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.
Service Learning in Pharmacy
This project involves pharmacy undergraduates delivering assessed core curriculum public engagement workshops to high school pupils. Workshops covers a variety of public health topics relevant to 14–16 year-olds such as Antibiotic Resistance, Alcohol, Diabetes, Mental Health & Sexual Health Awareness.
Partnership with Stone Group
In IT Services we have a strong commitment to reducing our impact on the environment. In a move to support local youth and promote digital equality, IT Services at the University in partnership with IT Provider, Stone Group, has donated laptops to the RAFAC 1263 (Rochdale) Squadron.
Travel plan
We have a Travel Plan which aims to lower our travel-related carbon footprint. This plan aligns with the Environmental Sustainability strategy and aims to reduce carbon emissions while ensuring fairness and affordability for all.
Dentists in Primary Schools (DiPS) programme
The aim of the Dentists in Primary Schools project is to implement engaging oral health sessions in primary schools across Greater Manchester, especially those in socially deprived.
A group of undergraduate students have taken the local Dentists in Primary Schools (DiPS) programme halfway across the world. Through International DiPS, students from the Manchester Pediatric Dentistry Student Society have introduced healthy oral hygiene habits to hundreds of young children in Kisumu, Kenya.
Bicentenary inclusive recruitment campaign
The Bicentenary inclusive recruitment campaign is an initiative contributing to our social responsibility objectives by diversifying the talent pools we recruit from. Designed to reduce unemployment and promote regional socio-economic development, this initiative reflects our commitment to creating a meaningful and lasting impact within Greater Manchester.
Green Careers Mission
Greater Manchester universities, in collaboration with local industry partners, have launched an innovative initiative developed by the GM Civic University Board’s Green Skills Working Group. Students from the five Greater Manchester universities form cross-institutional, interdisciplinary teams to address key local sustainability challenges. These challenges, presented by industry partners, align with the priorities of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).
Celebrating diversity at Manchester Museum
Manchester Museum is dedicated to fostering understanding and connection between cultures through its diverse year-round calendar of events, including celebrations such as Diwali, Iftar, and Vaisakhi Festival. These events invite people of all ages and backgrounds to immerse themselves in the traditions, stories, and spirit of each festival, creating meaningful opportunities for cultural exchange and shared experiences.
The Lower Medlock Valley
We have partnered with Friends of Medlock Valley, a local community group, to promote biodiversity in inner city Manchester. Home to thousands of trees and open grasslands, the Medlock Valley is one of the city’s wildest and most ignored spaces, with few signs of the state or local authorities such as bins, benches or signage. This project aims to bring the University’s expertise and resources to scale up the group’s initiatives, with a series of workshops on historical memory through soil and trees, an appraisal of its ecological assets by staff in Earth Sciences at the University, and a durable set of information boards, wayfinders and artistic installations to embed the partnership within the community for years to come.
Staff volunteering
We have an employee volunteering policy which provides all employees with the opportunity to request up to three days paid leave to participate in a volunteering activity of their choosing. We understand how important it is for staff to be able to give back to the wider community, whether that’s here in Greater Manchester, or further afield.
Roots to Dental
Roots to Dental programme is a service-learning initiative, delivered in collaboration with the Working Well scheme, a family of services that support people experiencing or at risk of long-term unemployment in Greater Manchester. The programme offers Dentistry students important learning opportunities while also serving the Greater Manchester community.
Bee Circular
Bee Circular UoM is a student-led initiative focused on reducing food waste and fostering sustainability within the University of Manchester and its surrounding community through strategic partnerships and volunteer engagement.
Greater Manchester Civic University Partners support creative health initiative with Arts Council England funding
Greater Manchester is set to become the first Creative Health City Region, thanks to a £800,000 grant from Arts Council England’s National Lottery-funded Place Partnership Fund. Led by NHS Greater Manchester and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, this ambitious three-year project will unite public services, health and social care providers, cultural and voluntary organisations, higher education institutions, and local communities. The goal is to use creativity, culture, and heritage to tackle health inequalities and enhance the wellbeing of residents.
In a significant show of collaboration, the Greater Manchester Civic University Agreement partners – University of Bolton, Manchester Metropolitan University, The University of Manchester, The University of Salford and The Royal Northern College of Music – will play a pivotal role in the research and learning elements of the initiative under the banner of the Mayor’s Civic University Agreement.
Unit M
The University has launched a capability, Unit M, to rethink how it supports the region’s innovation economy. With a mandate to drive the University’s new approach to innovation, Unit M will connect and catalyse the innovation ecosystem in Manchester and the wider region to accelerate inclusive growth.
