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Research and Business Engagement

Research and Impact @ Manchester (Spring 2024)

24 May 2024

A message from Professor Colette Fagan, Vice-President for Research

Professor Colette Fagan

Dear colleagues,     

Welcome to the Research and Impact @ Manchester newsletter. 

As always, we have a lot to share and celebrate including: 

  • Your new research security hub is now live, giving you all the information and support you need as we navigate the changing geopolitical world. Our international engagement has always been academically driven, allowing collaborations to flourish; at the same time, we are facing a complex international environment and therefore new and changing potential risks. The University is here to support you – to maintain your academic freedom, help you develop your international relationships safely and keep you and your work secure. So, whatever your research field or role, academic or Professional Services, please take a look at our Research Security hub.  This offering will be further developed in the next academic year. 
  • It seems apt then that we have been named an Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – the UK's lead technical authority on cyber security – and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). We are one of 21 universities given this status, further recognition of our long-standing commitment to the field, cemented by the foundation of our Digital Futures platform. 
  • The University is to invest £1.76 million into research tackling health inequalities. This funding will support our work to better understand and reduce health inequalities across Greater Manchester and beyond. Colleagues who want to get involved can read the full story on StaffNet or visit research platform, Healthier Futures.
  • We also have an exciting £4.7 million investment in AI and trust capability that will prove a step-change for the Faculty of Humanities. The Strategic Investment Reserve Fund award plus matched Faculty funding will support our research and teaching for the next five years, with an interdisciplinary team of six senior lecturer or lecturer-level academics, six post-doctoral research associates and six PhD students. 
  • Our wonderful Great Science Share, a pioneering campaign dedicated to fostering scientific curiosity and education among young learners, has been granted the prestigious patronage of the United Kingdom National Commission for UNESCO. First launched as part of the European City of Science in 2016, the campaign has reached more than 500,000 young people across 33 countries, inspiring a lifelong passion for discovery in young people across the globe.  
  • I’d remind you all to consider nominations for our Research Staff Excellence Awards and also to get involved in our Postgraduate Showcase, as a participant, judge or delegate. There are more details on both these brilliant showcases, which bring the research community together, in this edition of Research and Impact @ Manchester.  

Finally, on a personal note, I am delighted to be appointed to the UKRI Research England Council. Sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the UKRI plays a pivotal role in shaping the research landscape in the UK while Research England works to create and sustain a healthy and dynamic research and knowledge exchange system in our sector. I am excited to be part of that alongside my role as Vice-President for Research here at Manchester.  

We hope you are finding Research and Impact @ Manchester a useful source of information and enjoying finding out about and celebrating our colleagues across campus. Please let us know your thoughts – either way – by emailing: uninews@manchester.ac.uk.  

We continue to post time sensitive information and updates in our RBE news feed and StaffNet News, so please check these out on a regular basis.   

Colette  

Professor Colette Fagan, Vice-President for Research