Monthly round-up

Welcome to our latest social responsibility newsletter.

In this addition we have a wide range of initiatives and activities to share with you! This weekend (14-15 April), ScienceX will return to intu Trafford Centre for the third year running. The free weekend-long science and engineering festival is packed with amazing interactive activities to inspire and excite visitors.

We’re really pleased to see that a number of University initiatives have received accolades: The Great Science Share for Schools has won the Charity of the Year award from Chemicals Northwest; Rhys Archer, a PhD student in the School of Materials, has been shortlisted as a finalist for the first English Women’s Awards (North) for her services to science and technology; the University has scooped a ‘Champions of Champions’ award for inspiring thousands of staff and students to opt for more sustainable journeys to work; and our signature programme, 10,000 Actions, has been shortlisted for a Guardian University Award.

We have welcomed a large number of visitors onto campus in recent weeks. Seventy guests from the local community visited the University’s Fallowfield campus for the Woolton Hall Tea Party, which aims to encourage community cohesion between local students and residential communities. Our Science Extravaganza welcomed nearly 1,000 school students onto campus. And we even had Mo Farah visit to the University to encourage our staff, students and alumni to take part in the Manchester 10K. For International Women’s Day the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health welcomed science journalist, broadcaster and author Angela Saini, to talk about the themes discussed in her latest book.

Other activities across campus include law students and our Legal Aid Centre helping to win an employment case on behalf of a group of dismissed employees, raising awareness for Diabetic Neuropathy with the help of a local community group and more tree planting on campus.

Finally, we would like to encourage you to vote in the Environmental Sustainability Category of our Making a Difference Awards. As well as the judges’ vote for a winner and highly commended, there will also be an award decided by public vote. You can watch the four short films for each of the shortlisted entries and place your vote by ‘liking’ the film that you think deserves to win.

If you have any stories of social responsibility at the University that you would like to share please do not hesitate to contact me.

Lisa Govey

Communication and Engagement Manager for Social Responsibility