diff --git a/iprbench/autoparams.py b/iprbench/autoparams.py
index 03ea196..980a1eb 100644
--- a/iprbench/autoparams.py
+++ b/iprbench/autoparams.py
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ from .version import __version__ as iprbench_version
 import socket
 import subprocess
 import re
+import os
+import pwd
 
 
 class MeasurementTime(IAutoParam):
@@ -50,6 +52,16 @@ class HostFqdn(IAutoParam):
         return socket.getfqdn()
 
 
+class User(IAutoParam):
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        bench_param = BenchParam('user', BenchParam.Type.PARAM_TYPE_STRING, 'the user that triggered the benchmark (eg "root")')
+        super().__init__(bench_param)
+
+    def get_value(self) -> BenchParamType:
+        return pwd.getpwuid(os.getuid())[0]
+
+
 class NumCpus(IAutoParam):
 
     def __init__(self):
diff --git a/test/test_benchmarks.py b/test/test_benchmarks.py
index 06fee2e..03320c6 100644
--- a/test/test_benchmarks.py
+++ b/test/test_benchmarks.py
@@ -43,7 +43,8 @@ class BenchmarksTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
             'blas_library': '<default-libblas>:<default>',
             'matrix_size': 1024,
             'num_loops': 10,
-            'num_cores': 2
+            'num_cores': 2,
+            'launcher': 'iprbench.unittest',
         }
         test_benchmark(benchmark_id, benchmark_config, self.results_root_dir)
 
diff --git a/test/test_clusterbench.py b/test/test_clusterbench.py
index 323763b..89b9cb3 100644
--- a/test/test_clusterbench.py
+++ b/test/test_clusterbench.py
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ class ClusterBenchTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
             'blas_library': '<default-libblas>:<default>',
             'matrix_size': 1024,
             'num_loops': 10,
+            'launcher': 'iprbench.unittest',
         }
         test_clusterbench_submit_with_benchmark(benchmark_id, benchmark_config, self.results_root_dir)
 
diff --git a/test/test_resultsdb.py b/test/test_resultsdb.py
index 513e3a0..20325e8 100644
--- a/test/test_resultsdb.py
+++ b/test/test_resultsdb.py
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ def test_resultsdb(resultsdb_params: ResultsDbParams, results_root_path: Path):
         'blas_library': '<default-libblas>:<default>',
         'matrix_size': 1024,
         'num_loops': 10,
-        'num_cores': 2
+        'num_cores': 2,
+        'launcher': 'iprbench.unittest',
     }
     command = f'iprbench-run --benchmark-id \'{benchmark_id}\' --config \'{json.dumps(benchmark_config)}\' --results-dir {results_dir} --resultsdb-params \'{json.dumps(resultsdb_params)}\''
     subprocess.run(command, shell=True, check=True, executable='/bin/bash')