Inkpath is our professional skills course booking system. Accessible via smartphone app or web browser, Inkpath allows ECRs to manage their own bookings as well as mark their attendances.
Check out our quick video guides and further guidance/FAQs on using Inkpath below.
Inkpath: Quick Video Guides
Guide to using Inkpath
View our mini guide to using Inkpath
Logging into Inkpath
How to log into Inkpath for the first time
Searching for a course
How to search for a course on Inkpath
Booking a course
How to book a course on Inkpath
Locating meeting links and venues
How to access MS Teams/Zoom meeting links or venue information on Inkpath
Getting Started with Inkpath
- How to access Inkpath
- Logging in for the first time
- Your Profile
- How to book activities
- Marking your attendance
- Skills
You can download the Inkpath app on your smartphone, or can access it using any web browser on your device / desktop:
- Get the Inkpath App - Google Play Store
- Get the Inkpath App - Apple Store
- Access via the web version: Inkpath (the preferred web browser is Google Chrome)
To access Inkpath for the first time, you will need to:
- Open Inkpath via the app or web (the preferred web browser is Google Chrome)
- Accept the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and click Next.
- Sign in via the Imperial Single Sign On system with your Imperial credential
- Inkpath will remember you, but may occasionally ask you to log in again in the same way
When you first log in, your degree information should already sync to your profile. You should be taken to the “My Activities” section and you are ready to book onto activities.
If you do not yet have a profile set up in Inkpath then you will see a message stating 'Your Account is on Hold". Please email the Early Career Researcher Institute (ecri@imperial.ac.uk) with your CID number and we will set up your profile.
- Click 'Find' and this will bring up all upcoming courses. At this point you can also use the date filters or search box to narrow down your choices.
- Click on the activity you wish to book, read the important information box and then click 'Book Activity'
- Once you have submitted your booking, you will instantly receive an 'Activity Booking Confirmation' email which will contain important information about the activity including joining instructions and venue information.
- Attached to this email will also be a calendar file which we strongly encourage you to download to your own outlook calendar.
For the majority of ECRI courses*, you will be required to mark your own attendance. This will typically be done at the end of the live session prompted by the tutor.
You will be asked to follow the process below:
- The tutor will display a QR or 10-digit unique code
- Inkpath App users should scan the QR to register their attendance.
- Web users should open the web portal, locate the 'Complete' button and enter the the 10-digit web code to register their attendance
*For some courses, attendance will be marked by the tutor or ECRI admin team after the session has concluded.
The skills section of the app is where you can review and plan your development. The skills you will see here are tailored to Imperial and include the Vitae Researcher Development Framework (post-doctoral / early career researchers).
All activities and events are mapped to our skills framework to help you track your skills progress. Here you can check how much time you've logged in each of the skill areas.
Frequently Asked Questions
- I tried to log in to Inkpath but don't have access, why is this?
- How often will I receive emails about an activity I have booked onto?
- If I'm on a waiting list, when will I be notified if a place becomes available?
- How do I access the venue or remote meeting link information for my course booking?
- How do I cancel my place on a course?
- How do I add my completion of an online course to Inkpath?
- I can't locate the activity I want to book on Inkpath, why is this?
- Why are my recent course attendances not displaying in My Imperial?
- My ESA or LSR are approaching - how do I provide evidence of my course attendances to my department?
- Who owns my data?
- How long will I have access to Inkpath?
If you have been unable to log into Inkpath via Single Sign On then it is likely because you do not yet have a profile in the system. Please contact ECRI Admin (ecri@imperial.ac.uk) and we can look into this for you.
You will receive the following emails from Inkpath once you book on an activity:
- A booking confirmation email
- A reminder email one week before the live session
- A reminder email one day before the live session
It is possible to switch off the reminder emails via your own profile, however we strongly recommend that you do not so this as they will contain important information about pre course tasks and room/meeting link information.
If you are on a waiting list, you will be automatically added to the activity as soon as a place becomes available. You will be notified of this by email and this could happen anytime up until bookings close. If you are no longer able to attend, please cancel your place promptly so that the space can be offered to the next student on the waiting list.
For our in-person courses, venue information is always contained in the booking confirmation email and reminder emails that users receive when signing up for a course. The venue information can also be located by clicking on the activity in your Inkpath profile.
For the majority of our live online courses, the Teams/Zoom meeting invitation link will be uploaded to Inkpath at least three days before the live session and will be available to you via the automatically generated email reminders.
You can also access the meeting link by by clicking on your booking in your Inkpath profile and locating the 'Click here to join online button'
For our multi part courses, you can access this information on your Inkpath course booking by scrolling down and clicking on each part.
For other live online courses, you will receive the meeting invitation directly from the course tutor either one week or two weeks before the live session. This will be clearly stated in the 'Important Information' box on Inkpath and in the booking confirmation email for each activity.
Cancelling your place on a course booked through Inkpath is a quick and easy process. You simply need need to locate your booking in your Inkpath profile and click the green ‘Cancel Booking’ button as demonstrated in the screen shot below:
Once the course has started, the 'Cancel Booking’ button will not be available so in these circumstances please email ECRI Admin (ecri@imperial.ac.uk) and we can process the cancellation via our Inkpath admin portal.
Please note that declining a course tutors calendar invite for a session will not count as a cancellation so please ensure that you always follow the steps outlined above.
If you complete one of our online courses then you will receive instructions of how to add it your Inkpath record once you submit and pass the final exam.
Your profile on Inkpath is set up to ensure that you can only view and book the activities that you are eligible to attend. If you are unable to locate a specific activity on Inkpath it is likely that it is because you are not eligible to attend it. If you feel that this is incorrect then please contact us (ecri@imperial.ac.uk) for further advice.
My Imperial is not linked to Inkpath so unfortunately it cannot display real time course attendance data.
We currently upload doctoral course attendance data to My Imperial on a monthly backdated basis. In order to help us keep your My Imperial record accurate it is therefore essential that you always promptly complete the Inkpath attendance instructions.
We provide termly updates to your departmental administrators which state how many course credits you have gained and your progression towards the professional skills attendance requirement. These updates are provided in January, April and July. We are also able to respond to ad-hoc requests for this information if you email ecri@imperial.ac.uk
If you are unsure how many course credits you have gained then you can check this by logging into your Inkpath profile, going to 'Activities' and then clicking on 'Export Activities'. In this spreadsheet, any ECRI that are marked as completed will have the credits indicated in the 'Points' column.
You can find more information about how your data is handled and the Inkpath policies in the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
In short, users agree to share some information about their activities with Imperial so we can provide a better environment and create more opportunities, and with Inkpath so that they can make Inkpath better. Users can mark individual user-generated activities as ‘private’ in Inkpath, so that they will be shared with no-one.
You will lose access to Inkpath when you leave Imperial. You are therefore advised to download your attendance record from your profile before you leave the College.