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.
Student learning partnerships
We’re committed to empowering students with the knowledge, skills and opportunities to address all of the SDGs through partnerships with public, private and civil society organisations.
Our University Living Lab platform connects student projects with external organisations to address the SDGs.
Our Volunteer Hub acts to advance partnerships between hundreds of charities and our student volunteers.
And many academic programmes offer service-learning partnerships, where external organisations benefit from practical student interventions in areas such as dentistry, optometry, pharmacy, business and legal advice.
In Place of War project
In Place of War (IPOW) is a global spin-out charity from research in our School of Music and Drama.
IPOW works with grassroots organisations in refugee camps, war-affected villages, towns under curfew, cities under occupation, and refugee communities, using creativity in places of conflict as a proven tool for positive change.
IPOW enables communities and grassroots change-makers in music, theatre and across the arts to transform a culture of violence and suffering into hope, opportunity and freedom.
Species conservation
Our Manchester Museum Vivarium is dedicated to the conservation of reptiles and amphibians.
We recently partnered with Panama Wildlife Charity PWCC on non-invasive research and conservation education involving local communities in the Santa Fe National Park in Panama.
This led to a world first in 2021: one of the world’s rarest toads, the Harlequin Frog, was successfully bred in captivity outside its country of origin, at our museum.
We also curate a world-famous FrogBlog and deliver a digital Learning with Lucy conservation programme for schools.
Community forestry in Nepal
Deforestation is the second leading cause of climate change after fossil fuels, accounting for almost a fifth of planet-warming emissions.
Our researchers led an international and interdisciplinary team of ecologists, economists and political scientists in the largest ever study of community forestry.
Studying 18,000 community-led forest initiatives in Nepal we found that community-forest management led to a 37% relative reduction in deforestation and a 4.3% relative reduction in poverty.
Getting to the root of poor soil health and bringing it back to life
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.
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.
Removing harmful pollutants from industrial wastewater with innovative technology
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.
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.
The carbon footprint of the music industry
Climate scientists at our Tyndall Centre are partnering with Bristol-based band Massive Attack to jointly examine the carbon footprint of the music industry.
Utilising data from the Massive Attack touring schedule will provide information and guidance to the wider music industry to reduce negative environmental impacts.
GrowGreen project
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.
Changing how international policy organisations understand and manage environmental problems
Research by Alliance Manchester Business School has demonstrated how large-scale transitions are needed to deliver significant climate change.
This has transformed how reducing greenhouse gas emissions is understood and addressed by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and has fed directly into policy recommendations made by the European Environment Agency.
Setting the standard for cleaner skies
Research from our School of Natural Sciences and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science formed an integral part of informing new regulatory standards on emissions of non-volatile particulate matter (nvPM), the metric used for aircraft emissions regulation. The work has enabled two new international standards for soot emission measurement; contributed to an aircraft emission regulatory update, affecting air quality around the world; and is also driving a reduction in global aviation soot in new aircraft engines.
Sustainable Cities MOOC
Our academics have contributed to a free massive open online course (MOOC) developed with Lund University, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability.
83,000 students around the world have used this to explore key trends of urbanisation and sustainability and apply this in advancing sustainability in cities around the world.
African Cities Research Consortium
Our African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC), funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) as part of UK Aid, tackles complex problems in some of Africa’s fastest growing urban areas. Aimed at reducing urban poverty and inequality, our research will generate new evidence to catalyse integrated, sustainable, inclusive approaches to urban development in partnership with frontline humanitarian responders, effective policy influencers, local government networks and deeply rooted civil society groups.
Mobilising Urban Living Labs to create sustainable infrastructure
Our research on Urban Living Labs has transformed sustainable infrastructure provision locally, and enhanced capacity in East Africa, South America and the Philippines.
Locally we’ve shaped £26m of infrastructure investment by Manchester City Council as well as replacing 20,000km of delivery van trips with e-cargo bikes. Globally, we’ve delivered walkability action plans and improved road safety for 5.8m citizens across East Africa, South America and the Philippines.
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.
Cultures of Anti-Racism in Latin America
Our three-year project, Cultures of Anti-Racism in Latin America (CARLA), is funded by AHRC.
It explores how artists in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia address racial diversity in their work, and how they use their art to challenge racism.
Global inequalities
Global inequalities is one of our five research beacons.
We support dedicated Institutes, Centres and Networks to foster world-leading interdisciplinary research into making our city, our region, our nation, and our world a fairer and more equal place to live.
Capacity-building for NGOs, businesses and government
We deliver free activities and resources for the public, private and third sector including vocational training, executive education and continued professional development.
We’ve helped create a pioneering NGO Explorer to build networks, increase transparency and provide potential for commissioning of work with NGOs through a searchable database.
Our annual Prometheus programme offers learning and development opportunities for third-sector leaders to make their organisations grow and be economically sustainable.
Influencing international and national employment policies to promote inclusive labour markets
Our Work and Equalities Institute is providing the evidence base to inform global employment debates and policies.
Research in three key areas is undertaken: minimum wage and collective bargaining; the gender pay gap; and precarious work.
This work is shaping guidance produced by international policy bodies and national policies of multiple countries, and is also providing evidence for European trade unions in their interactions with EU and national policymakers.
FutureDAMS Approach
As part of our world-leading FutureDAMS programme, we’ve produced a guide (PDF) to propose a series of steps and principles for conducting public, private and community stakeholder engagement in decision-making around water-energy-food-environment (WEFE) interventions.
This is underpinned by the principle that better decisions are generated when a broad range of stakeholders are included in a genuinely participatory manner.
Energy poverty
Our researchers have established a framework to explain how domestic energy deprivation affects households and communities.
Through a prolific programme of European-wide engagement – 100 events, 200 high-level presentations, ten policy briefs, two sets of EU member state energy poverty reports, and three pan-EU energy poverty reports – our research shaped the policy direction of the European Commission’s Vulnerable Consumer Working Group, the body responsible for developing EU energy policy.
Water procurement
We sell exclusively One Water on campus, an ethical company that donates all of its profits to fund clean water systems in Africa while costing the same as other water brands.
Right to Water app
We’re working in partnership with the community activist group, Pani Haq Samiti in Mumbai, on a Right to Water App and campaign to identify and remove barriers to the approval process for water connections.
