GTV (Exceptional Promise) peer review route via RAEng - Evaluation Criteria

Hi All,

I have been working in the UK for the last 4 years with a Tier 2 Visa and I am now considering to switch to Global Talent Visa. My goal is to follow the endorsement Route 4 (peer review) for the exceptional promise category via the Royal Academy of Engineering. I have some questions about this and I'd be very happy if people in this forum have some answers.

• Q1 - I have recently submitted my PhD thesis, however, I haven't officially awarded my PhD degree. On the other hand, I have been a full-time research staff at 3 different UK universities for the last 4 years (3 years as an MSCA ESR, 1 year as a Postdoc in a big EPSRC hub). Would this experience meet the mandatory criteria "PhD equivalent research experience"?
• Q2 - As far as I understood, I only need to provide with 3 documents: the online application form, my CV (max 3 pages), a letter of recommendation from an eminent person. Is that right?
  • Q2a - Is it also possible to submit additional documents with the application, such as the copies of the awards or a personal statement letter?
  • Q2b - What kind of information can be added in the online application form? I particularly wonder if there is a text field/question that I can fill with a personal statement.
  Q3 - I have two publications on conference proceedings (first author), a journal publication (co-author) and several posters and talks at various symposiums and conferences (peer-reviewed but not published). On the other hand, I don't have citations yet (h-index = 1 ). I wonder if a low h-index would cause a rejection? I would also love to hear the forum members' positive or negative experiences that might be linked to their publication track records or h-index.
• Q4 - I have attended many international events such as workshops, summer schools or secondments, and I also received a few awards, one of which was from an international IEEE conference. I am wondering the opinions on whether these would compensate my low h-index score during the evaluation of my endorsement application.

Thanks for taking the time to read. I'd also like to thank to the forum admins and moderators for providing with this opportunity to share knowledge.

Best wishes,

icub wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 14, 2020 8:52 pm

Hi All,

I have been working in the UK for the last 4 years with a Tier 2 Visa and I am now considering to switch to Global Talent Visa. My goal is to follow the endorsement Route 4 (peer review) for the exceptional promise category via the Royal Academy of Engineering. I have some questions about this and I'd be very happy if people in this forum have some answers.

• Q1 - I have recently submitted my PhD thesis, however, I haven't officially awarded my PhD degree. On the other hand, I have been a full-time research staff at 3 different UK universities for the last 4 years (3 years as an MSCA ESR, 1 year as a Postdoc in a big EPSRC hub). Would this experience meet the mandatory criteria "PhD equivalent research experience"?
• Q2 - As far as I understood, I only need to provide with 3 documents: the online application form, my CV (max 3 pages), a letter of recommendation from an eminent person. Is that right?
  • Q2a - Is it also possible to submit additional documents with the application, such as the copies of the awards or a personal statement letter?
  • Q2b - What kind of information can be added in the online application form? I particularly wonder if there is a text field/question that I can fill with a personal statement.
  Q3 - I have two publications on conference proceedings (first author), a journal publication (co-author) and several posters and talks at various symposiums and conferences (peer-reviewed but not published). On the other hand, I don't have citations yet (h-index = 1 ). I wonder if a low h-index would cause a rejection? I would also love to hear the forum members' positive or negative experiences that might be linked to their publication track records or h-index.
• Q4 - I have attended many international events such as workshops, summer schools or secondments, and I also received a few awards, one of which was from an international IEEE conference. I am wondering the opinions on whether these would compensate my low h-index score during the evaluation of my endorsement application.

Thanks for taking the time to read. I'd also like to thank to the forum admins and moderators for providing with this opportunity to share knowledge.

Best wishes,

I can give you my experience so you have a reference. I got endorsed by RAEng earlier this year.

Q1 - can you wait until your PhD gets awarded? I am not sure whether this is a requirement, but I did apply using my award letter. I started my postdoc 7 months before I applied for endorsement.

Q2 - yes, you can submit additional documents. I submitted proof of several awards I got and a letter from my PhD supervisor (not the emminent person).

Regarding personal statement. Yes, you must submit one. You type it directly into your online application.

Q3 - I had one journal paper published and 2 accepted/under review by the time I applied. I also had 5 conference papers and 1 magazine article. This was enough. I don't think they'd really check your h-index and they would reject your application based on that. My h-index is 2.

Q4 - the awards are the important thing here. Even more so if one of them was international. I had 2 conference paper awards, 2 travel grant awards, I was a finalist in a few competitions and got an award at the UK Parliament as well.

At the end, it is a pee-reviewed process. So, there is no guarantee you'll get it, but also no guarantee that they'll reject it. All you have to do is do your best to show why you deserve it.


Hope this helps

Hola ariverob,

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience and answering my questions, this was extremely helpful for me.

I don't have a Viva date yet and I also cannot foresee how much time I will need for revisions and paperwork after the Viva, on the other hand, my current contract ends in March so I thought maybe it would be better to solve the visa issues without waiting for my PhD award.

Congrats for your achievements and have a lovely week,