Directory of activities

Search these pages to explore a selection of our directory of activities. You can use the keyword search and filter buttons to discover how we are addressing each of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and the five priorities in our Social Responsibility and Civic Engagement Plan. You can also filter activities by location and function.



UCIL Launches Postgraduate Unit Engaging Students with The SDGs

Our University College for interdisciplinary Learning (UCIL) offers a unit that aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to explore and address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including the challenges that may occur from creating a sustainable world. The module also features contributions from policymakers, academics and the public, which gives students the unique opportunity to explore the UN’s SDGs in depth.

Early Career Race Network

Based at our University, the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity in collaboration with RACE.ED has developed the Early Career Race Network. The organisation aids early-career scholars specialising in ethnicity and race through regular online and in person workshops that provide support in navigating a career in academia.

UK-China Photography Competition

Each year the University’s Manchester China institute alongside Creative Manchester organise the UK-China International Photography competition to demonstrate how creative expression can form the bridge between building mutual understanding and empathy across different cultures. The competition encourages both local and international communities in Manchester to engage through the medium of art, and in the process, celebrate unique cultures whilst highlighting our shared commonalities. 

Report Highlights Innovative Solutions to Public Food Procurement in Greater Manchester

A researcher at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and the Sustainable Consumption Institute has co-published a report entitled ‘Being Brave: Innovative Solutions to Public Food Procurement.’ The report highlights how to improve food systems and the resilience of food procurement while also reducing its impact on the climate. The report also finds that there is a pressing need to improve school food provision and that adopting a more sustainable approach to school meals could facilitate substantial benefits in children’s nutrition and health, as well as reduced carbon emissions.

Afrocats takeover at The Whitworth

Our Whitworth Art Gallery partners with the Afrocats to hold a series of creative events and workshops to drive social change. Afrocats is a female-led charity that works closely with communities to address and dismantle inequality by identifying and breaking down barriers. Their vision is to create a robust and more inclusive social environment for vulnerable asylum-seekers and refugees.

360 Degree Tour of University Botanical Gardens

The Firs, our botanical garden, is located on the University’s Fallowfield Campus where it is currently used to aid environmental research. The state of the art greenhouse facilities within the gardens are also used for issues relating to food security and climate change. The interactive 360 degree tour enables viewers to explore the greenhouse, select plants and learn interesting facts about them. The virtual tour is also an excellent online resource for both adults and children to learn about the various biomes located at The Firs. Additional information about habitats, photosynthesis and climate change are also available on the tour.

University Publishes Report on Caring in a Changing Climate

Dr. Sherilyn MacGregor, Reader in Environmental Politics at our University, is the lead author of a major report commissioned by Oxfam America that investigates the impacts of climate breakdown, climate mitigation and adaptations on care work. The report calls for greater actions to limit greenhouse gas emissions and a more significant focus on the nexus of climate and care work within policy and research. It points to the need for climate initiatives to pursue gender-transformative approaches via the adoption of care sensitive interventions.

Promoting gender equity in academia

Our two multi-disciplinary teams from the University have been working with The British Council (UK) and AdvanceHE to promote improved gender equity in higher education and research institutions. In India, we are working with their Department of Science and Technology (DST) on the Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI) project which promotes women in STEMM at tertiary institutions.

Being Human Festival

Being Human is the UK’s National Festival of the humanities, which celebrates how the discipline enriches everyday living and helps us understand a changing world. Each year the festival invites researchers at universities and other research organisations to collaborate with local community and cultural partners to create exciting and engaging events and projects for all to enjoy.

ESRC Festival of Social Science

The ESRC festival of Social Science is an annual celebration of the research conducted in social sciences and its profound impact on society. It offers a fascinating insight into some of the country’s leading research and how it influences our social, economic, and political lives – both now and in the future. The festival is open to everyone and is a unique opportunity to engage directly with researchers about the projects they work on.

Improving Parkinson’s Diagnosis

Professor Perdita Barran is working on a way to improve Parkinson’s diagnosis in collaboration with Joy Milne, who has a rare condition called hyperosmia that gives her an extremely sensitive sense of smell and the ability to smell out different diseases such as Parkinson’s. Perdita and Joy have worked closely identify the particular molecules that give Parkinson’s its scent. This has led to the development of a non-invasive swab test that can, in conjunction with the onset of early Parkinson’s symptoms, identify Parkinson’s disease with around a 95% accuracy.

Greater Manchester Green Summit

Our University plays a key role in providing expertise on how we can reach the University’s goal of Zero Carbon by 2038, which is pivotal to influencing stakeholders to take greater action in addressing climate change. The Green Summit brings together residents, businesses, policy makers and community groups that share a determination for the city-region to be carbon neutral by 2038.

