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.
Addressing gender disparity in Kenya and Uganda
Elimisha Msichana Elimisha Jamii na Astronomia (Swahili for “educate a girl, educate the entire community with Astronomy”) is a project founded by Faculty of Science and Engineering PhD student Ann Njeri. The project is addressing the issue of gender disparity and inequality in education amongst girls in rural Kenya and Uganda through outreach, mentorship, scholarships and targeted STEM workshop programmes which are guided by long-term student tracking and monitoring.
Alternative Football League
Co-founded by the University’s Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health PhD student Beth Barnes, the Alternative Football League (AF League) is the North West’s only fully inclusive football league for women, non-binary and transgender individuals. AF League have three leagues across Manchester and Liverpool with 30 teams and over 400 players. They aim to use football as a platform to improve the mental health of women and non-binary people throughout the UK with their very own mental health and inclusivity workshops.
Write on Point
Write on Point is a project which aims to widen participation to university by supporting students from under-represented backgrounds with their UCAS personal statements. It was developed by Tom Fryer, a PhD student from the University’s Institute of Education, after he noticed the wealth of research showing inequalities in access to support for getting into university. The project has supported over 1,400 students since it started in 2015, increasing university access and reducing the stress around the UCAS personal statement.
Don’t Brush it Under the Carpet
Don’t Brush it Under the Carpet campaign aims to improve mental wellbeing and raise awareness of self-harm as an issue for older people in Greater Manchester. It involves collaborative working between representatives from the award-winning Shining a Light on Suicide Campaign, GM Older People’s Network, GM Ageing Hub, health professionals, UoM researchers and focus groups of older residents led to the establishment of the Greater Manchester Older People’s Mental Health Clinical Reference Group.
Manchester Access Programme
Manchester Access Programme (MAP) is the University’s flagship post-16 widening participation programme for Y12 students from Greater Manchester. Every year, hundreds of students across Greater Manchester are selected for the programme that helps them gain a place at The University of Manchester, or another research-intensive university, through our online and on-campus events, workshops, and an academic assignment.
Salford learning centre
In collaboration with the University of Salford and national education charity IntoUniversity, we have launched a new learning centre in Salford to provide long-term educational support to young people facing disadvantage and who are typically underrepresented in higher education.
Undergraduate courses and the SDGs
Our University is working towards kite-marking all undergraduate courses with the relevant United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) they address. This will enable prospective students to immediately see which SDGs the course they are interested in links to and how that learning will make a difference in the world. Following the successful pilot project in our Faculty of Science and Engineering, work is now underway for all undergraduate courses to be kite marked within our Faculty of Humanities, followed by courses offered by our Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health.
Raheem Sterling scholarships
Our University, alongside King’s College London, are proud to partner with The Raheem Sterling Foundation to offer scholarships to support Black African and Caribbean heritage applicants from socio-economically under-represented backgrounds. The Raheem Sterling Foundation envisions a world where young people will always have the support they need in the pursuit of improving their opportunities, their future careers and their quality of life. The foundation aims to fund seven students on undergraduate degree programmes at The University of Manchester over the next three years.
Multilingual World
Multilingual World is a podcast hosted by Dr Serge Sagne, a lecturer in linguistics and current lead of the Linguistic Diversity Collective where he explores multilingualism and linguistic diversity across the globe. The video podcast features Dr Sagna in conversation with leading academics, and multilingual speakers living in Manchester where they discuss their relationship with language, identity and their experience learning, transmitting, and using languages in Manchester. The podcast production is supported by Creative Manchester. Visit and subscribe to the Multilingual World YouTube channel here.
Stonewall ranking
Stonewall is Europe’s largest charity for lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, questioning and ace (LGBTQ+) people and each year ranks organisations for their LGBTQ+ inclusion practices against other organisations. Up to 500 organisations take part in the annual Index, in which we have ranked in the top 100 for eight consecutive years. This year, our University scored 133 out of 197 in its Workplace Equality Index submission, ranked 7th overall, and also achieved a Gold award for meeting specific criteria around a number of identified measures for LGBT+ inclusion.
International Mother Language Day
We participate in the UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day every year, celebrating the cultural diversity and multilingualism in Manchester. The events to commemorate this day are focused on language and are led by our libraries, community groups, neighbouring schools, poets, and writers.
