How a great digital presence can help you smash your goals

When was the last time you updated your university researcher profile? You set it up a few years ago, then moved on—but is it still representing your work the way it should? Did you ever set goals for it in the first place?

Many researchers find, as the years fly by, that their university profiles don’t really reflect the flavour – and excitement – of their research journey, nor do they capture their career goals. 

But like a well-crafted LinkedIn profile, the university research profile is an important piece of your online presence. Many universities have high-ranking websites, meaning a profile that is well optimised can appear at the top of search results.

Here’s how to maximise their impact.

Optimise for visibility

First up, a bit of housekeeping; ensure your name, title and affiliation match across other platforms such as Linkedin, ResearchGate, Google Scholar and ORCID. Its simple, but taking the time to ensure consistency is a good first step.

Second, take a moment to think about what you want to achieve in the next few years. Do you want to build a team? Attract top quality students? Or secure more grant funding? Spell out your career goals, the more specific, the better.

Finally, identify keywords specific to your research field, which are the top words people use to search for research in your field. Incorporating relevant keywords into your profile helps to improve its visibility in search results, making it easier for potential collaborators, funding bodies, and journalists to find your work. You should include keywords that reflect not only your research interests and expertise, but also your career goals. This makes your profile more likely to “speak” to the right audiences.

Connect and expand your network

While you’re updating your details, go a step further and add links to your Google Scholar, ResearchGate, ORCID, LinkedIn, and personal website to increase your visibility on the other platforms that make up your digital presence.

Think narrative

Storytelling techniques can make a researcher’s online presence more engaging, memorable, and accessible to wider audiences. Instead of a dry list of credentials, think of your research journey as a story. The following questions can help you to get into the storyteller’s mindset:

• What problem drives your work?
• What sparked your interest in your field?
• How has your research made a difference?
• What unexpected discoveries or challenges have you overcome in your work?

People are naturally wired to engage with and remember stories better than statistics. When you incorporate answers to these questions into a bio, while also highlighting your expertise, research interests, and key contributions, you are well on the way to a university research profile that captures interest.

Show the human side of research

Science isn’t just about data and discoveries, it’s also about the people behind the work. Since research is often collaborative, where diverse minds come together, sharing knowledge and perspectives to solve complex problems, there’s often an interesting narrative in how collaborations came about and what has been achieved together.

Try demonstrating the depth of your network while explaining that research breakthroughs are often the result of collective effort, involving interdisciplinary teams, mentors, students, and even partners from other institutions or industries. Whether you’re co-authoring papers, sharing insights at conferences, or working with field teams, these interactions shape your research and add a dynamic, human element to your research journey.

End with a call to action

Good stories leave people wanting more. You can encourage specific types of engagement through your profile. Consider outlining how you want to invite collaboration or discussion, or whether you are available for media enquiries. Or you could direct people to further information about your latest paper, talk, or project.