Making a Difference Awards Ceremony 2016

The annual Making a Difference Awards took place on Wednesday 11 May in the University’s Whitworth Hall.

Over 200 guests enjoyed seeing winners and highly commended entrants receiving their awards from Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell. The Awards covered 9 different categories, including: Inspiring Communities, Outstanding Contribution to Equality and Diversity; Outstanding Public Engagement Initiative and Outstanding Teaching Innovation in Social Responsibility, with all of the winners highlighting the significant difference they are making to the social and environmental wellbeing of our communities and wider society. Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell gave the opening keynote address and the University’s Chancellor Lemn Sissay closed the event with his poem Inspired and be Inspired.

There was a huge amount of interest this year, with the Awards receiving over 150 entries, making the judges’ jobs very difficult. In addition to the 15 winners, 26 projects also received the accolade of Highly Commended. Special Awards were also given to mark the sustained contribution over the past 10 years of the Manchester Access Programme, Manchester Leadership Programme and the Equity and Merit programme for developing countries.

Professor James Thompson, Associate Vice-President for Social Responsibility said: “The Awards are a wonderful opportunity to recognise and celebrate some of the inspiring activities in which our staff and students are involved. They provided the perfect opportunity to share some of the best social responsibility stories, raise the profile of dozens of University and community initiatives and in doing so contribute further to their impact.”

Details of all the winners and highly commended entries can be found on the social responsibility website and short films about each of the winners can be found on the social responsibility YouTube channel.