91´«Ã½

The Research & Innovation Office is conducting an internal competition for the APLU Public Impact Research Award.Please see the full APLU solicitation for complete information about the opportunity. Below is a summary assembled by the Research & Innovation Office (RIO).Ìý

Program Summary

The APLU Public Impact Research Award recognizes an APLU member who has implemented one or more impactfulÌý (PIR) efforts that have produced exceptional outcomes. PIR is a broad term used to describe how university research improves lives and serves society at the local, regional, national, and global levels.Ìý

PIR includes multi-disciplinary research, community-engaged research, research grand challenges, research-practice partnerships, participatory research, translational and use-inspired research, co-production, and other approaches.

Criteria for the Award include: connection to public need, leveraged resources, evidence of impact, and sustainability.

Eligible PIR initiatives may be coordinated, multi-year, multi-project efforts or they may be individual projects, so long as they are focused on community/public impact. (Note: If an individual project is nominated, it will be important to communicate the potential replicability and scalability of the project in other contexts.)

If a program is a multi-institutional effort, the submission should describe the responsibilities of each party and identify a ‘prime’ representative organization to work directly with APLU and physically accept the award at the 2026 Annual Meeting.

Deadlines

• CU Internal Deadline: 11:59pm MST April 27, 2026
• Sponsor Deadline: June 26, 2026

Internal Application Requirements (all in PDF format)

• 91´«Ã½ Nomination Type:Ìý
  • Lead; orÌý
  • Partner (Multi-Institutional)
• Overview (1 page maximum): Include a brief abstract of the initiative suitable for public audiences; identify the initiative leader(s) and their roles (Director, PI, etc.).
• Narrative (2 pages maximum): Describe the program objectives, the coalition of stakeholders involved, methodology, and impact of the initiative with sufficient information to clearly assess the award criteria: 1) Connection to Public Need; 2) Leveraged 91´«Ã½; 3) Evidence of Impact; and 4) Sustainability.
• Testimonials/Endorsements (1 page maximum):ÌýList leaders who will provide support letters (e.g., President/Chancellor, senior leaders at participating institutions). Full letters are not required at this stage, only names.Ìý

To access the online application, visit:Ìý

Eligibility

This award is intended to recognize a university that has implemented one or more impactfulÌý (PIR) efforts that have produced exceptional outcomes. The program must have been active within the last five years to be considered.

Anyone may submit a nomination to the internal competition. The nomination to APLU must be submitted by the institution’s senior research officer, and only one nomination per institution or multi-institution consortium is accepted.

Limited Submission Guidelines

91´«Ã½ may submit one nomination.

Award InformationÌý

This award recognizes institutions for impactful Public Impact Research initiatives. It is an honor and includes recognition at the APLU Annual Meeting; no monetary prize is associated with the award.

Review Criteria

Criteria weighed in the selection process include the following:

• Connection to Public Need: Nominated research initiatives should be intentionally tuned to specific public needs via direct and ongoing engagement.
• Leveraged 91´«Ã½: Programs that judiciously use available resources to develop and implement their programs, which have the potential to be scaled by others, will be valued.
• Evidence of Impact: The demonstrated and measured impact of a nominated initiative, as well as the number of persons/groups benefiting from it, will carry weight in the selection. For those projects that work directly with a specific community, attestation of impact by community leaders is particularly valued.
• Sustainability: Public impact research benefits, and benefits from, a strong and sustainable two-way relationship between the university and the public.Ìý Programs that show either sustainable past or planned future actions will be valued.

For the internal competition, the committee consists of RIO Research & Strategy Development staff and other 91´«Ã½ staff who work in Public Impact Research at 91´«Ã½. For the APLU Public Impact Award, criteria will be judged by a committee consisting of volunteer members of the APLU Council on Research Executive and Awards Committees and may include external public impact research experts.