Seeking help with Application plan review - Stage 1 - Exceptional Promise

Stage 1
1

Hi all,

I am seeking feedback on my application plan - can you please share your insights on how it can be improved? I also have 2 evidence specific questions - can you please help me with those as well?

Thank you so much for your time and help in advance, I truly appreciate it!

Context - I am an applied game designer (designing games for learning and other domains) currently completing my PhD in the same field in the UK. I wish to switch from student visa to Global Talent via the Exceptional Promise route.

LORs
LOR 1 - from my PhD supervisor (technical) - informing novelty and relevance of my ongoing research work
LOR 2 - my second supervisor (non-technical) - potential of my work and its impact
LOR 3 - design professional who has been my teacher during masters degree (in 2014), I have worked with them briefly, they know my work mentioned in evidences through conferences we attended together

Main Criteria -

Evidence 1 - designed digital games for a healthcare initiative in Africa for a non-profit organization -

  • Reference letter from the Director of the organization with numbers about impact
  • Visuals from my work

Evidence 2 - shortlisting as 1 out of 4 international candidates for the UKRI - EPSRC funded PhD program

  • Reference letter from the Director of the organization
  • Link to my profile on the funding body’s website

Evidence 3 - won a grant and led a substantial open source board game design project outside of my normal day-to-day job -

  • Grant contract
  • Letter from the grantees
  • Project website
  • Newspaper article about the game

Question - the outcome of this work is a board game, would it get downright rejected for not being digital?

Optional Criteria -

OC 2 - contributed to the digital technology sector outside of work

Evidence 4 - Applied game design talk at a student conference ~35 participants (Video, email communication, pictures)

Evidence 5 - Applied game design talk at an institute - ~50 students (Video, email communication, pictures)

Question - I have worked as a visiting faculty (created curriculum, taught and assessed students) with 2 reputed institutes - outside of my main work, however, they have paid me for this - can I use this as OC3 or not?

OC 3 - significant contribution through applied games that I designed while working at a design studio (before starting the PhD)

Evidence 6 - designed gamification for a social safety app for not for profit that was shortlisted for design awards

  • Reference letter from the director
  • Screenshot of the award shortlist
  • Screens / visuals of my work

Evidence 7 - designed a healthcare game for a research lab

  • Reference letter from the lab head
  • Screens / visuals of my work

OC 4 - published research

Evidence 8 - research paper 1

Evidence 9 - research paper 2 and a poster related to it that won best poster award

Evidence 10 - my research profile on the database

2

It looks like you only have reference from academics. No Indidyfy reference. When you say you were shortlisted for grant, where you or are you definitely going to get the funding? Does fbe newspapers article mention your name?

OC2 if the talk had just 35 attendees then it doesn’t meet the criteria.

1 Like
3

Hello,

Firstly, are your professors and supervisors recognized as experts in the digital tech field? Is there any proof to back this up? Do they have any international recognition awards? Are they senior members of their respective organizations?

Please note that the number of participants for your optional criteria 2, evidence 4 is below the criteria, which requires 100 attendees as per Tech Nation for GTV, so it cannot be used.

Do you have an employment contract for the visiting officer job you did? Can you demonstrate how you were a significant contributor? Using your salary alone won’t suffice for your OC3