General Usage
Home page
The Home page contains two areas for use:
- Quick contacts
- Searching
Quick Contacts
Quick contacts contains a list of frequently requested contact information for certain departments.
Most of the links are clickable and will allow specific functionality based on their link type. For example, if the link is a phone number, your device may try and bring up the number on your phone dialler, if one is available.
Searching
The search feature allows you to search for members of staff in the University. To see all members of staff, you must sign in.
Entering a search term
To search, select the search box on the right-hand side of the screen (or top of the screen for mobile) and enter your search term. For best results please search with one of the following criteria:
- First name
- Surname
- Id
- Department
- Job Title
- Telephone number
- Email Address
- Username
Querying with the search term
Once your search term is entered, you need to activate the search by either pressing Enter on your keyboard, or clicking the search button.
Search taking longer than normal?
Most of the time, the search will load almost instantly. There are instances where this will not be the case and you will see "The search is building, please wait" with a progress bar below. This is normal and your search will be handled in due course.
Sharing the search
You can share the search you have just run by either copying the URL in the URL bar of your web browser, or by clicking the "Share this search" button below the search box and copying from the text box.
Profile
Accessing a profile
To access a profile, first search for the profile, then click the persons name which will take you to their profile page.
Profile page explained
The profile page is where that person's information is held. Each tab in their profile represents categorised information about their experience and role in the University.
Quick links
You can also find quick links to contact information on their profile page to aid you in contacting them.
Web Links
If the person has included them, you can find links to web pages which they have included on their profile.
University Staff Profiles Guide
Introduction
Online staff profiles help present the University's collective and individual expertise to the outside world. Such profiles are increasingly important to the metrics driving the REF, TEF and related university league tables.
Prospective students, job applicants, funders and research collaborators use them to assess our strengths, specialisms and characteristics.
The Competition and Markets Authority advises universities to provide students with "details about the general level of experience or status of the staff involved in delivering different elements of the course" in order to comply with the Consumer Rights Act. Comprehensive and up-to-date staff profiles contribute to the University meeting this obligation.
Academic profiles and affiliations appear in staff lists on school pages of the University corporate website and in the online Staff Directory. They also appear in external search engine results.
The University has migrated staff profiles onto a new software system, which adds new functions, fields and privacy settings. The changeover presents a convenient opportunity to review, refresh and refine the content of staff profiles.
What has Changed?
Software system
The software behind the Staff Profile system has been updated and the editor is now incorporated into the service. Most fields and tabs remain the same but the editor looks slightly different.
Privacy settings
By default all staff profiles are set to be public (unless your existing profile was set to be excluded). You can request to change your privacy setting if necessary*.
New fields
Additional fields have been added to enable staff to add a greater level of detail about their teaching, research, professional activities and public engagement. For instance, staff can now summarise module teaching responsibilities within a bespoke field.
Profile image
By default, no profile image (photo) will appear within your profile. You have options to manually upload a profile image or display the photo from your staff card. Although staff are under no obligation to add a photo, please do consider whether in your role it would be beneficial to colleagues, students and external stakeholders to include a profile image.
(* Please note that PhD student profiles are by default set to private and must be manually switched to public to appear on staff lists).
Logging into your Profile
To view and edit your staff profile, sign in with your network log-in details at: https://staff.lincoln.ac.uk
Basic information, such as your name, job title and contact information, is filled automatically from the HR database. Similarly, research publications are populated from the Research Repository. Other fields you have completed manually in the past migrate automatically to the new system. You should still check your profile for accuracy, gaps and potential updates.
As before, some fields require text to be inputted manually before they appear. If you don't need them to display, simply ignore them. Look out for new fields that may be useful to you. Remember to click 'save' after making any changes.
Writing your Biography
The Biography tab provides several free text fields to present your staff profile to web visitors. Below are some tips on how to make the most of this section:
- A biography should be written in the third person. Start with your full title at the first mention, then switch to a courtesy title or pronoun (eg. "Professor Sarah Smith" then "Prof. Smith" or "she / her").
