These awards are to highlight the short and long-term impact of our user community.
The winners will receive a CLF User Impact Award and will share the impact of their work via various CLF communication channels. The winners will also present their work and its impact at the appropriate annual laser user conference.
Eligibility criteria
You can apply for a CLF User Impact award if you are a CLF User who used our facility for published research.
For the launch of the CLF User Impact Awards, we would love to hear from anyone who has used our facility in the last decade, between 2012 and 2022.
In future years, you are only eligible if you have been a user anytime in the 5 years prior to the year of the awards. (For example, you can apply for the 2023 awards if you were a user from 2018 to 2023).
The entries will be judged by the CLF Communication and IPI (Industry Partnerships and Innovation) team. They will be following the Research England definition of impact for the REF, where impact is referred to as:“… an effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment, or quality of life, beyond academia" in the UK and internationally.
Types of AwardsWe will be running 2 awards in the categories detailed below.
Economic Impact AwardThe aim of this award is to highlight research that can demonstrate potential for or that has led to significant economic impact in the UK and/or internationally. This impact could be via (but is not limited to):
- An innovation, for example: patent, spin-out, or licensing of your research.
- Creation of a new innovative technique/technology
- Improvement of products or services
If you think your research has the potential for or has led to economic impact in the UK and/or internationally, apply for a CLF User Economic Impact Award.
Society Impact AwardThis award is to celebrate research that can demonstrate strong societal impact and applications. For example, the research could have resulted in or be linked to:
- Improving healthcare and biomedical sciences
- Scientific policy change
- Environmental sustainability advances
- Improvement in quality of life
If you think your research has possibly had or will have strong societal impact and applications, apply for a CLF User Society Impact Award.
To applyAn application for one of the above Impact Awards consists of providing us with:
- Details of the project that led to the impact, including instruments(s) used at the CLF (maximum 300 words).
- Details of who benefited from the impact and what the benefits were (maximum 500 words). This must include evidence to support the impact, such as (but not limited to):
- Case studies
- Testimonials
- Patent references
Apply for a 2023 CLF User Impact Award!
Certificate and awardThe winning entries for each category will…
- Receive a physical award created in collaboration with the CLF's Target Fabrication and Mechanical Engineering departments.
- Obtain a certificate to commemorate gaining a CLF Impact Award.
- Be featured on the CLF website and communications channels as a research impact case study.
- Present their work at the relevant annual or bi-annual CLF laser user conference
- Be included in our annual 2022-2023 CLF Annual Report and other impact Publications.
Terms and conditionsThe UKRI data protection policy is a privacy notice that lets you know what happens to any personal data that you give to us, or any that we may collect from or about you. In summary, when we ask for personal data, we will:
- Tell you why we need it
- Only ask for relevant information
- Look after it and make sure it is only accessible to those who need to see it
- Only keep it for as long as there is a business, statutory, or legal obligation
- Not make your personal information available for commercial use without your permission.
The UKRI Privacy Notice page provides all the information and policies we follow to ensure our data processing is GDPR compliant. If you have any questions or concerns please reach out to the contact below. The information gathered in the CLF User Impact Awards Application form is for:
- Identification of the user, their experiment, and verification of experimental time at the CLF.
- Assessing the impact of the presented research.
If the applicant wins a CLF User Impact Award, consent will be obtained before the relevant collected information is used for any external CLF or STFC communications.
