Technician Award

With the aim of raising the professional status of technicians, the IOP Technician Award highlights the diverse role of technicians in education, research and industry.

The winner receives a prize of £1,000, a trophy and a certificate presented at the IOP annual awards dinner. Those in the secondary school category will receive an additional £1,000 prize for their school or department.

We accept nominations for the Technician Award in the following categories:

• secondary schools
• further education and higher education
• national research facilities
• business
• teams (teams can apply only for this category)

Eligibility

Eligible technicians will work in a diverse range of organisations across the UK and Ireland – schools, colleges, universities, research institutions, NHS, defence or industry. They may, for example, plan and prepare teaching experiments, build and maintain infrastructure and laboratory equipment and software to support research and innovation, or install manufacturing systems or process control instrumentation.

Eligibility criteria:

• the nominee(s) must be an individual or team employed by an organisation in the UK or Ireland either part or full time, on a fixed term or permanent basis for at least one year
• nominees, nominators and referees do not need to be members of the IOP
• nominees, nominators and referees cannot be members of the IOP Council or employees of the IOP
• nominators may be working in the same organisation as the nominee(s)
• nominators cannot act as referees but referees may be working in the same organisation as the nominee 
• an individual or team cannot be rewarded twice for substantially the same body of work
• an individual must have a sustainable track record

Nomination process

Nominations for the 2023 IOP Awards are now closed. 

Please email [email protected] if you have any questions about the awards or your submission. Further information will be provided on the 2024 IOP Awards in due course.

Nominators must submit:

• details of the nominee, including details of the working relationship between nominator and nominee(s)
• a supporting statement, including a short and long citation that highlights:
  • how the individual entered into the technical profession
  • the resources the individual has to support them in their role
  • relevant information about the person(s) and their role
  • examples of their achievements; their contributions and resultant impact in their current role, rather than past achievements in any previous roles
  • evidence of professionalism, learning and development
  • examples of where the nominee(s) inspired others
• a short biographical statement
• contact details for two referees and their supporting statements
  • nominations in the secondary schools category must have one referee from the head of school and/or head of department
  • nominations in the higher education and further education category must have one referee from the head of department, or equivalent

If you have any questions about this award or the category that would be most suited to you, please email [email protected].

Previous winners

Find out more about our previous winners:

• 2022 awardees
• 2021 awardees
• 2020 awardees
• 2019 awardees