Discovery research to learn about staff profile content published in EdWeb formed part of the initiation of a new six-month project aimed at improving the provision for publishing online profiles.

The Role of Profiles research project aims to conduct research to understand University staff needs and requirements for publishing profile content online, and to use this data to make recommendations for the design of an improved provision for publishing staff profiles.

Full project details, including project brief, scope and deliverables, are available on the project website: The Role of Profiles: WPS 021

Beginning this project, to set the research on the right path, it was important to understand how staff profiles are currently used. Extracting and analysing data on existing profiles in EdWeb revealed many interesting insights.

Data was collected from Profile pages in EdWeb

The sections staff use to publish their profile content

Before the migration to EdWeb2, an extract of EdWeb profile data was collected and analysed. The extract was gathered in July 2024, at which point EdWeb contained 7425 profiles. Content within these profiles was distributed across several sections or fields. The most-commonly used fields were as follows:

• Biography: Used by 54% of profiles
• Research: Used by 36% of profiles
• Teaching and PhD supervision: Used by 23% of profiles
• Publications: Used by 20% of profiles
• Projects: Used by 14% of profiles
• Conferences: Used by 10% of profiles
• Media: Used by 4% of profiles

Analysis of UUNs associated with profiles revealed more about their use

Further insights were revealed by examining the relationship between EdWeb profiles and data about University usernames (UUNs) – a piece of discovery research completed by Katie Grieve, Data and Equality Officer. Using EdWeb profile data from July 2024, it was found that 7840 profiles matched UUNs. Further investigation showed that 19% of these UUNs were inactive, indicating that a reasonable proportion of the published staff profiles were for people who were no longer actively associated with the University, and therefore were out-of-date.

Active EdWeb profiles held by staff and PhD students

Of the 6365 profiles that were associated with active UUNs, 4050 (64%) were profiles of staff members and 2315 (36%) were profiles of PhD students.

Proportionally more staff profiles for academic than professional services staff

Looking at the job roles for the 4050 staff profiles associated with active UUNs, it was found that almost half of the EdWeb profiles (48.3%) belonged to academic staff, with 37% belonging to professional services staff. Comparing these proportions to University population figures (obtained from the latest EDMARC data, Governance and Strategic Planning (GaSP) Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) dashboards and HR staff population statistics from 2023/4), it was seen that there were 46.5% academics and 45.3% professional services staff in the population. This meant that, when it came to staff profiles, professional services staff were underrepresented compared to academic staff.

• Academic staff: Accounted for 48.3 % of profiles, 46.5% of University population
• Professional service staff: Accounted for 37% of profiles, 45.3% of University population
• Technical staff: Accounted for 7.6% of profiles, 5.4% of University population
• Clinical staff: Accounted for 3.4% of profiles, 1.8% of University population
• Veterinary clinical staff: Accounted for 3.6% of profiles, 1% of University population

Read more about EDMARC Data on the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion website

Access the GaSP EDI data on Sharepoint (University staff log in required)

Largest proportions of staff using profiles from CMVM and CAHSS

Examining the split of the active staff profiles across the different Colleges and Groups, it was seen that of the 4050 active EdWeb profiles, 41% belonged to staff from the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine (CMVM), 34.4% belonged to staff from the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHSS) and 9.7% were held by staff from the College of Science and Engineering (CSE). Looking at the spread of Groups, 5.5% of profiles were held by staff from University Secretary’s Group (USG), 5.3% belonged to staff from Corporate Services Group (CSG), and 4.2% were held by staff from Information Services Group (ISG). Comparing the split of profiles to the University population data showed CMVM and CAHSS staff were overrepresented in usage of profiles, whereas colleagues from CSE, CSG and USG were underrepresented in their usage of profiles. The proportion of ISG staff using profiles was in line with the proportion of ISG staff in the University population.

Investigating use of profiles within specific Schools of the Colleges, it was possible to identify several Schools where there was an under-usage of EdWeb profiles (Business School, School of Law, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh Futures Institute, School of Social and Political Science), likely to be as a result of these School websites being non-EdWeb sites.

Correlations between staff ages, and staff job grades and profile usage

Comparing the profile use across staff of different ages (against the University population figures), it was evident that younger staff (aged up to 35) were underrepresented, and staff on lower grades (UE02 – UE06) were making less use of profiles than would be expected. By contrast, staff on grades UE07 – UE10 were overrepresented when it came to use of profiles.

Most profiles held by PhD students were from CAHSS

Of the 2315 active profiles held by PhD students, it was found that PhD students from CAHSS made most use of profiles compared to those from other Colleges, and that a greater proportion of CAHSS PhD students made use of profiles than CAHSS staff. For the other Colleges, greater proportions of staff made use of profiles than PhD students:

• For CAHSS: 34.4% of staff had EdWeb profiles, compared to 68.5% of PhD students
• For CMVM: 41% of staff had EdWeb profiles, compared to 26.9% of PhD students
• For CSE: 9.7% of staff had EdWeb profiles, compared to 4.6% of PhD students

Insights from discovery research data will guide subsequent interviews with staff

Taken together, the data from the EdWeb analysis has indicated several areas worthy of further investigation within the planned research activities of the project. In particular, disparate distributions of staff and PhD student usage of profiles across the different Colleges and Groups has reinforced the need to hear from representative staff to provide further insight into:

• Why professional services staff utilise profiles significantly less than their academic colleagues
• Reasons why staff from CMVM and CAHSS make greater use of EdWeb profiles than those from CSE
• Factors affecting use of profiles by those at early stages of their careers (for example: younger staff and staff on lower grades)

Investigating these identified areas of interest will be addressed in the next steps in our research plan – through analysis of data from a staff survey as well as recruitment of individual staff members to interview to understand their needs and requirements for online profiles.

Details of the chosen research methodology, activities and plan for the project are outlined in a separate blog post:

The Role of Profiles: our new project researching needs and potential for online profiles