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.
searching subjects: Campus
University governance
We have a duty to conduct our affairs in a responsible and transparent way.
The Board of Governors is our governing body, carrying ultimate responsibility for our overall strategic direction and for the management of our finances, property and affairs generally, including the employment arrangements for all staff. Its membership of 23 has a majority of persons who aren’t employed by the University, known as lay members and its Chair is appointed by the Board from within the lay category of the membership. Members of our Senate, support staff and student representatives are also elected to serve on the Board.
The General Assembly is a much larger body than the Board of Governors. In common with the Board, it has a majority of lay members. Lay members are drawn from a wide range of local, regional and national interests, and together they offer the University a wealth of experience and expertise from differing perspectives and backgrounds.
Justice Hub
Our Justice Hub allows students to explore and apply various arms of the law to make real change in our communities.
The Hub runs a free legal advice centre for economically disadvantaged people in areas such as family, housing and immigration law.
During the pandemic, our Justice Hub set up the Virtual Vacation Scheme, which aimed to simplify some very complicated areas of law impacted by the pandemic, and created an accessible and informative method of legal help for the community through workshops, videos, briefings and webinars.
Manchester Innocence Project
As part of our Justice Hub, The Manchester Innocence Project (MIP) is one of only 13 organisations outside of the US to join the Innocence Network.
Law students volunteering with MIP have the opportunity to take on live criminal appeals for those who maintain their innocence.
Biodiversity on campus
The Firs is located on the University’s Fallowfield campus and houses a suite of facilities for environmental research, monitoring and engagement.
Our UNESCO World Heritage site, Jodrell Bank, is another area rich in biodiversity.
To help promote biodiversity on campus, we’ve developed:
- an online, interactive campus Tree Trail highlighting 50 of the 1,500 trees across Oxford Road Campus, North Campus and Whitworth Park.
- a tree plan requiring the planting of two trees for every one removed by our campus developments.
- UMAPIT (University of Manchester Animal Positions and Information Tracker) – a bespoke app to allows the public to record sightings of urban wildlife species.
We’ve also transformed a former road into Brunswick Park – a pocket park to enhance green space and wellbeing on campus.
Cultural venues and nature
The Whitworth created the UK’s first dedicated post of Cultural Park Keeper.
This has led to the creation of a Natural and Cultural Health Service programme of outdoor activities to raise awareness, educate and inspire our diverse visitors to connect with and protect life in our park.
At Jodrell Bank we work with community and voluntary groups, including the RSPB and the Cheshire Beekeepers Association, to protect and enhance our natural environment.
Making labs greener
Leading the way in achieving the University’s pledge to eliminate avoidable single-use plastic usage, staff in our School of Biological Sciences are reducing single-use plastics in the lab through adoption of a 6R approach.
This has included:
- refining protocol and optimising waste management;
- reducing single-use items;
- re-using materials, plastic containers and gloves;
- using recycled material;
- replacing plastics where possible with glass, paper or wood.
Watershed management
We’ve implemented watershed management strategies based on location-specific diversity of aquatic species.
These ensure flow rates of water run-off in our urban environment are decreased and water quality is improved, including reducing flow into our local River Medlock on campus.
At our rural Jodrell Bank site, we’ve also reduced flow into our local watercourses, protecting the great crested newt – a protected species that relies on aquatic life.
Ocean warming and shark survival
Our undergraduate students have assisted a study into the effects of warming ocean waters on the small-spotted catshark embryo’s freeze response: a technique whereby the embryo stops moving so that predators won’t detect them.
The research found that with a 5°C water temperature increase there was a seven-fold decrease in the length of time the embryos froze for in the presence of a predator stimuli, indicating that as oceans warm, many shark and ray species may reduce in number due to increased predation.
Divesting from fossil fuels
We’re ending investments in fossil fuel reserve and extraction companies by 2022, and ‘decarbonising’ all other investments by 2038.
This policy was developed in consultation with the University’s Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and our Students’ Union.
Towards net zero
The University has pledged to support Manchester’s climate change target for zero carbon by 2038.
This involves reducing carbon emissions from a 2018 baseline of 54,000 tCO2 to at least 21,000 tCO2 by 2025 and placing carbon impact at the heart of strategic decision making in the University’s new strategic plan.
Student campaigning and activism
Our Students’ Union set up Climate Justice Fortnight, an initiative exploring the different ways that climate injustice manifests itself, and how we can tackle it.
There are Teach-Ins throughout the fortnight where students and academic staff collaborate on delivering content on these issues in their current class times.
Students also organise activities and actions through societies such as the People and Planet Society or Extinction Rebellion Youth; get involved in sustainability leadership roles such as the Students’ Union’s Ethical and Environmental Officer; take on environmental representation roles in halls of residence; and attend events and campaigns such as the youth strikes for climate action.
Climate action in study programmes
Our students are taking on the challenge of climate change across hundreds of undergraduate and postgraduate modules in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and engineering.
In addition, every undergraduate student has the opportunity to take Climate Change and Society, a unit offered by our University College for Interdisciplinary Learning, which explores the politics of climate change action and analyses the challenge from the perspective of multiple stakeholders and different nations.
Social Value Portal
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.
Want Not Waste
Want Not Waste is a student-run, zero-waste shop on campus, supported by the University to grow from a small stall operating out of our Students’ Union, to owning its own independent unit.
They’ve also developed a series of online resources to foster a community of knowledge sharing and inspiring pro-sustainable choices.
Sustainable travel
We received platinum accreditation from Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), recognising the University’s contribution to sustainable low-carbon travel.
From 10,000 to 50,000 Actions
In 2016 we launched 10,000 Actions, the biggest environmental sustainability initiative in the UK higher education sector, with 50% of our 10,000+ staff accessing the platform.
In autumn 2021, we’re launching a revamped 50,000 Actions that expands the platform to the whole of our student body.
University Living Lab
Our University Living Lab applies the energy and expertise of students to real-world sustainability challenges by developing student projects with external organisations linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Equality marks
- Stonewall Top 50 employer for LGBTQ+ equality
- Bronze Award for Race Equality (use logo)
- 15 Athena SWAN Chartermarks for Gender Equality
- Care Leaver Covenant signed to support care leavers to live independently.
- University of Sanctuary status in support of our work with refugee and asylum seeker students
Diversity monitoring
Our latest Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) annual report shows that:
- 3% of employees disclosed that they are disabled
- 9% of staff declare they are Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic
- 5% of our staff are female
- 8% of staff classify themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or other
- 22% of students are the first in their immediate family to gain a degree
- 1.1% of students (407) are from low or lower-middle income countries as defined by the World Bank.
Zero tolerance
Our Speak Up! Stand Up! campaign and reporting procedures through our Dignity at Work and Study Policy make it clear that we take a zero tolerance approach to bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination or victimisation by any members of our community.
Equity and Merit Programme
Our Equity and Merit Programme supports the brightest minds from some of the least developed countries in Sub-Saharan Africa – Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe – to develop skills for sustainable development in their home countries.
Thanks to funding by the University and the generosity of our donors, more than 300 international students have completed master’s programmes with us.
Reducing inequalities through our cultural institutions
Following the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement, our gallery’s Whitworth Young Contemporaries was motivated to create an Other Utopia zine which connected art, ideas and communities to challenge white narrative of its collections.
Our Museum’s Our Shared Cultural Heritage youth project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, utilises a range of engaging activities and events to explore and celebrate the shared histories and cultures of the UK and South Asia.
Talking Migration
Academics from our Department of Politics have created Talking Migration, a free, publicly accessible podcast filled with discussions, debates and interviews on all aspects of the politics of migration.
