The selection of suitable shed profiles for station insulators with silicone rubber housings is an important subject for the successful operation of the HVDC and UHVDC systems. This subject has been discussed on a Seminar with a group of invited experts on external insulation. The participants recognized the lack of research results in this area. However, considering the urgent engineering needs for the coming UHVDC projects, after a review of the operational experiences of the existing 500-600 kV HVDC stations, especially the stations in China, the participants concluded the Seminar with preliminary recommendations on the decisive parameters of suitable shed profiles and a test method for shed profile selection. These recommendations are considered to be applicable to vertically installed HVDC station insulators with silicone rubber housing and with relative large diameters. At the same time, the participants encourage and invite utilities, manufacturers, and research institutes to be active on this subject and to provide more reliable test results.