Your profile is what matching reads and what the other side judges you on. An empty one costs you projects.
Everyone
- A real photo. A face, reasonably lit, looking at the camera. Not a logo and not an avatar.
- A short bio. Two or three sentences on what you do and the field you work in.
- Location and timezone. These affect matching, meeting scheduling and deadline expectations.
Experts, additionally
The Professional Details section is what matching actually uses, so fill all of it:
- Highest qualification and the institution that awarded it
- Field of expertise, and the methodologies you actually use
- Key skills: the specific ones, not "research"
- Publications or a portfolio link
- Years of experience
- A brief professional summary
- Supporting documents: CV or academic certificate
Writing a summary that wins work
Name the methods, tools and study designs you have genuinely used. "Mixed-methods health research, STATA and R, experienced with systematic reviews and meta-analysis in low-resource settings" tells a client something. "Experienced researcher passionate about quality" tells them nothing.
Do not claim a qualification, affiliation or method you cannot evidence.
Keeping it current
Update it when you gain a qualification, publish, or move institution. A stale profile matches against work you no longer want.