This month we’re opening our doors to friends and neighbours in the local community to go behind the scenes of the University and discover the exciting work taking place here. The much awaited in-person return of our annual Community Festival provides a free, fun-filled, family day on Saturday 25 June. Tell your friends, everyone is welcome! We’ve also said a big thank you to Lemn Sissay OBE, celebrating the close of his seven-year term as our Chancellor at a special event where we launched a film of his newly commissioned poem, which premiered at our Making a Difference Awards in May.

This month on social inclusion, we’ve announced further details of our new annual multi-million pound, fully-funded, scholarship programme for 20 students (ten undergraduate and ten postgraduate) fleeing war and persecution. Starting this September, The University of Manchester Humanitarian Scholarships were created in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine but are open to any international applicant who has been displaced because of armed conflict or is at serious risk of persecution or violence. Our Manchester Institute of Education have developed Local Matters, a new research approach to understanding and responding to poverty in schools. And researchers from the University have collaborated with practitioners to develop a framework and toolkit for conducting ‘mediated dialogue’ with groups in conflict.

On prosperous communities, Andy Haldane, Chief Executive of the Royal Society for Arts (RSA) and an Honorary Professor at Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS), delivered a talk on how the 12 levelling up “missions” in February’s White Paper might be turned into reality on the ground in towns and cities across Greater Manchester and beyond.

On better health, we were pleased to see that the Times Higher Education has highlighted our#BeeWell work on young people’s wellbeing in Greater Manchester, advocating for the rollout of our work in Greater Manchester to all schools in the UK.

On environmental sustainability, our Sustainable Consumption Institute published a report on food provision practices after COVID-19, with findings suggesting that ‘recovery’ measures have neither reduced people’s dependence on food charity nor addressed the linearity of disposable packaging provided by an energy-intensive, wasteful food industry. Manchester Institute of Innovation Research have produced a paper addressing how a bioeconomy could aid the transition to sustainable industrial ecosystems. May saw a student-led walkathon to raise awareness of the global degradation of soil, as well as the launch of the first 6R Fest on campus, promoting the 6R protocol to manage plastics sustainably. And our iconic annual event – the Great Science Share for Schools – has encouraged over 300,000 children in Greater Manchester and around the world to share science investigations focused on the climate emergency.

On cultural engagement, after years of planning, our First Light Pavilion at our UNESCO World Heritage Site – Jodrell Bank – opened to the public on 4 June. This architecturally stunning building is at the heart of a £21.5 million project to open up the awe-inspiring heritage of Jodrell Bank to even more people. Our Manchester Museum is celebrating South Asian Heritage Month with an unmissable two-day festival featuring film, music, workshops and more.And June 2022 saw the return of Manchester UNESCO City of Literature’s Festival of Libraries. Creative Manchester – the University’s creativity-championing research platform – offered seven workshop sessions in partnership with the Centre for New Writing and the Linguistic Diversity Collective.

We are alive with activities for the public – both in-person and online. Whether you want to come to open days, talks, activities, performances or exhibitions, we have something for everyone. Please visit our Events pages to find out more and sign up.

Julian Skyrme, Director of Social Responsibility