New Collaboration to Improve the Wellbeing of Black LGBT People

University of Manchester sociologist Jaime Garcia Iglesias collaborates with staff at Black Beetle Health to exchange expertise to better understand the support services available to LGBTQ+ people of colour and build capacity among community organisations for research activities. Black Beetle Health is a Manchester-based digital public health charity which supports the health and wellbeing of Black LGBTQ+ people.

New Prayer Room Opens at Manchester Museum

The Manchester Museum is committed to creating an inclusive environment to ensure that the Museum is a place where everyone feels they belong. The Prayer room was co-designed with museum staff and faith partners, and is available to anyone to use it for prayer, contemplation, or meditation. The calm and peaceful space is also equipped with chairs, room partitions, prayer mats, religious texts, ablution facilities, shoe covers and a shoe rack.

Sustainability and Audiobooks at Manchester University Press

Manchester University Press (MUP) regularly works with audiobook producer ‘Sound Understanding’ on many titles to make the daily lives of readers more sustainable. MUP’s audiobook programme focuses on releasing books aimed at a general readership interested in society and the world around us. MUP is committed to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as part of its social responsibility strategy.

Manchester Day of Action

Manchester Day of Action (MDoA) is our annual flagship volunteer programme where alumni from across the world are invited to choose a local project that needs volunteer assistance. Each project relates to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and a team of alumni work together to support the project during the ‘Day of Action,’ which takes place during the summer.

Manchester-China Friendship Programme enhances social inclusion on Campus

Each year our Manchester China Institute teams up with the Manchester China Forum (MCF) and The University’s International Office to integrate new Chinese students into campus life, while simultaneously enriching the campus experience for local students. The Manchester-China Friendship Programme (MCFP) further seeks to develop mutual understanding and friendships between British and Chinese students which is particularly important at a time when anti-Asian prejudice, discrimination, and aggression has increased in the UK and around the world. Integration is at the heart of the programme, as we hope to address the long-standing issue of hostility and racially targeted violence faced by the Chinese student communities on western campuses.

‘Never OK’ Sexual Harassment Student Campaign

‘Never OK’ is a joint campaign by The University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University and The University of Salford, that promotes an environment and culture where sexual harassment or violence is never tolerated. The campaign encourages everyone in our University community to be active bystanders and challenge unacceptable behaviour should they witness it. We also want to empower survivors of sexual harassment or violence within our community to seek support and feel confident about reporting incidents.

ScienceX

Our annual ScienceX festival is a flagship off-campus event run by our Faculty of Science and Engineering. The festival strives to inspire the upcoming generations of scientists and engineers through an array of fun and captivating workshops and activities that offer a genuine insight into science and engineering. Previous years have included science tricks to dancing robots, meteorites, building towers and making graphene.

Working with Industries to Prevent Aquatic Ecosystem Damage

Our work in hydrology and hydrochemistry to understand metals, carbon and gases in water systems has led to the development of a highly successful spin-out company, Salamander, which has brought to market two cutting-edge pieces of water monitoring software – chloroclam and hydroclam – which are being used in industry to improve water and marine system monitoring. We have also undertaken work to understand hypoxia – dead fish zones – which has directly informed marine industry practice on aquatic ecosystems.

Sustainable farming and food production: sharing our facilities and knowledge

We provide access to university facilities (e.g. labs, technology, plant stocks) to local farmers and food producers to improve sustainable farming practices as part of our H3 programme – one of four research consortia funded by the £47.5M ‘Transforming UK Food System for Healthy People and a Healthy Environment SPF Programme’ delivered by UKRI, in partnership with the Global Food Security Programme, BBSRC, ESRC, MRC, NERC, Defra, DHSC, PHE, Innovate UK and FSA. As part of this programme we provide local food producers with access to our proprietary technologies allowing them to diversify their food production. This includes access to our laboratories in the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology for analysis of crop nutrition and soil carbon.

We are also building a hydroponic demonstrator as part of an InnovateUK Knowledge Transfer Partnership with a local Manchester-based company who are producing a sustainable artificial growth substrate. This company has access to university facilities and technologies that is aiming to bring to market new and sustainable growth medium. This will develop a new way of reusing waste foam by mixing foam particles with adhesives that absorb water, to make a new type of synthetic soil, with many different applications that have benefits for advancing sustainable food growing practice. As part of this we are building a demonstrator at The Firs. The Firs environmental research station has recently undergone a major redevelopment with the investment of £2million from the university’s endowment fund which has enabled the creation of a state of the art greenhouses facilities that are being used for issues relating to food security and climate change. The site is made up of fourteen climate controlled growing compartments which are able to produce a range of different environments from tropical to sub-arctic. By doing this they are able to simulate different growing environments to replicate conditions from around the world and conditions as a result of climate change.

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