University and Unilever sign partnership agreement

28 Oct 2013

The University of Manchester has today committed to a long-term partnership with Unilever, one of the world’s largest, fast-moving, consumer goods companies.

This strategic relationship will make Manchester a key partner for Unilever’s research collaborations in a number of specific fields of science. 

The formal signing of the agreement and launch took place on Monday morning at the University’s Sackville Street Building.

Professor Luke Georghiou, Vice-President for Research and Innovation at The University of Manchester, said: “Unilever recognise that access to university research can give their organisation a new vantage point.  Strategic alliances of this nature are helping to put innovation and research at the heart of economic growth in the UK.

“Unilever will benefit by gaining intellectual insights from world-leading researchers. The University will benefit from the commercial insight that can inform and direct our research in the future and generate real-world impact.”

The University of Manchester joins a small number of strategic academic partners as the company works towards fulfilling its ambitions of growing the business while reducing its environmental impact.

Unilever will support the University to carry out research across all four of its Faculties in areas covering sustainable consumption, process engineering, biophysics and systems biology, as well as aspects of inflammation, toxicology and hair biology.

Professor Jim Crilly, Senior Vice President, Unilever Strategic Science Group, said the common link between the research was the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, with innovation at the core of sustainable growth for Unilever.

“At Unilever we believe that to continue to be successful we need to collaborate with the very best partners to access new ideas and technologies to create superior and sustainable products.  I am delighted that The University of Manchester has become a strategic partner with whom we believe we can develop those winning capabilities. The University, with its history of leading scientific achievements and its future ambitions, makes it an obvious choice for Unilever. The diversity of research fields that we will be exploring together is testimony to the range and depth of expertise to be found at the University and to our mutual interests in key areas of research.”

The landmark agreement between Unilever and The University of Manchester has the potential to translate cutting-edge science into solutions for sustainable products of the future accessed by billions of consumers across the globe.

Ground-breaking research takes place in a spectrum of areas across the University’s Faculties and Institutes, often in multidisciplinary collaborative groups.

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