- Begin with an introduction: your full name, job title and department, then briefly outline how you arrived at your current position, with key professional milestones and accomplishments on the way. Note that the fields 'Department Responsibilities' and 'Subject Specialism' are available on your Biography page to give an overview of your main specialisms and duties in a structured way.
- Remember not everyone viewing your profile will be a subject specialist and there could be many reasons they are interested in your expertise. Write with a broad audience in mind.
- Keep your biography concise and relevant. Many details can be added to other sections, such as lists of research specialisms, specific teaching responsibilities and professional affiliations. Between 150 and 300 words is a reasonable word count for the Biography page if other fields are completed in full.
- Focus on the most salient points but don't be concerned about repeating highlights elsewhere -for example, if a major research project or publication is a key achievement of your career to date, refer to it prominently in your biography too. It's the first section most web visitors will see.
- Keep your writing style reasonably formal. Don't include personal information or anecdotes (eg. about family, hobbies or interests) unless it's particularly relevant to your professional life.
- Remember data protection legislation. Don't disclose any personal information about other people, and don't include the names of students.
- Keep it factual and objective but don't shy away from referring to core specialisms or achievements and putting them into context.The biography is also a good place to refer to examples of research impact.
- Remember website visitors viewing your profile could be based overseas. Don't assume they will have thorough knowledge of the UK or its higher education sector. If using initials or acronyms, it can be useful to spell them out in full at the first mention.
- You can use your biography page to make a 'call to action'. For example, if you're keen to hear from potential research collaborators or PhD candidates, say so and invite them to get in touch.
Other Tips
- Many people find writing about themselves awkward, especially in the third person! Try asking a close colleague, family member or friend to write a first draft of your biography for you.
- Keep your profile up-to-date or it can quickly become dated and lose its sheen. It's good practice to revisit your profile once a semester. The new system displays a "Last Updated" notification.
- Try using a text editor like Notepad (found in your PC's Start Menu under Accessories) to strip out extraneous formatting from programs like Microsoft Word. This can weed out hidden code that could otherwise make text display strangely.
- Think about SEO (search engine optimisation) and effective use of keywords, particularly when referring to your subject specialisms. You can also add lists of keywords under the Research tab (in the top navigation) with a separate entry for each. For example, you might add "Cognitive Psychology", "Child Language Development" and "Autism" as general, specific and granular descriptions of a specialism.
- The quality of profile images is important. Make sure it is appropriate for your professional profile (not a family holiday snap!). It is not essential to include a photo and some staff may prefer not to do so but please consider carefully whether it would be beneficial to do so in the context of your role.
- There are some excellent online style guides on writing for non-specialist audiences, such as The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph style books.
Example Biography
Below is an example biography of a fictional member of staff. It is intended only as a rough guide to how a biography might be structured, using available fields within the Biography tab of the Profile Editor:
About Sarah Smith
Professor Sarah Smith is a Reader in the School of Psychology at the University of Lincoln, UK.
She completed her Master's degree in Psychology at the University of Faraway, Canada, in 1998 and obtained her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Neverland, USA, in 2002 with a thesis on the acquisition of grammar among children from diverse cultures.
Prof. Smith began her teaching career at the University of Thereabouts, USA, the following year and was appointed professor in 2009. She joined the School of Psychology at the University of Lincoln, UK, in 2012 and is co-founder of the University's Centre for Juvenile Language Studies.
Her current research examines language as a marker for early diagnosis of autism in children and is funded through a three-year grant award from the UK's Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
Department Responsibilities
Prof. Smith teaches core undergraduate and postgraduate modules in the School of Psychology and supervises a number of doctoral students.
Subject Specialism
Prof. Smith is recognised internationally for her work in the field of child language development and her research in this area has been widely published in major international journals including The Journal of Language Learning. She speaks regularly at academic conferences in the UK and overseas and her work has featured in the UK national media, including The Daily Telegraph and Health Service Journal.