At the University, our people are working together and with partners from across society to understand coronavirus (COVID-19) and its wide-ranging impacts on our lives.

Colleagues in our Faculty of Humanities are applying thier understanding of society and culture to plot the way forward. On the University coronavirus webpages you can read case studies of how we are currently contributing to tackling the crisis and what needs to be considered for the future moving towards the ‘new normal’.

In addition we are also bringing our researchers from across the Faculty together for a series of ‘Doing Things Differently’ seminars. The series will feature a range of Humanities thinking and expertise on how coronavirus is changing, or could change, the way we live, our society, politics, economics and the environment.

The first of these seminars is now live and considers how scientific advice is structured in the UK, the particular challenges of responding to a pandemic, and whether the right people are in the room (or Zoom) to best advise on the way forward.

The seminar features our Vice-Dean for Social Responsibility and Professor of Government Practice, Andy Westwood, Dr Elisa Pieri, a researcher from Sociology whose work includes pandemic preparedness, and Dr Kieron Flanagan, Senior Lecturer in Science and Technology Policy at the Alliance Manchester Business School.

The seminar is accessible to everyone and can be viewed online.

Further seminars considering a wide range of topics including disinformation, the impact of lockdown on women, urban infrastructure, the future of higher education and how the creative industries will be able to move forward will all be released over the coming weeks.