ALT ENABLING RESEARCH ACCESS GRANT – APPLY FOR INSTRUMENT TIME ADVANCED IMAGING OF MATERIALS Through a Welsh Government Enhancing Competitiveness grant, AIM provides a proportion of instrument time for "free at point of use" pump-priming access for academic users in Wales to state-of-the-art imaging and characterisation equipment, plus expertise at the AIM Facility. The objectives of this project are to enable users in Wales to have access to advanced characterisation and expertise, support collaborative science, enhance project conception leading to competitive funding bids to UKRI with partners at Welsh HEIs. We focus our activities on WG strategies and user-driven research ideas that map onto the UKRI strategic delivery plan and themes of societal importance. Examples of grants we have supported through this process include an EPSRC First Grant, COVID-related rapid research grant, and Diamond Beamtime applications.