My name is Sam Richardson, and I began my internship with Creative Manchester after graduating with an MA in History from The University of Manchester in 2025. As a part of the Manchester Graduate Talent scheme, this role has given me invaluable experience supporting research communications and engagement activities, while learning about how Universities can support regional growth through cultural placemaking, partnerships and community engagement.   

I work as part of Creative Manchester’s Communications and Engagement team, sitting between the Directorate of Research and Business Engagement the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures. Creative Manchester is one of four University of Manchester Platforms, supporting interdisciplinary research and championing creative approaches to research. Working closely with cultural institutions and organisations across Greater Manchester, Creative Manchester facilitates wider collaboration in research and promotes the University as a socially responsible, civic institution.  

Having graduated from my MA in September 2025, I was unsure of what my first career steps should be. I had nurtured a passion for academic research during my studies, and I had a longstanding desire to work within the cultural sector, with both of my parents being practicing artists.  

What drew me to Creative Manchester was its wide-reaching programme of public and research engagement events. Over the past 10 months, I’ve had the opportunity to support the planning, promotion and delivery of over 30 varied and exciting events. These events range in shape and theme, spread across Creative Manchester’s research themes (Creative Industries and Innovation/CreaTech; Creative and Civic Futures; Creativity, Health and Wellbeing).Highlights from the events programme include large public engagement events, including the launch of the Cottonopolis exhibition at the John Rylands Library; smaller research engagement events, including the launch of the MossWorlds exhibition; and policy-related events such as the launches of the Class Ceiling report and the Infected Blood Memorial.

This internship has allowed me to learn how these events are planned and delivered, and to gain hands-on experience in the management of two events. The first, ‘Unlocking Historical Archives with AI: Opportunities and Challenges’, spoke to my background in and passion for history and archival collections. Following this, I had the opportunity to design, plan and deliver ‘CreaTech Connect: Accelerating University-Industry Partnerships’ which aimed to promote and create new partnerships between UoM and the creative industries through creative technologies innovation. 

Connecting these events to the right audience through communications activity is what allows them to come to life. As each event highlights research which has crossed disciplinary boundaries, relevant audiences are often niche and require planning to target. Developing a strong audience development plan is central to connecting creative research with the people, organisations and communities who can engage with it, apply it and help it have a wider social impact. 

Working at Creative Manchester has been filled with highlights, from supporting public events to representing the platform at sector-facing conferences and partnership showcases. Attending the Arts Marketing Association Conference in Leeds, and exhibiting alongside colleagues on a partner stand at BEYOND, boosted my confidence in explaining Creative Manchester’s work to external organisations and sector partners. Throughout this, working alongside so many supportive colleagues, both academic and professional services alike, has shown me how collaborative and wide-ranging work in the cultural sector can be.  

As my time at Creative Manchester draws to an end, it’s been fantastic to reflect on the experience I have gained in my role and which I look forward to taking forward into a career in the cultural sector.  

Following a highly competitive call, which attracted 89 applications from across the University, eight projects have been selected for funding. The awarded projects align with the priority areas of the University’s Platforms.

The funded projects reflect the strength and diversity of interdisciplinary research at Manchester, with teams working across areas including health inequalities, sustainable futures, artificial intelligence, creative practice and social resilience. The awards will support research teams to develop bold new ideas, build cross-disciplinary partnerships and lay the foundations for future external funding, impact and innovation.

Congratulations to the lead applicants and their teams.

Creative Manchester

· James Sumner (School of Medical Sciences) Unlocking Manchester’s computing heritage: harnessing AI methods to catalogue and improve public access to local computer history archives.

· Chika Watanabe (School of Social Sciences) Visualising Care: Creative Storytelling and Mapping with Older People amidst Disasters

Digital Futures

· Birte Vogel (School of Arts, Languages and Cultures) The Arts and AI: Mapping Visual Political Expression through graffiti.

· Paul Warren (School of Health Sciences) Challenging sensory spaces: AI-driven approaches to maintaining comfort and functional performance.

Healthier Futures

· Olivier Allegre (School of Engineering) Engineering Out Inequity: Mechanism-Driven Laser Manufacturing of Orthopaedic Implants for Robust Performance Across Biological Diversity.

· Laura Anselmi (School of Health Sciences) Supply of adult social care services and health inequalities among carers and care recipients

Sustainable Futures

· Claire Hoolohan (School of Engineering) From Net Zero to Fair Zero: Targeting Discretionary Emissions in UK Climate Policy.

· Sarah Mander (School of Engineering) Is there a JET in international shipping? Exploring a “Just and Equitable Transition.”

Thank you to all who collaborated across disciplines and submitted applications.

