This guide will walk you through the main tasks you'll want to perform on the InfraPortal.
InfraPortal
Support
Managing Your Account
Creating an account
If you're part of a UK institution that provides research and innovation resources to the academic and industrial community, you can register your resources as research and innovation infrastructures on the InfraPortal.
- Click on ’Register’ in the top right-hand corner
2. Fill out the details in the form provided. A one-time login link will be sent to you by email. Use it to login and set a password.
Resetting an account password
To reset an account password:
1. Click ‘Log in’ in the top right-hand corner of the website
2. Select the ‘Reset your password’ tab
3. Fill in the form with your username or email address
4. Password reset instructions will then be sent to your registered email address
Cancelling or deleting your account
If you no longer use the InfraPortal or are no longer affiliated to any infrastructures then you may wish to cancel your account.
- Login to the website and select ‘Account Settings’ from the user menu located in the top right-hand corner of the website.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and click ‘delete account’. Confirm by clicking 'Confirm' on the following page
- You will receive an email providing a link to cancel your account. Please remember to check your junk account if you have not received this email with 1 hour. Please note: after clicking on this link your request has been completed and it cannot be undone.
- After clicking the link, you will receive another email confirming that your account has been deleted. If you’d like for us to remove all your user data completely, please contact us at infraportal@ukri.org
Managing Your Content
Creating a group
- To add new infrastructure content to the InfraPortal, you must first create a group. Groups are used to manage authorship between different infrastructure pages and enable you to share editing responsibilities with other users. Once you have logged in, click on “Groups” from the user menu.
- Click on “Create New Group”.
- Enter a name and click the “Create infrastructure group and become a member” button. You will automatically be added as a member to any group you create.
- Once you have created your group, you will see a group overview page. From here, you can add infrastructures and members to your group. Please see “Registering A New Infrastructure” and “Add a Member to a Group” sections of this guide for further information and steps for these actions.
Add a member to a group
An individual must be registered on the InfraPortal before they can be added to a group. To register, please see the ‘Creating an account’ section of this guide.
After the person has registered a user account:
- Go to the Groups page by clicking the ‘Groups' link under 'User menu' in the top-right. This will display a list of groups that you are a member of:
- Click the group to which you’d like to add a new member to.
- Click the “Add Member” button.
- Enter in the username of the person you’d like to add and click “Save”.
Registering a new infrastructure
You must register an account with InfraPortal and create a group before you can add Infrastructure content to the site.
1. Log in and, select “Groups” from the user menu
2. Click on the group name you want to add your infrastructure to.
3. Click on "Create New Infrastructure" found at the bottom left of the page.
Fill out the form presented. There is help text under each box describing what to enter. Take a look at our “Creating a compelling infrastructure webpage” section of this guide for tips on creating engaging content, or send an email to infraportal@ukri.org if you're unsure about what to include. You can add more than one address to your Infrastructure by clicking the “Add another item” button under the address field in the form. can also reorder your listed addresses by dragging and dropping them. If you need to remove an address, select “none” on the country drop-down menu and it will be removed from view once published.
4. Once ready, select 'Pending approval' from the 'Save As; drop down list at the bottom of the page and click 'Save' to submit the information for approval and publication.
If you would like to save your progress and finish the form later, select 'Save draft' from the drop down list and click 'Save'. You can then change the status to ‘Pending approval’ for publication at a later date.
5. Once submitted, your infrastructure will appear under the associated group page as pending approval. You can check the moderation state of your infrastructure and view or amend the submitted information at any time via the associated group page.
Infrastructures will display in a pink text box prior to publication.
Your infrastructure will then be reviewed by a member of the UKRI Infrastructure Team. Once approved, your infrastructure will automatically be made publicly visible. You will receive an email to confirm once this step has been completed.
You can make changes to your infrastructure page at any time using your account. We will send you an automated email after 12 months of inactivity to check whether your information is up to date.
Managing your infrastructure
1. You can view a list of infrastructures associated with your account by clicking on 'Infrastructures' in the User menu.
This page shows all infrastructures that you have permission to edit via the groups you are a member of. If you are a member of multiple groups, infrastructures from all associated groups will display on this page. .
