Welcome to this quick guide on maximising your academic profile with PURE.  Whether you’re an experienced user or just getting started, these tips will help you enhance your research profile, improve the visibility of your data, and ensure both your work and your profile are showcased to their full potential. PURE is more than just a repository. It’s a powerful tool for strengthening your professional presence, fostering collaboration, and increasing recognition. 

1. Keep Your Profile Up to Date 

Your profile page on the University’s Research Portal is like your shopfront, so it is important to make sure it looks its best.  Ever wondered what your profile looks like to external visitors? You can view it here by entering your name in the search bar. 

PURE is only as good as the data it holds. Make it a habit to review and update your “Profile Information” section including, but not limited to, your publications, activities, and research outputs. This ensures your work is visible and accurately represented. 

If you haven’t already, consider adding your biography, teaching responsibilities, and/or research interests.  To do this, log in to your PURE account and click the ‘Edit profile’ button located below your profile picture. 

Adding a profile photo can also enhance your page and make it look more professional.  

Useful tip: when uploading a photo, make sure to change the Category to “Portrait” before clicking “Create”. If you skip this step, your photo won’t appear on the Research Portal. 

2. Use Keywords Strategically 

Adding relevant keywords to your records helps others to discover your work. 

Useful Tip: Think about the terms your peers or potential collaborators might search for. 

3. Check Visibility Settings 

Ensure your profile and other PURE records are set to be visible externally (i.e. Public – No restriction) if you want them to appear on the Research Portal. Some items may default to internal-only, so it’s worth double-checking. If you need to change the visibility setting on your main profile, please contact pure@port.ac.uk.  

4. Link Related Content 

Linking your project records to other relevant content such as Activities, Prizes, Outputs, Press/Media or Funding records helps demonstrate the full scope of your work and supports reporting requirements. 

Useful Tip: Funding records do not appear on the Research Portal on their own. However, you can create a project record in PURE and link it to the funding record. This allows the project record to display the funder’s name and amount on the Portal. You can view an example of this here. 

5. Ask for Help When You Need It 

It’s okay to ask for support. If you have any questions about PURE, don’t hesitate to contact us at pure@port.ac.uk. 

We also run training and information sessions throughout the year.   

Our drop-in sessions are designed to answer your queries or give you quick overviews of specific areas in the system to help you get the most of PURE.   

You will also find plenty of guidance and resources on our Intranet for each content module.