People of Purpose is our new interview series celebrating colleagues from across the University who are making a meaningful difference to society through their work. By interviewing colleagues across the University and sharing personal stories, we aim to highlight their inspiring work, build awareness of their commitment to social responsibility and civic engagement, and introduce colleagues whose motivations, values and achievements deserve to be shared and celebrated. 

Professor John McAuliffe has spent much of his career helping to make the University of Manchester a place where collaborative, interdisciplinary and co-created work can truly thrive. As Professor of Poetry, co-founder of the Centre for New Writing and Director of the Creative Manchester research platform, he brings together colleagues, students and community partners to explore how creativity can support wellbeing and strengthen civic life. 

Through his teaching across undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD levels, John works with poets, literary historians and emerging writers, while also maintaining a successful career as an award-winning poet. 

As Director of Creative Manchester, John leads the University’s interdisciplinary platform that connects colleagues across Faculties who share interests but approach them through different methods. His leadership has helped shape major initiatives in creative industries and innovation, creativity and wellbeing, and what he describes as creative and civic futures. A strong civic purpose runs through all this work, grounded in the idea that the University is a place-based institution with responsibilities to its local communities. He also oversees a wide range of cultural partnerships, including collaborations, from Aviva and Factory International to Cartwheel Arts and GRIT Studios.  

Growing up in a small farming town, he was surrounded by storytellers; most famously playwright John B. Keane, who ran the local pub. Keane became an early example for John of how creative work can sit alongside ordinary working life, a lesson he has carried with him throughout his academic and artistic career. Collaboration, too, has always been central to his thinking, a value that has only strengthened over time. 

After studying English to Masters level in Galway, John began his academic career working freelance at Birkbeck, University of London, before joining the University of Manchester in 2004. Here, he found the space to balance teaching with creative research. He went on to co-found the Centre for New Writing, which now teaches poetry, fiction, screenwriting, playwriting and creative nonfiction, and promotes deep engagement with local communities. 

One project he is particularly proud of is a recent two-year collaboration with Lime Arts and Manchester Royal Infirmary. The project worked with organ donor families, nurses, anaesthetists and medical teams to explore their experiences following the UK’s shift to an opt-out organ donation system. Through a series of slow, trust-based workshops and interviews, they co-created a poem built entirely from participants’ words. The poem, accompanied by artworks by Stephen Raw and Liam Curtin, is now displayed on an external wall near the MRI. For John, the project shows what happens when creative practice becomes genuinely shared, and when communities feel the work belongs to them. 

In both his teaching and his public work, John is committed to showing that poetry isn’t something to be intimidated by. For him, it’s a tool for thinking, for figuring things out, and for understanding who we are in the world. And, as he reminds his students, it’s one of the most democratic art forms we have, you don’t need technology or equipment, just time, attention and a willingness to explore. 

• Read more of John’s poetry here

• Find out more about Creative Manchester