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.
Health and wellbeing study programmes
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.
Kindling Trust
We support the Kindling Trust, a local organisation aiming to combat climate change, biodiversity loss, and economic inequity, by challenging and subverting the industrial food system. We buy vegetables through Kindling’s operatives and have taken shares in Kindling Farm – a new blueprint for fair, organic and ecological farming.
Take a Bite out of Climate Change
Our Take a Bite out of Climate Change partnership aims to share the scientific consensus about how food and agriculture contribute to climate change. It funds easily accessible information and fun activities for citizens such as Climate Food Flashcards, Farming for the Future workshops and the free e-book Food and Climate Change – Without the Hot Air.
Manchester Central Foodbank
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.
Sustainable agriculture through electronic engineering
Our Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering is examining how electronic engineering can improve food supply and sustainable energy production without increased pressures on our land.
E-Agri Manchester is using e-devices for reducing waste, increasing yields and making crops more resilient.
We also work on sustainable agriculture with the eight most research-intensive universities in the north of England through an N8 AgriFood programme.
Reproduction and austerity
Our academics are exploring the impact of austerity on reproduction.
The project uses a range of creative activities and interviews with women from areas in the north-east, where there are significant socio-economic barriers.
This project is providing new insights into contemporary austerity and how this may affect childbearing.
Student action
Our student community work on a range of projects to tackle extreme poverty and inequality.
Love for the Streets was established by two Manchester students to use youth events, content and social media marketing to tackle homelessness in partnership with local charities.
Once a Month fights period poverty through public campaigns and providing sanitary products to vulnerable women across Manchester.
Homeless Healthcare Society
The Homeless Healthcare Society helps improve the healthcare of Manchester’s homeless population by raising awareness of the medical inequalities and stigmas faced by homeless patients when accessing healthcare.
The aim is to ultimately improve the care provided by tomorrow’s healthcare professionals.
International development study programmes
Our Global Development Institute is the UK’s largest university-based postgraduate centre specialising in international development.
More than 5,000 students have completed master’s programmes in international development since 2012.
Inclusive growth in Greater Manchester
Our Inclusive Growth Analysis Unit was supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to analyse evidence about the scale of poverty and inequality in our city region.
It has recommended a range of policies on inclusive growth so that economic prosperity benefits all citizens across Greater Manchester and beyond.
The Works
We’ve supported more than 4,000 local people into work through our unique partnership with the Manchester Growth Company on the initiative, The Works.
Everyday Austerity
Our Everyday Austerity research project in our School of Environment, Education and Development has revealed the impact of austerity policies on everyday life for families and communities in Greater Manchester. As a result, we’ve advised, trained and empowered a wide range of local groups and communities to tackle social injustices resulting from austerity. Our findings were presented in an exhibition that turned peoples’ stories into a series of drawings, photographs, audio excerpts and objects to engage the public and bring these experiences to life.
Global Development Institute
Our Global Development Institute (GDI) is Europe’s largest research and teaching institute focused on poverty and inequality. The GDI runs the Effective States and Inclusive Development (ESID) Research Centre, which investigates how politics promotes inclusive development and government accountability. Recent research suggests that countries with the highest government capacity can reduce income poverty at twice the speed of countries with the weakest capacity. Spanning 16 countries, our research is deepening the understanding of governance in developing countries, and helping to influence policy and practices and improve people’s lives