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Academic profile guidance

A full profile that shows off your expertise improves your visibility in Internet searches and through the Find an Expert function. The guidance on this page shows what you should include to fulfil the basic requirements of what makes an impactful and visible profile.

Note: If you wish your profile to speak to students primarily, the emphasis should be (eg) the Teaching and Supervisions tabs. Likewise, with journalists, the emphasis should be on (eg) Publications and Public Engagement. Find out more about the information to include in these tabs below.

Mandatory fields

The following fields are mandatory. Those with an asterisk inform what appears on the Find an Expert listing:

  • A recent photo of yourself (no larger than 500 x 500 pixels)*
  • Your full name*
  • Your current position / staff role*
  • Up-to-date contact details (email and telephone)
  • Up-to-date room number
  • Up-to-date office hours

SEO tips

One simple way of making your profile page visible (and therefore easy to find) is by following basic SEO principles.

Keywords

Using keywords related to the themes of your work throughout your copy makes it easier for search engines to find you.

In the profile tab, add an introductory sentence that summarises your expertise and uses relevant keywords, using the rest of the profile copy to flesh out the detail.

In subsequent tabs, add keywords where relevant, especially ones that relate to your Find an Expert topic — whether it’s Brexit, material sciences or environmental science.

Put your research specialisms in headings within each tab and repeat them. You can create headings by using the ‘format’ dropdown.

Links

We encourage you to use links throughout your profile, whether they link to external pages or Queen Mary ones.

This is because having links on your webpage to other credible sources also gives your content authority.

This is particularly useful on the Publications and Research tab. Being part of the Queen Mary website will mean search engines automatically give your webpages a certain level of credibility.

Your profile image

Even the file name you give your profile image can help with your page’s visibility.

Before you upload your image to T4, make sure to give it an accessible name on your computer, as this will be the name search engines see. Use your full name and even job title (eg joe-bloggs-english-lecturer).

Your profile tab

Aim for no longer than 300 words and bear in mind the keyword and link guidance above. The profile tab is a short bio featuring the highlights which we recommend separating under headings, where you’ll include:

  • A brief summary of your work history (key School or institutional roles held, such as Director, Queen Mary Academy Fellow etc)
  • Your education and background
  • Any scholarships you were awarded
  • Any awards and notable achievements/areas of impact
  • Relevant professional accreditation
  • Feel free to add your social media profile details if you post frequently on your subject matter, but make sure to follow the Queen Mary social media guidance.

Your teaching tab

Here’s where you’ll focus on your teaching at Queen Mary. Again, aim for being concise. Please use as many relevant keywords and links to optimise your visibility. Start with the short overview of your teaching career before providing detail on the following:

  • Modules you teach (no more than 100 words to describe each module)
  • Any specific roles you hold within the School
  • Your HEA fellowship
  • Links to podcast, videos and media appearances that you’ve done
  • Note: If you’re on a sabbatical or taking a break from teaching, then please update this section to explain this and give the date of your expected return

Your research tab

This should include as many keywords (especially relating to your Find an Expert profile), headings and links to external and internal pages as possible, as well as the following:

  • Your research interests. You can do a bulleted list or provide details for each area (max 150 words for each)
  • Examples of research funding
  • Group membership where applicable

Your supervision tab

Please include:

  • A two-line summary of your supervision work, and whether you have capacity to take on any new students
  • A list of current and previous students whose work you have supervised and link to their work / profiles where possible

Your public engagement tab

Please summarise your public engagement work.

If you need help with building your staff profile in T4 then there is advice and access to training on our T4 page.

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