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.
The Whitworth Gallery of Sanctuary status
The University’s Whitworth gallery is the first gallery in the North-West of England to proudly join the hundreds of local councils, schools, universities, libraries, and cultural institutes who have Sanctuary status, pledging to create a culture of solidarity and inclusivity, and welcome people from a forced displacement background. The Sanctuary Awards recognise and celebrate the organisations who go above and beyond to welcome people seeking sanctuary.
Cycle September
Every September, our University takes part in a fun and friendly biking competition called Cycle September. The initiative encourages staff and students to ditch their cars and hop on their bicycles for their daily commute. In 2023, we placed 1st in Greater Manchester and 3rd overall in the UK, but there’s more to it than just the competition, choosing to cycle improves physical and mental wellbeing, reduces our carbon footprint and helps decrease traffic congestion around campus.
Tackling street harassment of women runners
Dr Caroline Miles and Professor Rose Broad from The University of Manchester are involved in ‘The abuse of women who run: experiences, perceptions and fears’, a project working with Greater Manchester Police and Merseyside police. The research involves analysing police data on recorded incidents of abuse experienced by women runners as well as surveys with women runners about their experiences. Following this, there will be events to raise awareness and share key learnings to help tackle street harassment.
Addressing racial disproportionality in police vehicle stops
Our researchers have been working with The University of Liverpool on an ethnographic study of police vehicle stops. The findings suggested Black men are routinely subjected to stop and search vehicle checks more than any other group. From this, our researchers made several recommendations including for all police vehicle stops to be recorded, to identify any racial disproportionality in their use and investigate links between vehicle stops and disproportionality in stop and search. This study has significantly influenced national policy and practice on racial disproportionality in the use of police powers.
One World Together
One World Together, co-founded by the University’s Global Development Institute, Dr Nicola Banks, is an innovative social enterprise rooted in principles of trust, solidarity and equity. It shifts money and decision-making power to the organisations closest to communities. With partners in Manchester, the North-West of England, Kenya and Zambia, One World Together brings local voices and experiences to the forefront of the movement, deepening their supporters’ understandings of poverty and inequality and of why local actors are so important to overcoming these.
Manchester Museum repatriation project
Our Manchester Museum has been working with the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) and the Anindilyakwa Land Council on a landmark repatriation project, returning 174 cultural heritage items to the Aboriginal Anindilyakwa community of Australia’s Northern Territory. The process of returning these items has supported Anindilyakwa cultural strengthening and revitalisation.
Public health and the SDGs
The University has developed a series of open-access courses on public health and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a key part of the United Nations’ work to improve lives and protect the natural world. Public health is integral to these aspirations, in helping to improve people’s health while protecting the health of our planet and the natural world that we are all dependent on. This series of courses aims to give an introduction to the public health issues that are relevant to the SDGs, and the role of public health in taking action to achieve the goals.
KIT:BAG
A partnership dedicated to tackling the impact of textile waste in the football industry has been launched between The University of Manchester and RÆBURN Design – a leading sustainable fashion studio. The new project, KIT:BAG by RÆBURN, will work with local sportswear suppliers and the local community to transform surplus football shirts into unique reusable tote bags, while educating them of the environmental impacts of textile waste and how we can extend the life of our garments. It aims to provide a fun, responsible way to keep kits in circulation while shining a light on the large-scale problem in the industry.
Sister, £1.7bn innovation district
Previously known as ID Manchester, Sister is a joint venture between The University of Manchester and Bruntwood SciTech. The project will see the transformation of the University’s former North campus into a 4 million sq ft globally competitive innovation district and will help elevate Manchester’s position as a national centre for science and technology.
It will deliver commercial, innovation, and retail space, over 1,500 new homes, nine acres of public realm, and create more than 10,000 new jobs, training, and apprenticeship opportunities for people across Greater Manchester.
Addressing gender disparity in Kenya and Uganda
Elimisha Msichana Elimisha Jamii na Astronomia (Swahili for “educate a girl, educate the entire community with Astronomy”) is a project founded by Faculty of Science and Engineering PhD student Ann Njeri. The project is addressing the issue of gender disparity and inequality in education amongst girls in rural Kenya and Uganda through outreach, mentorship, scholarships and targeted STEM workshop programmes which are guided by long-term student tracking and monitoring.
Alternative Football League
Co-founded by the University’s Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health PhD student Beth Barnes, the Alternative Football League (AF League) is the North West’s only fully inclusive football league for women, non-binary and transgender individuals. AF League have three leagues across Manchester and Liverpool with 30 teams and over 400 players. They aim to use football as a platform to improve the mental health of women and non-binary people throughout the UK with their very own mental health and inclusivity workshops.
Write on Point
Write on Point is a project which aims to widen participation to university by supporting students from under-represented backgrounds with their UCAS personal statements. It was developed by Tom Fryer, a PhD student from the University’s Institute of Education, after he noticed the wealth of research showing inequalities in access to support for getting into university. The project has supported over 1,400 students since it started in 2015, increasing university access and reducing the stress around the UCAS personal statement.
