The Professional Development Review (PDR)

Why am I being asked to provide a PDR?

The Professional Development Review (PDR) is the most important part of your
application for professional membership and registration with the Engineering
Council or Science Council. It is your means of conveying to the Institutes assessors
that you should be considered a competent energy professional, taking into account
all your energy related experience, qualifications and professional development
activities to date. The core competences

Knowledge and understanding

Application to practice
Communication
Leadership
Commitment to professional standards including CPD

are the same whether you are applying for professional membership on its own or
with registration. If the latter, they have to be expressed as Engineering or Science
competences so that we can access you accurately as Engineering or Science
professionals.
What format should it take?
Your PDR is a freeform statement about you, your qualifications and experience, and
above all, your competence as a professional. One of the competences is
communication, and via your PDR, our assessors will learn how good a
communicator you are. There is no minimum and maximum length but as a guide
you should aim for between 1000 and 4000 words of English. We do not provide
sample PDRs as everyones circumstances are different. Your PDR should have a
logical and sensible structure, determined by yourself, and should not appear merely
as an extended CV. It should be in chronological or reverse chronological order so
that the assessor can map your development as a professional easily and accurately.
It must be written in the first person so that, throughout, you can demonstrate your
own personal achievements rather than those of your team.
What should I include?
You should provide a detailed overview of all your professional experience,
achievements and levels of seniority in the energy sector. Your qualifications and
experience must be expressed in terms of your compliance to the Assessment
criteria listed above and detailed in the relevant membership Guidance Notes. Your
PDR should comprise:

The reason why you are seeking professional membership of the Energy
Institute.

An overview of your energy experiences, achievements and levels of

seniority.

Professional Development Review Guidance

Version 2.2 September 2014

A description of each period of employment, providing an insight into your

roles and responsibilities as well as your achievements (projects that you
have managed, personnel and/or systems that you have developed, and so
on). Give examples of how you managed energy related projects with
emphasis on the nature of the project, size of the project team, budgets and
outcome. This provides you with an opportunity to demonstrate how you
applied your knowledge and understanding of energy, energy-science or
energy-engineering as appropriate. As you make your case, you should
demonstrate how specific areas of your experience, education and training
relate to specific competences (A1, B2, C3 etc) in an energy related context.
This means that our assessors will be able to relate your specific
circumstances to the criteria against which they assess you. Unless you do
this, they will not be able to tell how fully you meet the requirements of a
competent energy professional.

Reference to any technical societies/panels that you belong to with an insight

into your achievements. Information on your membership of other
professional bodies should also be recorded.

Details of your past CPD activities and information on your future plans, i.e.
how you plan to maintain your competence.

Can I attach any supplementary information?

As annexes you may provide your current roles and responsibilities, list
technical/research papers you have authored and provide other information you feel
will support your submission. The accent however should be on quality rather than
quantity.
PDR checklist
Is your PDR in the first person?
Is your PDR in your own words and based on your own experience?
Is your PDR in chronological / reverse chronological order?
Is your PDR about the right length?
Does your PDR communicate precisely and concisely what you want to say?
Does your PDR demonstrate a connection with the unique aims and interests of
the Energy Institute?
Does your PDR place a clear emphasis on your connection to energy?
Does your PDR make reference to the Competences and Commitment
statements?
Does your PDR demonstrate your commitment to energy professionalism and
your personal responsibilities?
Does your PDR include details of past and future energy related CPD
Does your PDR Attribute any quotations or paraphrased material used in your
answers?

Professional Development Review Guidance

Version 2.2 September 2014