Making a Difference Awards
Each year, we host the Making a Difference Awards to celebrate the incredible and inspiring work of our University community. The awards highlight the extensive range of social responsibility initiatives of our staff, students, alumni and external partners, and covers categories such as benefit to research; widening participation; environmental sustainability and equality, diversity and inclusion.
Global University Social Responsibility MOOC
Our university has contributed to the Global University Social Responsibility Massive Online Open Course (MOOC), which allows users to learn about the general framework of university social responsibility as well as understand effective practices to design, plan, implement, and evaluate their own activities.
Talking Science Competition
Each year, the University’s Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health (FBMH) hosts the ‘Talking Science Competition’ where second year undergraduate students and above are invited to share their ideas on how science can create a healthier, fairer and greener world, creating a unique opportunity to talk about a subject that really matters to them.
Black History Month
Black History Month is used as a time to give appreciation and recognition of the positive contributions that Black people have made. It also provides an opportunity to celebrate accomplishments, share learning, and allows us time to reflect on the past, whilst being proud of our culture and identity. Each year, we host a variety of events for staff and students to mark Black History Month. For example, our University’s Creative Manchester presented a lecture with award-winning writer, historian and broadcaster, Professor David Olusoga OBE, exploring what it means to be black and British and the role of black history today.
Age-friendly Greater Manchester
To mark the UN’s International Day of Older Persons we have created a booklet which showcases the different ways older age is experienced in Greater Manchester, alongside an accompanying animation. This booklet offers a guide to a more immersive, flexible, creative and participatory approach for engaging with those within the category – enabling policy communities, academics, and others to gain a richer, localised and more personal understanding of what it means to be an older person. The project also responds to research and campaigns that have found representations of older age often fall back on medicalised, stereotypical accounts of what constitutes older lives.
Health Inequalities
Policy@Manchester is our University’s policy engagement institute that connects researchers with policymakers and influencers, nurtures long-term policy engagement relationships and seeks to enhance stakeholder understanding of pressing policy challenges. One of the institutes online collections, Health Inequalities draws on research from across the University, and offers evidence-led insight and policy recommendations on the causes, effects, and solutions to heath inequalities.
From Boys to Men
‘From Boys to Men’, a project from our School of Social Sciences, explores why some boys become domestic abuse perpetrators and what more can be done to prevent it. The ground-breaking research findings led to a number of significant interventions at a local and national level. The findings also contributed to Greater Manchester’s Combined Authority’s (GMCA) 10-year strategy to tackle gender-based violence, and the toolkit generated by the project has influenced school-based preventative strategies as well as being rolled out in Malta, France and Spain.
Historic links with slavery
Dr Natalie Zacek, Senior Lecturer in American Studies and Professor Nalin Thakkar, Vice President for Social Responsibility have conducted preliminary research that analyses the connections between the University’s predecessor institutions and historical slavery. This research has been carried out in response to our Race Matters report. The article has initiated new conversations that seek to address the implications, responsibilities and opportunities for the University to develop a deeper understanding of the past.
Manchester Museum’s Indigenise Speaker Series
Manchester Museum is taking action to Indigenise and decolonise its collections. As part of this, they have been hosting annual Indigenise Speaker Series, which brings together Indigenous scholars and projects from around the world to participate in activities and discuss how to empower Indigenous communities and collaborate with them at the museum.
Irene Manton Lecture
Each year, we host the Irene Manton Lecture in partnership with the Linnean Society of London which celebrates the significant contribution made by women to the Natural Sciences.
School Governor Initiative
The University has one of the UK’s most extensive programmes of work with local state schools and colleges. In accordance with the University’s access and participation plan with the Office for Students, we deliver a School Governor Initiative that helps staff and alumni to find volunteering placements as governors in local schools.
LGBT+ History Month
Each year our University marks LGBT+ History Month with a variety of events, awareness raising activities and calls to action to mark the contribution and importance the LGBT+ community has had on the University. Events include exploring aspects of LGBT+ inclusion and a screening of a documentary focusing on intersectionality, followed by a discussion. Members of our alumni are also invited to join a panel where they discuss the theme allocated to LGBT+ History Month for that year.
Student Volunteering Week
Each year our University organises the Student Volunteering Week which aims to encourage students to take part in various volunteering opportunities to help society and the environment. For example, in 2025, in partnership with Ardwick Climate Action, students took part in sprucing up areas around Kale Street and the Mancunian Way, improving the biodiversity of the area and making it cleaner and greener for the residents.
