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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.
searching subjects: Better health
As part of our partnership with the local NGO, Manchester City of Trees, students can use our Volunteer Hub to sign up for one-off or weekly tree planting sessions or even become a Citizen Forester.
Our student volunteering is supporting their mission of planting one tree for every person across Greater Manchester, creating a healthier and more sustainable city region.
Researchers in our Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences have examined degraded soils of grasslands in Kenya and China to understand the role of soil biodiversity in creating and supporting healthy ecosystems.
We’ve scaled up novel approaches to harness ecological connections between native soil microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, algae) and native plants to accelerate recovery from degraded to healthy soil.
Tools have been developed to provide accessible and practical knowledge for local communities to repair soils and public and policy awareness has been raised of the vital importance of soil biodiversity on a global scale.
Life below water, in rivers and at sea, is threatened by waste flowing from urban river channels into the oceans.
We’ve been highlighting the effect of microplastics – very small pieces of plastic debris including microbeads, microfibres and plastic fragments – on river systems and marine life through a range of pro-active media coverage, engagement with water companies and input into UK legislation on water management.
Researchers in Chemical Engineering and Analytical Sciences have worked with our spin-out company Arvia Technology to develop an electrochemical process that has dramatically reduced wastewater pollution levels and enabled water recycling across numerous industries.
The Arvia process has reduced pollutant levels from pesticides to match UK drinking water standards; removed 90% of pharmaceutical residues and natural hormones from industrial wastewater; and reduced the release of high microbial wastewaters which can cause anti-microbial resistance.
Arvia Technology has now installed treatment systems in 25 companies across 11 countries, including the UK and China.
Through the Diverseafood project, our researchers are investigating how seafood can contribute to sustainable, healthy diets.
They are assessing the best methods to transition to more diverse seafood intake by looking at the impacts of sustainable aquaculture at the levels of business models, policy, and consumer acceptance.
Our academics are involved in GrowGreen, a five year, EU-wide project that promotes nature-based solutions to climate change.
The project involves a range of citizens, business and public-private partnerships in neighbourhoods and across cities to promote learning, sharing and replicating nature-based solutions and strategies to urban sustainability challenges.
We’ve become the first higher education institution in the UK to adopt the Social Value Portal, the leading online tool that helps organisations prioritise and measure their social value when they procure, or pay for, major services.
We’ve worked with our Students’ Union and current Women’s Officer to initiate and fund a new scheme providing free period products for our students, helping to combat period poverty and ensure sanitation for all.
We partnered with gynaecological cancer charity The Eve Appeal to raise awareness of our research into Lynch syndrome and what it means for cancer screening practices.
We created a series of short videos outlining this research, what it means, and the real stories of women and families who have been affected by Lynch syndrome and Lynch-related cancer.
#BeeWell is an initiative established in Greater Manchester in 2019 by our University, Anna Freud, The Gregson Family Foundation, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority. The programme aims to explore young people’s opinions on wellbeing and the ways in which it can be improved. The findings inform activity across Greater Manchester, with schools, voluntary sector organisations and children’s services working closely with young people to interpret and act on the results.
Our Natural and Cultural Health Service is a programme of outdoor activities run by the Whitworth to promote good physical and mental wellbeing.
Staff, students and the public are also encouraged to use our FIRS botanical gardens to bring gardening, wellbeing and botany to more people.
Our Sporticipate programme serves to provide free and low-cost entry-level sport sessions for the University and wider community.
Sports staff also facilitate volunteering by colleagues and students for the good of local organisations.
Health Innovation Manchester works to develop and deploy new solutions that improve the health and wellbeing of Greater Manchester’s 2.8 million citizens.
We work in partnership with other regional institutions, authorities and health experts to respond to healthcare challenges across Greater Manchester, and drive national and global innovation agendas in frontline care.
Our researchers studying parasites have engaged diverse communities in the UK and Madagascar to share research findings and develop resources and toolkits to raise awareness, understanding and dialogue about parasitic worm infection.
Our academics are working to mitigate the cultural, organisational and technical challenges faced by patients suffering from major limb loss in post conflict settings in East Africa.
Our School of Environment, Education and Development regularly conduct #Huckathon sessions to engage hundreds of volunteers to remotely map hidden villages, roads and dwellings to target health interventions.
Our School of Environment, Education and Development and Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health worked with partners in Kenya to undertake initial surveys and set up a campaign to engage more than 200,000 people to change behaviour and improve knowledge surrounding coronavirus and the use of face masks.
Our Humanising Healthcare initiative embeds community service and engagement within dentistry, pharmacy and optometry programmes.
It supports students to deliver essential healthcare and education to communities as part of the curriculum.
It also encourages global volunteering and the development of civic values and skills in the future health workforce.
Our Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health has successfully established the Action on Antibiotic Drug Resistance: One Student. One Campus. One World programme.
We’re now working to create a wider student-led network with other universities in the north-west and across Africa.
We have the UK’s largest medical school and are the biggest provider of graduate healthcare professionals to the NHS in England’s north-west.
We also offer pioneering professional programmes in areas including global health, humanitarianism and international healthcare leadership.
Our academics are part of a collaboration to improve cardiovascular care in Indonesia.
The team trained local health workers (kaders) on cardiovascular disease, risk factors and the technical use of an app called SMARThealth, benefiting 48,000 people.
In northern India’s rural communities, increased exposure to high concentrations of arsenic and other chemicals found in groundwater has contributed to a rise in cancer and cardiovascular disease, adding to the public health inequalities and poor health outcomes of the region.
Our Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences has shown the importance of rice as an exposure route for inorganic arsenic where microbes promote its release from materials such as sand and silt.
This research led to recommendations focusing on rice selection and preparation techniques, highlighting the dangers of groundwater irrigation.
Our student-run, campus zero waste shop, Want Not Waste, holds a community fridge.
This contains food from unsold meals offered by local business and surplus raw ingredients provided by our catering outlets.
Stocking these items combats local food waste while helping to tackle food insecurity within our own university community.
Since its inception in 2013, the UK’s first student-led and campus-based foodbank, Manchester Central Foodbank, has helped thousands of local citizens with food insecurity.
This included developing an online store and delivery system for vulnerable and isolated people, and providing 70,000 meals during the pandemic in 2020.
Our BA Geography students undertake a Food and Farming unit covering hunger, ethical consumerism, environmental sustainability, animal rights and social equity.
Biosciences undergraduates take a Plants for the Future unit exploring how plant biology can address social and environmental challenges.
Through a Green Biotechnology unit, students engage with the latest developments in sustainable food production, energy generation and pharmaceutical production.