Researchers can access a wide range of support across the University, including faculty-specific research development teams, professional development opportunities, research culture resources, and examples of previous award-winning initiatives:

• FBMH Research Development and Innovation
• FHums Research Support
• FSE Research Development and Innovation
• Researcher Development
• Research culture and environment hub
• Discover more from previous award winners

The MOU was formally signed at the National Art Centre, Tokyo (NACT) on May 23^rd.  It brings together three organisations with a shared ethos around the power of creativity and culture to support health and wellbeing, and with a research focus on the infrastructure, cross-sectoral partnerships and strategic support required for this work to flourish. Creative Health and Wellbeing is a key research theme for Creative Manchester, and we work closely with Greater Manchester Combined Authority and local partners in the delivery and evaluation of creative health across Greater Manchester. At Tokyo University of the Arts (TUA), the Art-Based Communication Platform for Co-Creation carries out collaborative research across the fields of art, welfare, healthcare, and technology. The team at TUA already work closely with the National Centre for Art Research, which strives to become a driving force in the sustained advancement of art, improve the social value of art, and work toward a future in which everyone can discover new values and potential through art.

The team in Japan have explored international approaches to creative health and social prescribing, including previous study visits to Greater Manchester, whilst developing the concept of cultural prescribing, which aims to create connections between people through culture and move towards a more inclusive society, ‘where everyone has a space to belong, a role to fulfil, and the chance to lead a full, healthy, and meaningful life on their own terms.’  Find out more about cultural prescribing here - First Steps in Cultural Prescribing, Art-Based Communication Platform for Co-creation

Given the similarities between creative health and cultural prescribing, there are many opportunities to learn from each other as we strive to demonstrate and articulate the value of fully integrating creativity and culture into our health and social care systems.

Whilst in Japan for the signing ceremony we were invited to speak at the NCAR Co-creation forum ‘Enhancing Wellbeing with Museums – Place-Based Co-Creation in the UK and Japan’ at the National Art Centre, Tokyo, and the International Social Prescribing Conference at Kyoto University. At both events we encountered enthusiasm for this work across the creative and cultural sectors, but also from healthcare, local authorities and policymakers keen to develop innovative approaches to social issues.

Creative Health and Cultural Prescribing in Japan

During the trip we were introduced to varied examples of creative health and cultural prescribing in practice in Japan, and we began to build a picture of the infrastructure supporting this work, along with ideas for future collaboration.

Creative Ageing

A key driver of cultural prescribing in Japan is the super-ageing population. With over 30% of the population over 65, this brings challenges for health and social care systems and local authorities. Although average life expectancy is among the highest in the world, healthy life expectancy is on average ten years less, and many older people live with long term conditions. For example, one in five over 65s live with dementia.

Zuttobi is a joint project between Tokyo University of the Arts and Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum based in Ueno, Tokyo, developed in collaboration with nearby healthcare and social welfare institutions. Clinicians, curators and researchers worked together to design a creative ageing programme that could promote wellbeing and social connection through the museum collections, and that was fully accessible to people living with dementia and their carers.

 A further programme, Uenobi, has been newly launched based on the cross-sectoral collaboration fostered by Zuttobi to include other assets in the Ueno district, including the Zoo and local and national museums of Japan, establishing a cultural prescribing network. The team have published a handbook to support implementation and through the Art-Based Communication Platform for Co-Creation are exploring how the model could be replicated in other parts of the country.

At prefectural level, local government funded-cultural institutions are supporting residents to age well in their communities. During our visit we were introduced to the work of Kanagawa Arts Theatre, which, among of range of activities designed to promote inclusion, runs popular theatre and dance programmes specifically for older residents, including the internationally recognised Challenge of the Silver.  Similarly, Saitama Arts Theatre runs a Dance for Parkinsons programme, working closely with the local public health office, and has expanded its long-standing Saitama Gold Theatre programme for older adults to an experimental programme, Company Grande, designed to be fully inclusive of residents of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.

Fostering connection

Alongside a rapidly ageing population, loneliness and isolation is a priority area for Japanese policymakers. Whilst this can be linked to older age, particularly in rural areas where younger people are moving away to larger cities for work, it is an issue affecting people of all ages. Latest statistics gathered as part of a national strategy to address loneliness and isolation found that 40% of the population report feeling lonely.

Many of the projects we heard about were therefore focused on community-building, connection and providing a sense of meaning and purpose. Examples included initiatives such as community allotments, communal studio spaces, neighbourhood festivals and community arts groups. A more unusual example was Tokyo University of the Arts’ Goat’s Eye project, which aimed to build links between residents and the student population through the care of community goats at Toride campus, north of central Tokyo. As well as providing a focus for shared activity, the project has sparked several new creative initiatives, including a calligraphy club (using goat hair to make the calligraphy brushes) pottery club (using goat droppings to produce a glaze) and a culinary club, where residents explore recipes based on the wildflowers and crops consumed by the goats.

Museums and galleries supporting health and wellbeing  

Similar to the Whitworth Art Gallery, and Manchester Museum, museums and galleries are recognising their potential to support wellbeing and rethinking their relationships with their local communities, working to ensure their programmes and offers are inclusive and accessible to all. In Fukushima, to the north of Tokyo, the prefectural museum has played a vital role in supporting those affected by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent nuclear incident. The museum has been central to capturing the way of life and preserving the memories of communities evacuated as a result of the nuclear incident. The relationships formed through this process have informed new ways of working with residents that link local heritage, nature and wellbeing.

