Una Europa PhD Impact Award 2025

The Una Europa PhD Impact Award aims to recognise and celebrate the impact, and potential impact, of research and researchers. We invite doctoral researchers to reflect on their research practice and consider how it impacts on society and contributes to the world. Being able to articulate the impact of research is an essential skill for all researchers.

The competition is open to all doctoral researchers who are currently undertaking a PhD at one of the 11 Una Europa partner universities. Please note that applicants may only enter the competition during their PhD, up until the time of their PhD defence.

Submissions must be linked to one of the following Una Europa Focus Areas:

• Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
• Future Materials and Technologies
• One Health
• Sustainability

Winners of the PhD Impact Award will be given the unique opportunity to present their research at one of Europe’s leading science festivals: climb the Inspiration Stage of the Berlin Science Week at Berlin’s Museum für Naturkunde (Museum for Natural Sciences) on November 1/2 2025 and showcase your work to interested people from the fields of science, economy, art, culture, and society. This will be followed by a networking opportunity with other scientists and peers at the museum. Travel and accommodation costs will be provided by Una Europa.

Winners will be invited to participate in an online science communication workshop to support their preparations for presenting at Berlin Science Week.

What difference does your research make? Who is affected by it? Who benefits from it? What change will occur as a result of your research?

There are many ways in which research can have ‘impact’. Reflect on the following categories to identify the areas where your research is most impactful:

Society

• What community groups or people might benefit from your research in the future?

Economy

• Will your research lead to any economic benefits for companies, governments, or other groups?

• What is the environmental impact of your research? Could it help to protect the environment or tackle the climate crisis?

• Does your research improve patient outcomes, investigate disease or reduce health inequality?

• Does your research contribute to education, training or upskilling?

• Does your research improve products, processes or services?

• Could your research enhance culture or improve intercultural understanding?

• Will your research influence policymakers or contribute to political stability?

In addition, think about the short-, medium- and long-term impact, or potential impact, of your research. How many people will your research affect? Will it have a significant effect?

Can you justify or provide any evidence of the impact?

For more inspiration on impact, please refer to University College Dublin’s Impact Toolkit.

Read the instructions and submit your application (in English) via our online application form:

Submit your entry to the Una Europa PhD Impact Award

The application form will invite you to consider the impact or potential impact of your research, e.g. on society, the economy, the environment, on health, on education, on technology, on culture or on policy.

Think about your research from the perspective of a non-expert. Approach the case study with a non-scientific, non-technical audience in mind. Anyone without expert knowledge should be able to understand the case study. Avoid jargon and technical language.

The winner(s) will be selected by an interdisciplinary jury of researchers in the fields of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence; Future Materials and Technologies; One Health; and Sustainability.

Entries will be judged based on the following criteria:

• Significance of impact (30%)

How important is the research? How many people could benefit from it? What is the quality of the impact? Is the impact short term or long term?

• Communication of impact (30%)

How well have you told the story of your research? Is the language understandable and accessible? Have you stayed within the word count?

• Evidence of impact (20%)

Is the potential impact realistic? Is there any data to support your claims?

• Robustness and innovative aspects of the research (20%)

How well is the research question formulated? Were adequate types of data used? Were private stakeholders and the civil society involved, perhaps through collection of data by citizens? Was an inter- or pluri-disciplinary approach taken? Were Open Science practices taken into account?

The call for applications is open until 14 September 2025 at 23:59 CEST.

The winner(s) will be notified by late September and must be available to travel to Berlin for the weekend of 1–2 November.

If any of the winners are non-EU citizens, we will do our best to support you in obtaining a visa to travel to Berlin. However, due to the timeline and waiting times for visa appointments, an alternative prize may be offered in this case.