Staff communications

Good internal communications plays an essential part in making our colleagues feel involved, engaged and valued.

The Internal Communications team in the Directorate of Communications, Marketing and Student Recruitment, is responsible for

• delivering messages and campaigns on behalf of management that are applicable to all colleagues;
• facilitating two-way dialogue between leaders and colleagues;
• developing colleagues communication skills. 

Our Change Communications team is responsible for engaging colleagues in change at our University. We work closely with the Strategic Change Office and project teams to inform and involve colleagues in projects across different areas, to help deliver the University's strategic goals.

Our channels

We manage all broadcast channels across our University as well as communications to Professional Services staff.

Our channels include:

• StaffNet, our University intranet.
• StaffNet News, this is hosted on the StaffNet homepage and features important news for staff - send us your story.
• eUpdate, our weekly e-newsletter sent to all University staff. This includes an update from our President and Vice-Chancellor, and a summary of the week’s StaffNet news.
• Viewpoint, a blog where senior leaders from across our University can share their thoughts and insights on a range of topics, with the opportunity for colleagues to leave comments.
• Managers Need to Know, a monthly update for managers across the University.  
• A monthly communication sent to staff with no access to a computer

We also look after engagement events for the Senior Leadership Team and Professional Services Leadership Team.

Our team

For general enquiries, and to submit stories to StaffNet News, you can contact uninews@manchester.ac.uk

The Internal and Change Communications Team in the Directorate of Communications, Marketing and Student Recruitment are:

Marianne Webb - Head of Internal and Change Communications (on secondment)

Grace Conlon - Interim Head of Internal Communications

Stella Morris - Interim Head of Change Communications  

Pam Dickinson - Communications and Engagement Manager

Emma Dickson - Communications and Engagement Manager

Helen Pearce - Interim Internal Communications Manager 

Rose Brooke - Interim Change Communications Manager (on maternity leave)

Internal Communications team

Richard Brown - Internal Communications and Engagement Officer (Research and T&L staff communications)

Alithea Buchan - interim Internal Communications and Engagement Officer (People and OD and EDI staff communications)

Chris Lee - Internal Communications and Engagement Officer (T&L and Leadership staff communications)

Mikaela Sitford - Internal Communications and Engagement Officer (Research staff communications, Board of Governors and Chancellor staff communications, Pensions)

Daniel McKay - Engagement and Communications Officer (Estates and Facilties)

Ross McDonald - Internal Communicaitons Coordinator

Alison Boardman - Internal Communications and Engagement Officer (on secondment to IT Services until December 2024)

Change Communications team

Naomi Evans - Communications and Engagement Officer, IT Projects

Kate Greenhalgh - Communications and Engagement Officer, Evolve Programme

Niki Harratt - Communications and Engagement Officer, Projects and Campaigns (Research Lifecycle Programme)

Vicky Short - Change Communications Officer

George Brown, Change Communications Officer

James Spearing, Change Communications Officer

Karen O'Rourke, Change Communications Officer

Samantha Spanswick - Change Communications Officer 

Suhani Kochar - Communications and Engagement Coordinator

Wider internal communications teams

If you would like to target a specific group of staff you may need to speak to the appropriate internal communications manager:

• Biology, Medicine and Health – Katherine Lucarz
  
• Humanities – Ben Cawley
  
• Science and Engineering – Rachel Hobson or Danielle Moss
• IT Services – Tom Clegg, Mike Thorpe and Alison Boardman (on secondment)
• University Library – Michelle Sharples

Internal communications toolkit

We are committed to developing colleagues’ communication skills. To enable us to do this, we have developed our internal communications toolkit. 

In the first instance, we may suggest you look through our toolkit to help you plan your communications. The toolkit features an introduction to communication planning, a guide to creating an effective communications plan and a communications plan template.

Working with us

If you would like to work with us, please email uninews@manchester.ac.uk.

If you could give us as much notice as possible of when your request is scheduled to launch, it would be much appreciated. This will help us ensure it is delivered on time, and with time factored in to review any changes.

Your request will be reviewed against our existing priorities and you will be notified as to when we will have capacity to support you.