ARIS Awards: Celebrating Research with Societal Impact
The ARIS Awards honor individuals, teams, and organizations that have successfully translated research into meaningful societal Impacts – and are aligned with the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Broader Impacts criterion.
Our award recipients are leaders in knowledge generation and translation and public engagement. Through groundbreaking research, innovative public engagement, or creative application of knowledge, winners exemplify excellence in demonstrating the societal impacts of research.
Meet the 2026 Award WinnersWe Recognize
- Knowledge generation — Creating societal impacts through the research activity itself, engaging the public in the research process, participating in knowledge generation.
- Knowledge translation — Achieving societal impacts through activities that are supported by but are complementary to the research itself. Knowledge translation activities could include research communications, science communications, or educational outreach.
ARIS Awardees are honored at the annual ARIS Summit where their work is highlighted.
Awards Categories
Nominations are accepted for the following categories. Some may have multiple awardees or none, depending on the quantity and quality of nominations.
- Impact Goals Award: Recognizes significant advancement in research engagement and translation for public benefit, aligned with NSF research impact goals and ARIS Guiding Principles 2.0 [PDF].
- Impact Innovations Award: Honors leadership in developing and scaling new policies, processes, and strategies for societal impact, including innovative approaches to engagement, translation, and measurement.
- Enduring Achievement Award: Honors individuals or organizations with long-term achievements or established a body of work to research engagement that has generated measurable, lasting societal impacts.
- Emerging BI Leader: For early-career practitioners and scholars (pre-tenure or less than 10 years from graduation) demonstrating leadership and promise in advancing Broader Impacts.
Awards Eligibility
Who can nominate: Anyone can nominate — including self-nominations.
Who can be nominated:
- Individual researchers or practitioners
- Collaborative teams
- Research projects or programs
- Educational institutions
- Organizations working in research impact
Awards Selection Criteria
Judges evaluate nominations based on how well they address these four criteria:
- Commitment: Demonstrated dedication to ensuring that research benefits society through their work and actions.
- Alignment: Clear connection to NSF’s broader impacts goals or other recognized frameworks for research’s societal impact.
- Evidence: Evidence of impact in the work of the nominee(s). Evidence could include quantitative and/or qualitative measures or indicators of outcomes — changes in understanding, behavior, or broader conditions in the related context of the focus area(s) of the nominee(s).
- Advancement: Work that promises to raise awareness, grow understanding, and sustain attention to societal impacts in research and knowledge translation.
Awards Nomination Requirements
Required Materials
Nomination letter: Structure your letter using our four selection criteria as headings. Under each, describe how the nominee meets that criterion. Include:
- Clear description of the nominee’s work and achievements
- Specific details tailored to your chosen award category
- Identification of key people involved in the work
- Evidence of beneficial societal outcomes and impacts
Category-specific requirements
- Impact Goals Award: Specify the type of impact the nominee’s work has achieved and support evidence.
- Impact Innovations Award: Detail contributions to innovating and scaling research impacts strategies and methods.
- Enduring Achievement Award: Provide a timeline and scope of multiple research activities, projects, or programs — and multiple impacts — over time.
- Emerging Broader Impacts Leader Award: Show leadership and promise in early-career practitioners (pre-tenure or less than 10 years from graduation).
Supporting Documentation
- 1-3 letter(s) of support. (at least one required, maximum three)
- Two-page CV of the nominee.
- Supporting documents that must be combined into one PDF that is no more than 20 pages.
- Program or project descriptions.
- Recognition letters, new articles, or other external notice for the individuals/programs.
- Additional resource links that are no more than one page.
- One clear photo of the nominee(s) (preferred: Adobe Illustrator file; acceptable: JPG or PNG)
Formatting Guidelines
- Minimum 11-point font size
- Sans serif fonts (Arial, Helvetica, etc.)
Awards Timeline
As a highly coveted recognition within the Broader Impacts community, ARIS Awards team has provided a general timeline. Approximately one month prior to the Awards call for nominations, ARIS will update this webpage with the exact dates.
- November: Call for nominations
- January 9, 2026: Nominations due
- Mid-December to Mid-January: Judging period
- Early February: Winners selected
- Mid-February: Publicly announcement
- ARIS Summit 2026: Awards ceremony
ARIS Awards – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Nomination Process
Can I nominate someone without telling them?
Yes, nominees do not need to know about their nomination.
Can I nominate myself?
Absolutely–self-nominations are welcome.
Is there a limit to the number of nominations I can submit?
No, you can submit as many different individuals or organizations as you’d like.
Who can I contact for help with submitting a nomination?
Email us at muresearcharis@missouri.edu
After Submission
Will I be notified if I am not selected?
Yes, all nominators will be notified via email.
If I nominate someone, will I be notified if that person is selected?
Yes, the individual who nominated the winning person will be notified.
Do winners need to attend the ceremony?
Award winners will receive their physical awards via regular mail and will be recognized at the Summit.