Recruitment

This route is for those who have accepted an eligible role, at an approved institution, with responsibility for either for academic, research or innovation leadership and development, or for directing or leading an individual or team in a research or innovation project or programme of work. 

What is an eligible role for the purposes of this route?

To be eligible, the following must be a significant function of the role you have been offered:

• Directing or leading an individual or team in a research or innovation project, or programme of work. This is generally for roles where the job holder acts independently in initiating, planning and managing a research or innovation project or programme of work without supervision. Please note that this route is therefore unlikely to be suitable for entry level postdoctoral research positions.
• Being responsible for academic, research or innovation leadership and development. This is generally for individuals in leadership roles at a departmental, faculty or institutional level, and duties will typically include strategy development and overseeing the management of staff and resources.

and/or 

Further information on eligibility can be found on The Royal Society website.

If eligible under this route, you will be required to submit a Statement of Guarantee from the employing institution with your endorsement application. This letter will confirm that you have been recruited in line with the required criteria. The Statement of Guarantee will need to confirm the following information:

• the job was advertised and an open competition was held, or where it was not, an explanation as to why; and
• the applicant has accepted the job offer; and
• the job title and department in which the applicant will be based; and
• at least 2 references were received; and
•  at least 3 academic representatives from the employing institution were on the interview panel; and
• at least 1 expert in the applicant’s field was on the interview panel, or at least 1 relevant expert, independent of the employing institution, was consulted before the job offer was made.
• An official Job Description must be attached with Statement of Guarantee.

This route is for individuals who have been awarded an individual fellowship on the list approved by the British Academy, Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. The fellowship must be held currently or within the last 5 years.

The list of eligible individual fellowships can be found here: https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/global-talent-visa/route-2-individual-fellowships/

This route is for researchers and specialists whose name or job title is specified in a successful grant application from an endorsed funder approved by UKRI.

The list of endorsed funders can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ukri-endorsement-endorsed-funders-global-talent-visa/uk-research-and-innovation-endorsed-funders

The grant or award must be worth a minimum of £30,000 and cover a minimum period of 2 years. There must also be at least 1 year remaining on the employment contract or hosting agreement at the time of application.

Furthermore, an applicant must also meet one of the following requirements:

1. Direct independently, or under the supervision of a Principle Investigator, a unique research or innovation project and meet all the following requirements:

(i) they must have a PhD qualification or equivalent research experience (including industrial or clinical research); and

(ii) they must actively participate in a relevant field in a University, research institute or industry; and

(iii) they must have their name or post listed on the grant or award as the Principle or co-investigator, Researcher Co-investigator, Post-doctoral researcher or Research Assistant, or an equivalent position acceptable to UKRI;

or

2. Make critical contributions to research by providing core technical or domain excellence or in developing new technologies and methodologies and meet both the following requirements:

(i) they must have a UK bachelor’s degree or equivalent overseas research degree or equivalent research experience (including industrial or clinical research); and

(ii) they must have research experience within a University, Research Institute or Industry.

Eligible applicants will be required to submit a Statement of Guarantee from the employing/host institution confirming that the following requirements have been met:

• the applicant is essential to the execution of the grant or award; and
• at least 50% of the applicant’s time will be spent working on the grant or award by the endorsed funder (Principal investigators and co-investigators can aggregate time spent on multiple eligible awards or grants to demonstrate this requirement); and
• the applicant has accepted the job offer or hosting agreement; and
• the job title and department in which the applicant will be based; and
• details of the robust recruitment process where the applicant was not named on the grant application

If you are not eligible for one of the Fast-track routes, you may be able to apply for a Global Talent Visa under the standard endorsement process for full peer review by the British Academy, Royal Academy of Engineering or Royal Society. As this is not a Fast-track route, the endorsement stage of the application can take between 5 to 8 weeks.

The full requirements and criteria, including information on how to apply are available here: https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/global-talent-visa/route-4-peer-review/