Maretório
Maretório is a project focussed on making space to facilitate meaningful communication about climate change for those vulnerable, coastal communities in Brazil who may be most affected by it. University of Manchester team members have collaborated with other institutional partners to create educational resources and children’s games to empower local people to engage with climate change as they view it and using language that is personal and relevant to them.
Don’t Brush it Under the Carpet
Don’t Brush it Under the Carpet campaign aims to improve mental wellbeing and raise awareness of self-harm as an issue for older people in Greater Manchester. It involves collaborative working between representatives from the award-winning Shining a Light on Suicide Campaign, GM Older People’s Network, GM Ageing Hub, health professionals, UoM researchers and focus groups of older residents led to the establishment of the Greater Manchester Older People’s Mental Health Clinical Reference Group.
Our Sustainable Future
Our environmental sustainability strategy, Our Sustainable Future, describes how we will reduce our carbon footprint, promote sustainability in our teaching and learning and research and innovation, and engage and support our community in the transition to a more sustainable society. Our strategy sets out the practical steps we are committing to, where it is already clear how best to protect and enhance our environment. We commit to transparency in reporting our progress towards our sustainability goals. We also outline our commitment to collaboration and deep enquiry where the solutions are less obvious, the challenges more complex or we need to be part of a broader shift to make the necessary changes possible.
Manchester Access Programme
Manchester Access Programme (MAP) is the University’s flagship post-16 widening participation programme for Y12 students from Greater Manchester. Every year, hundreds of students across Greater Manchester are selected for the programme that helps them gain a place at The University of Manchester, or another research-intensive university, through our online and on-campus events, workshops, and an academic assignment.
Salford learning centre
In collaboration with the University of Salford and national education charity IntoUniversity, we have launched a new learning centre in Salford to provide long-term educational support to young people facing disadvantage and who are typically underrepresented in higher education.
Undergraduate courses and the SDGs
Our University is working towards kite-marking all undergraduate courses with the relevant United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) they address. This will enable prospective students to immediately see which SDGs the course they are interested in links to and how that learning will make a difference in the world. Following the successful pilot project in our Faculty of Science and Engineering, work is now underway for all undergraduate courses to be kite marked within our Faculty of Humanities, followed by courses offered by our Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health.
Greater Manchester Graduates
Each year, over 17,000 students graduate from The University of Manchester, many of whom are already making contributions to our city and beyond through healthcare, education and protecting the natural environment. At each graduation ceremony, we celebrate our graduates and ask them ‘how do they hope to make a difference following their degree?’ Watch our Greater Manchester Graduates YouTube playlist.
Heart Heroes
Each academic year, the Heart Heroes project at the University of Manchester recruits and trains a team of student volunteers to deliver ‘Basic Life Support (BLS) skills’ training to groups of students, staff, and external community members. The student volunteers deliver multiple sessions covering heart attacks and CPR, using Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs), assisting individuals who are choking, and placing someone in the recovery position. The sessions receive positive feedback, with participants often astounded that these volunteers, typically without a medical background, deliver such high-quality training.
Tackling COVID-19 in Kenya’s slums
Funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund, a cross-disciplinary team, including researchers from the University of Manchester, have improved Covid outcomes in Kenya’s slums. The project aimed to identify local knowledge and attitudes surrounding Covid and implement an effective public health campaign. All work on the ground was conducted by trained local field workers, in cooperation with community health volunteers, local officials and village elders, ensuring messages were communicated through trusted personnel with knowledge of the local area and language. The findings from the study highlighted that consistent and targeted health campaigns in informal settlements can facilitate compliance, engagement and understanding alongside ongoing public health campaigns.
Raheem Sterling scholarships
Our University, alongside King’s College London, are proud to partner with The Raheem Sterling Foundation to offer scholarships to support Black African and Caribbean heritage applicants from socio-economically under-represented backgrounds. The Raheem Sterling Foundation envisions a world where young people will always have the support they need in the pursuit of improving their opportunities, their future careers and their quality of life. The foundation aims to fund seven students on undergraduate degree programmes at The University of Manchester over the next three years.
Fallowfield community project
Fallowfield community project is a long-term initiative to reduce the waste and fly-tipping issues and to improve recycling rates on the Fallowfield Brow. Students from our University volunteer alongside local residents, Manchester Student Homes, Manchester City Council and Biffa to remove litter from an alleyway, clear weeds and install new planters to make a positive impact on the local community and the environment.
Dentistry across continents
The Sri Lankan Civil War limited the influx of medical knowledge into the region for almost 30 years. Since then, healthcare practitioners of affected areas have been striving to update their practice to provide modern treatments for the local population. In 2011, the University of Manchester set up a continuous professional development (CPD) team in Sri Lanka, providing lectures to help improve healthcare knowledge and practice. Our academics visit each year and with support from our University and the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), have helped with capacity building, skill sharing programmes, student exchange opportunities and school community engagement projects.
