Celebrating 200 years: Our bicentenary highlights

As our bicentenary year draws to a close, we look back on a momentous 12 months – a unique celebration of our rich history, incredible achievements and inspirational people.

2024 was a special year for our University as we celebrated 200 years of making a difference – in our community, our city and around the world.

Here are just some of the highlights:

Light Up

Our year started with Light Up, a spectacular light display and fun-filled evening of music, poetry and performance. We ‘painted the town purple’ as a brilliant pathway of light illuminated Oxford Road and lit iconic buildings in our signature colour. Manchester Museum saw over 4,000 visitors on the day – 260% more than usual – and even its famous spider crab joined the fun with a memorable ‘disco glow-up'.

Hundreds lined the streets for the big switch-on at 6.24pm – 18.24 representing our founding year – with Leader of Manchester City Council Bev Craig and our former President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell leading the countdown.

Across the world our University community took part, with Global Centres organising reunions and unique events (including a light-up tram!) in Hong Kong, Dubai and Shanghai.

Talk 200

Released throughout 2024, our bicentenary lecture and podcast series Talk 200 reflects on our past, celebrates our present and looks to our future over six podcast episodes and four live lectures. Podcast host, alumnus Andy Spinoza, and our lecture hosts are joined by 33 incredible guests, including staff, students, academics and alumni, diving into conversations about today’s most pressing challenges and how we’re tackling them – from climate change, equality and health to AI, creativity and innovation.

With expertise from the likes of Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Alice Larkin, Professor of Climate Science and Energy Policy, and through to our Chancellor Nazir Afzal, the series has been a huge success, played over 35,000 times by listeners and viewers from over 60 countries around the world in 2024.

Made in Manchester student competition

We invited our student community to share what being “Made in Manchester” means to them, with a bicentenary competition encouraging students to express their creativity in different mediums. Dozens of entries reflected the spirit, impact, transformative, and diverse experiences of our University.

Our students voted for their favourite from each Faculty and Nghi Lam (Biology, Medicine and Health), Intouch Arunepunlop (Humanities) and Daniella Othman (Science and Engineering) took home the prizes. Large reproductions of the winning artworks now hang proudly for all to see in the Visitors’ Centre by the Whitworth Arch.

Origins and Innovations: Historic campus tours

Two brand-new self-guided tours of the University – which can be followed in person and on campus, or remotely, from anywhere in the world – were created and launched at Easter.

Our Innovations Tour celebrates 200 years of our University’s groundbreaking firsts and discoveries, bringing to life the story of our innovators and how their pursuit of knowledge is shaping not only Manchester, but the world. The Origins Tour explores our radically progressive beginnings and how barriers in higher education and wider society were broken down to establish the foundations of the UK’s first civic university.

These app-based tours are easy to follow and ensure our fascinating history is more accessible than ever before.

Purple Wave at the Great Manchester Run

Each May the University enters runners into the Great Manchester Run – our famous Purple Wave of entrants starting the route together – and this year included a special bicentenary twist.

We aimed for 1,824 students, staff and alumni to join ‘Team 200’, offering a discounted price of £18.24 for early bird entries. The event was a great success and a sight to see as a flock of purple shirts went by – raising more than £11,000 to support our life-changing research.

Universally Manchester Festival

Over four unforgettable days in June we welcomed close to 10,000 visitors to Universally Manchester Festival, with more than 200 imaginative and immersive events taking place across campus and online.

A 200th birthday celebration to remember, this flagship event included entertaining talks, powerful performances, inspiring exhibitions, behind-the-scenes tours and family-friendly activities.

Many well-known figures from the University’s past, present and future hosted sold-out talks and activities, including renowned physicist and award-winning podcaster Professor Brian Cox and BAFTA-winning broadcaster, writer and historian Professor David Olusoga.

It was a special opportunity to celebrate the diversity and rich heritage of our community too, with the Whitworth presenting ‘The Carnival’, a one-day programme of live art performances and Manchester Histories Festival bringing its much-loved Celebration Day.

Bicentenary Way

Celebrating our people past and present, our first inductees to Bicentenary Way – a permanent new installation in Brunswick Park, opposite the Queen’s Arch – were set in the summer, with more names added in December.