2. Use the “Create New Infrastructure” button to create a new infrastructure. By clicking this button, the InfraPortal will first ask you which group you’d like to assign the new content to. If the appropriate group does not yet exist, please create this first – see “Creating a Group” section of this guide. If the group already exists, click “Add Infrastructure” and complete the form.
Please note, all groups listed on this page are those that you have created or are a member of. If you wish to add the infrastructure to an alternative group, you must request to be included as a member to that group before you can move the content.
Editing an existing infrastructure
- Once logged in, click the 'Infrastructures' link under 'User menu' in the top right:
- Click on the infrastructure you wish to make edits to and then select the edit tab on the infrastructure page:
Review and edit any details in the form and click save at the bottom of the page. You can also preview your changes if you wish. If the update has been successful, you will be notified by the green banner at the top of the page.
Creating a compelling infrastructure webpage
Write a compelling description
For some audiences, this may be the first introduction to your infrastructure. Breaking your information down and using language that can be easily understood by both academia and industry can help the reader identify with your content. Our form supports lists, bullet points and paragraph breaks to help increase readability.
Include a strong opening paragraph which explains what your research and innovation infrastructure is and how it works. Consider including key statistics or outputs to help contextualise its impact amongst the research and innovation community. You may want to consider including information about its history, funding sources and strategic objectives. Use plain language and avoid acronyms where possible to ensure that your page is accessible to all audiences.
Provide contact information
The contact information you include should be appropriate for website visitors to make general enquiries about your infrastructure. Include a full address so that your infrastructure can be found using the map search tool or location filters. This information should be kept up to date to help potential collaborators find you easily.
Select relevant disciplines and economic sectors
Discipline and economic sector tags are used to easily identify infrastructures within a specific area. It is therefore important to only select the disciplines and economic sectors that are most relevant to your infrastructure. Some infrastructures will work across more than one sector or discipline so include all that are appropriate.
Choose the right keywords
Keywords are used to help people effectively search for your infrastructure. It is therefore important to include a range of keywords which are relevant to your infrastructure. Avoid using keywords that are too generic or difficult to understand as this will reduce the visibility of your infrastructure in search results.
Include eye catching visuals
Images can help tell a story. Adding an image of your infrastructure can help the page to stand out and reach a diverse audience.
Keep things up to date
Review your infrastructure content regularly. This will ensure that site visitors including researchers, policymakers and potential collaborators up to date with the latest information.
Frequently Asked Questions
What types of infrastructure are within the scope of this website?
We define research and innovation infrastructures as facilities, resources and services that are used by the research and innovation communities to conduct research and foster innovation in their fields.
They include:
• Large-scale physical research facilities, equipment and sets of instruments, including scientific satellites and research ships. See RRS Sir David Attenborough, a polar research vessel designed to support science in extreme environments.
• Networks of technologies and digital research infrastructures, including data and computing systems. See ARCHER, a high-performance computing service, which enables researchers to run vast simulations and perform complex calculations using large datasets.
• Knowledge-based resources, including scientific, cultural and artistic collections and archives. See Archaeology Data Service, the UK’s openly accessible repository of heritage data.
They may be single-sited (a single resource a single location), distributed (a network of distributed resources) or virtual (the service is provided electronically) but accessed through a single-entry point.
To be featured on this website, your infrastructure will need to meet each of the 3 criteria set out below.
Requirement 1: Purpose
An infrastructure must provide an essential platform to conduct or facilitate excellent research and innovation that benefits the UK, as demonstrated by independent assessment such as peer review. This could be through provision of equipment, facilities, analytical services, data and underpinning infrastructure. This might be encapsulated within a facility, research and innovation organisation or part of an organisation.
Requirement 2: Accessibility
An infrastructure must provide access, resources or related services to the wider, UK research and innovation community outside the infrastructure institution itself. Access may be open, managed (e.g. user registration, competition) or contract use. Infrastructures that are solely used by the host organisation are not within scope.
Requirement 3: Scale and Longevity
An infrastructure must have some degree of strategic, international, national or regional importance. Some infrastructures which are regionally important and in key areas of emerging capability in smaller and midrange facilities within universities and PSRE’s might also be captured. Short-term, focussed projects without long-term sustainability (existing or planned) are not within scope.