The Chrysalis Family Centre
The Chrysalis Family Centre has served as the setting for a fruitful collaboration between the University and local refugees and asylum seekers, fostering both language skills and community building. The initiative, spearheaded by our politics department, began as an English-language conversation project. Every week, students meet with refugees and asylum seekers at the Chrysalis Centre, offering them a chance to practice English and engage with the broader community. As the Chrysalis Family Centre continues to thrive, the collaboration between Manchester students and local refugees remains a powerful testament to the positive impact of community engagement.
Manchester Christmas Dinner
The Manchester Christmas Dinner project started in 2013 with a vision: “No care leaver will be alone on Christmas day.” The initiative aims to provide young care-experienced people, usually around 50, with a memorable Christmas Day experience. It offers a warm and welcoming venue, delicious food, engaging activities facilitated by friendly hosts, and, of course, presents. The initiative received a Making a Difference Award for its outstanding professional services in social responsibility.
University of Manchester Physics Outreach
University of Manchester Physics Outreach (UMPO) is a student-led project that aims to increase the diversity of student participation in STEM-based subjects (primarily physics) through engaging outreach activities. These include workshops for both primary and secondary schools, and science demonstrations at markets in the form of ‘science busking’. The project received a Making a Difference Award for its outstanding contribution to widening participation.
Universally Manchester Festival – a community day for all
Each year we throw open our doors for our local friends and neighbours to discover the variety of work we do here at the University. This free day is jam-packed with fun activities for all the family, including interactive demonstrations, musical and drama performances, and behind the scenes tours.
Our Universally Manchester Festival offers an inviting, informal space for visitors to meet our staff and students and community partners, and for us to take part in conversations that connect and inspire.
Talk 200 lecture and podcast series
Talk 200 is a lecture and podcast series from the University to mark our bicentenary: 200 years of making a difference. We’re reflecting on our past, celebrating our present and looking to the future – and Talk 200 invites listeners to be part of the journey.
The series comprises a mix of in-person and live-streamed lectures and recorded podcast episodes. Our podcast host, Manchester aficionado, author and University of Manchester alumnus Andy Spinoza, is joined by a diverse line-up of guests from our community. Topics include health, digital and AI, climate change, equality and justice, and more.
The Greater Manchester Citizens Panel
The Greater Manchester Citizens Panel contributes to the strategic direction of the Greater Manchester Civic University Agreement, Greater Manchester Universities and research projects at the University of Manchester.
The panel’s role is to analyse, understand, and act on the views of citizens across the city region. The panel is also supporting researchers at The University of Manchester to connect their work with the citizens of Greater Manchester.
Making Manchester Fairer
University of Manchester academics are working closely with Manchester City Council to tackle health inequalities.
Making Manchester Fairer is Manchester City Council’s action plan to address health inequalities in the city. The plan draws on lived experiences and research to address the socioeconomic factors that drive inequalities between people with the worst health and people with the best health.
Greater Manchester Poverty Action partnership
The University of Manchester has a partnership with Greater Manchester Poverty Action (GMPA), a recognised leader on poverty in the UK and exists to end poverty in Greater Manchester and beyond. They deliver independent, evidence-based activities to address socio-economic disadvantage.
Science and Engineering Education Research and Innovation Hub building better worlds
The University’s Science and Engineering Education Research and Innovation Hub (SEERIH) is a nationally recognised hub for teacher development. Through several innovative and research informed projects and programmes, SEERIH engages and develops teachers to ensure high-quality learning outcomes for young people across Greater Manchester and on a national scale.
Find out about SEERIH’s projects and impact, here.
Microplastics in rivers and the sewage scandal
Landmark research by physical geographers at the University has established that urban river beds can be heavily contaminated with microplastics. This research began as a curiosity-driven piece of river catchment science across Greater Manchester that quickly gained visibility beyond the academy to become part of a national debate about the state of Britain’s rivers, the environmental impact of sewage-dumping water companies, and years of failure to monitor and regulate water company activities.
Watch the microplastics in UK rivers short animation.
UNESCO City of Learning
The city of lifelong learning approach is a movement of people, services, and place, to connect, validate and nurture learning, to support the city economy and to promote high quality and inclusive learning, for all aspects of our life.
Manchester has become a UNESCO City of Lifelong Learning, in recognition of outstanding efforts to make lifelong learning a reality for all, with the University of Manchester as a strategic partner. The University of Manchester is proud to be leading on digital skills as part of Manchester City Council’s lifelong learning approach.
Partnership working with Greater Manchester’s Further Education Colleges
Further Education colleges are working in partnership with the Greater Manchester Civic University Board and the University of Manchester to mutually benefit and to connect the higher and further education sectors across the city region.
We caught up with Richard Caulfield the lead for the Further Education partnership to find out why partnership working is important across the sector.