The installation is an ongoing legacy to recognise our people – those who embody our values and show what it means to make a difference. It’s a celebration of our origins, our innovations and the brilliant people behind them and, as the University’s third century unfolds, more people, groups and their stories will be added.

Bicentenary compositions

Across the University, areas celebrated the bicentenary in their own unique way. Fittingly, our Music Department collaborated with Manchester Histories and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra to commission bicentenary compositions from alumnus Tom Coult and current students Renaldo Ramai and Atefeh Einali. Each composer drew inspiration from the rich history of the University, celebrating its remarkable people, groundbreaking discoveries and world firsts. Performed for the first time at Universally Manchester Festival by BBC Symphony Orchestra, the original compositions are now a part of the John Rylands Research Institute and Library archives.

Manchester Pride

More than 100 colleagues walked in our bicentenary-themed entry in the Manchester Pride Parade in August, joined by our brilliant float: ‘Buzzing to be Queer’.

Students and staff – and even our new President and Vice-Chancellor Duncan Ivison – danced their way down Deansgate, helping to promote Manchester as an inclusive place for members of the LGBTQ+ community to work and study.

‘Manchester minds’ book launch

University Press published a very special bicentenary book presenting a rich account of invaluable contributions made to human knowledge over the last 200 years by people from our University.

Edited by Professor Stuart Jones, Manchester minds: A university history of ideas features 20 short essays on ideas and thinkers – a who’s who of Manchester greats including big names such as Alan Turing, Brian Cox and Arthur Lewis and shining a light on important but perhaps lesser-known figures such as poet-activist Eva Gore-Booth and suffragist Esther Roper.

THE World Academic Summit

We were honoured to host the Times Higher Education (THE) World Academic Summit in our bicentenary year. Across three days in October we welcomed to campus more than 650 delegates from over 80 countries, with a packed agenda featuring 100-plus speakers on campus and across the city.

'Making a difference: The role of universities in a rapidly changing world' proved a particularly fitting theme as we reflect on our past achievements and look forward to the impact we willl make in our third century.

A fantastic opportunity to bring global academic leaders to Manchester and showcase the best of what we do, the Summit is estimated to have brought £1.3 million to the Greater Manchester economy.

Classical performance at the Martin Harris Centre

October also saw us stage a special concert to mark not only our 200th year but also the 20th anniversary of the naming of the Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama and 20 years since the Victoria University of Manchester (VUM) merged with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), creating the University we know today.

Supported by Martin Harris, former Pro Vice-Chancellor of VUM, and wife Barbara, the evening included a drinks reception with Professor Duncan Ivison and a captivating concert in the Martin Harris Centre’s Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall. It was a wonderful evening of music and drama featuring two stunning classical performances: Schubert’s Death and The Maiden by Quatuor Danel and John Casken’s The Shackled King with alumnus Sir John Tomlinson.

City of Trees

Later in autumn we announced a new partnership with City of Trees, the community forest for Greater Manchester that helps to create better, greener places across our region. Our International Relations team signed the first agreement between the University and the independent charity, looking at the small changes with big impact that we can make as an institution.

The partnership involves a number of initiatives to mark our bicentenary, including a commitment to planting 200 trees across local woodland sites, donating £1,500 on behalf of delegates who attended the THE World Academic Summit, and making a donation on behalf of each international delegate at the International Friends of Manchester Day. It also presents ongoing volunteering opportunities to our University community through City of Trees’ ‘Citizen Forester’ programme.

Global alumni celebrations

Our International Relations and Alumni teams have been incredibly busy throughout the year, hosting bicentenary receptions and reunions around the world.

Whether in Toronto, Oslo, Dusseldorf or Singapore, these fantastic events have helped bring hundreds of people together, build and strengthen connections, and celebrate a global community that continues to flourish.

Bicentenary PhD Studentships and Fellowships

At the end of November we announced the launch of our Bicentenary PhD Studentships and Fellowships – providing more than 200 additional postgraduate research studentships and three-year early career fellowships across our three Faculties.

The initiative, in partnership with philanthropic support, will deliver a total of £28 million in new studentships and fellowships, building on our incredible legacy of impactful research and transformative student experiences.

An exciting new chapter as we turn the page on our historic bicentenary year...