If your infrastructure does not meet the above criteria, it may be more suitable to include it in an alternative catalogue. Please review our list of other catalogues or contact us by emailing infraportal@ukri.org if you are unsure of which catalogue would be most appropriate.
Why should I register my infrastructure?
The InfraPortal is a discovery tool to help researchers and innovators identify and access infrastructures, both across the UK and internationally.
Registering your infrastructure will help to:
- Showcase capabilities - Drive future R&D investment through showcasing UK infrastructure capabilities on a global scale
- Get on the map - Help researchers and innovators find and access your infrastructure via our open and searchable database
- Increase collaboration - Encourage new collaborations with infrastructure users from the public, charity and private sectors
- Opportunities for growth - Identify opportunities for future exploration
- Raise awareness - Demonstrate the diversity, breadth and impacts of research and innovation infrastructures across society
Why do I need to create or be part of a group?
Groups are used to manage authorship between different infrastructure pages. When creating a new infrastructure, you will need to assign it to an existing group that you are part of, or alternatively create a new group and then assign the new infrastructure to it. This will ensure that you have authorship of the page once it has been published.
You can add additional members to your group, or any other groups that you are part of, providing they have registered for an InfraPortal account. You can also create and assign additional infrastructures to the group. You can be a member of multiple groups, but infrastructures must only be registered to a single group at any one time.
All group members will be able to edit any of the infrastructures assigned to the group and add or remove other members.
You can use this tool to share editing responsibilities between multiple people and collate all your infrastructures in a single place. If you have many registered infrastructures, you can also separate your infrastructures into different groups, each with a unique membership, to provide greater control of who can edit each infrastructure.
How do I remove an existing infrastructure?
If you wish to remove specific infrastructures from the site, you will need to contact the InfraPortal team. Please contact infraportal@ukri.org with the details of your request.
To remove all uploaded information, including your user account, please follow the ‘cancelling or deleting your account’ section of this guide.
How do I respond to an information update request?
1. Click ‘Log in’ in the top right-hand corner of the website and add your log in credentials.
2. Go to user menu and select 'Infrastructures'.
3. Click on the name of the infrastructure you need to update.
4. Click on the Edit tab
5. Review and update the infrastructure submission form and click save at the bottom of the form. Please note, you must click save regardless of making any edits. This will notify the InfraPortal that you have reviewed your content and reset the last edited date.
How do I transfer group ownership between accounts?
If you are the only member of the group, the best way to transfer ownership of a group between accounts is to add the new user to the existing infrastructure group.
- To remove yourself from the group, log into the website and select Groups from the user menu in the top right.
- Click on the group name
- Add a new user to the group by following the ‘Add a member to a group’ section of this guide
- Once the member has been added, you can then remove yourself from the group by selecting ‘Remove’ next to your username
- You will then be presented with a confirmation page to remove your group membership. Select ‘Delete’ to confirm. Please note, once completed this operation cannot be reversed.
How do I delete a group?
To delete a group, contact us at infraportal@ukri.org from your registered email account with the name of the group you wish to delete.
How do I transfer infrastructure ownership between accounts?
It is not currently possible to transfer infrastructures between different groups. If you have erroneously linked your infrastructure to the wrong group, or you wish to move it to a different group, you will need to contact the InfraPortal team to complete this action on your behalf.
Please contact infraportal@ukri.org with the details of your request.
How can I search effectively?
You can search the website by inputting information into the search bar below.
The search function checks lots of different information to best match your search terms. This includes infrastructure names, keywords, disciplines and economic sectors.
This means that if you search "Bristol University" for example, the results returned will display:
- Institutions with "Bristol University" in the title
- Institutions with "Bristol" in the title
- Institutions that reference "Bristol University" in the description
- Institutions that reference Bristol in the description
- Institutions that reference University in the description
- Institutions based in the Bristol area
Using Filters
Once you search, the drop down menus on the left allow you to filter the search results.
The filters are inclusive, so if you were to select Agriculture and Forestry, it would return Institutes in Agriculture, or Forestry, or Both Agriculture and Forestry.
If you still can’t find what you’re looking for, or need to find smaller pieces of equipment, please look at our selection of other resource catalogues.
If you need more help, please get in touch with us
If you have and questions or feedback about InfraPortal, please email infraportal@ukri.org.
Further details on the Infrastructure Roadmap Programme can be found on the UKRI website