
    Your staff profile is connected to Enlighten, pulling in your research papers automatically and it allows you to showcase selected papers via Selected Publications. New functionality now allows you to publish details of your professional activities and external recognition via Enlighten.
  3. It’s where potential PGRs look for supervisors
    User research shows that potential PGRs go to staff profiles when they are looking for a supervisor.
  4. It displays your contact details
    Your profile contains your contact details, including your phone number and email address, enabling people to easily get in contact with you.
  5. It drives the University search function, including ‘Find a supervisor’ and ‘Find an expert’
    Within your profile there is a section called Research Interest Summary. This content doesn’t publish on your page BUT it does help drive the search functionality of the University’s web pages.
    In particular, it drives the Find a Supervisor search, which enables potential PGR students to find supervisors and the Find an Expert search, which helps the press team and external media find an expert on a particular topic. Please ensure that you include keywords related to your area of interest will help people find you.
  6. It can feature an assortment of information
    You can include images, links to external web pages, quotes, a link to your Twitter profile etc.
  7. The gla.ac.uk is a powerful domain
    Your staff profile will almost certainly be the first link to come up if people search for you. Use this to your advantage and make sure it says what you want it to say.
  8. It is supported
    The university’s website is supported by the Webteam and IT Services. Your staff profile will almost always be available to update and there is a support service should you require assistance. The Webteam are always evolving the functionality of the profiles and work closely with other professional services to ensure it is connected with the library, HR etc.
  9. It is fully accessible
    The website is also fully accessible ensuring it meets all standards and guidelines.
  10. You control the content
    Google your name and see what comes up, are you in control of this content? Is it up-to-date? Does it look professional? If you don’t update your staff profile, then you are leaving your profile to chance/others.

Example profile


First published: 14 March 2018