Common goals and next steps

Whilst in our brief trip we were only able to scratch the surface of the wealth of creative health activity taking place, we identified some themes that were common to both Japan and the UK. In particular, creative programmes targeting older adults, creative activity to promote and support mental health and wellbeing and creative and cultural assets as central to community-building and placemaking. We could also observe similar challenges related to the development of a sustainable infrastructure for creative health, including the need to build cross-sectoral partnerships and work across different policy domains, and to articulate the evidence and value of this way of working.

Building on UoM’s existing research evaluating the integration of creative health into systems, and TUA’s focus on joined-up system design, the MOU provides an excellent opportunity for comparative policy research. We can also look across the University’s cultural institutions, and our partners in the wider Greater Manchester creative health ecosystem to identify where we might co-create programmes and interventions with our counterparts in Tokyo and develop new approaches to design, implementation and evaluation. For example, CreaTech (the combination of creativity and technology) is an area with significant potential for collaboration as a growing element of Greater Manchester’s Creative Industries, a key theme of Creative Manchester and a specialism of Tokyo University of the Arts.

We look forward to fostering new links between researchers in both universities to build an interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral and international creative health collaborative, evidencing the value of creativity and culture for health and wellbeing.

Engagement with community organisations is central to Creative Manchester’s strategy. Through partnerships with cultural institutions and community organisations, including Manchester Histories, the Platform supports the University’s commitment to social responsibility as a civic university.

Manchester Histories is a charity that works collaboratively with communities across the city to share their diverse histories. Their festival, held every two years, is a unique celebration of the city’s heritage and histories, with the tenth edition taking on ‘Civic Pride’ as its central theme. The theme proved worthy of a landmark celebration, giving the festival a strong sense of place and belonging. With talks ranging from Manchester’s urban development to its musical and club histories, the day was a valuable reappraisal of the lesser-known histories that shape Manchester’s civic identity. 

My role focused primarily on supporting the festival’s delivery through attendee check-in and stewarding. Meeting so many people, each bringing their own perspective on history but joined in celebration, was an amazing experience. This included my fellow volunteers - some new, some vastly experienced in volunteering across Manchester’s cultural institutions and communities. What was clear to see, and what made the experience so enjoyable, was the community built around the festival and the wider histories it promoted. 

The culmination of the day was the screening of a film celebrating the community legacy of the Champs Camp boxing gym in Moss Side. Champs Camp was the UK’s first Black boxing gym, founded in the 1980s as a response to social deprivation and unrest in the area. Since 2025, a National Lottery Heritage Fund archival project led by University of Manchester Professor Hannah Barker and Rachel Hetherington at Manchester Histories has sought to reaffirm the legacy of the gym by creating a permanent archive. The project sheds light on the gym’s continued impact on Moss Side’s communities, an impact that spans generations and the wider region. The audience - characterised by its diverse, multi-generational makeup - was given a glimpse of the vast work that has gone into this project in collaboration with the community surrounding the gym. 

The aims of the archival project are numerous - digitised tapes of bouts, oral histories, a new website to host the project, and an open day held on Saturday 6 June - are outcomes that prioritise community engagement through active participation. However, the most exciting example of community collaboration within the project was the film debuted at the festival. Co-created by students from ReKindle Supplementary School, which supports young people from Moss Side through a wide cultural curriculum, the Champs Camp film demonstrates the gym’s continued role as a safe space for young people in the area. Heritage has the power to be inclusive, to preserve and regenerate the legacies of community spaces for generations to experience together. 

History has always fascinated me, not simply as a record of the distant past, but as something more tangible in the present: something that helps shape how communities understand themselves. It has enormous potential for social inclusion and civic belonging, especially at a local level. Seeing the communities that Manchester Histories support through their engagement work was inspiring. Volunteering also introduced me to a community and an inclusive, welcoming environment that I hope to remain connected with.  

The University of Manchester offers all employees up to three days of special leave for volunteering purposes in line with its Social Responsibility and Civic Engagement Plan. To find out more about getting involved, visit the StaffNet page on Volunteering or email volunteering@manchester.ac.uk.

In October 1949, philosopher Dorothy Emmet convened an interdisciplinary discussion at the university on ‘mind and computing machines’. Participants included another philosopher, a chemist, a mathematician, a zoologist.

And Alan Turing who, a year later, published his speculative ‘Computing Machinery and Intelligence’ paper in Mind. In the paper’s ‘imitation game’, Turing’s first request of his machine respondent is not mathematical, or zoological, or even philosophical: it was interdisciplinary, to ask it to write a sonnet, although it is unclear if Turing ever discussed his ‘imitation game’ test with a poet.

This was just one of the field-shaping papers he published at Manchester. Another, on morphogenesis, originated in conversation with colleagues from the Botany Dept next door to his building, Coupland 1.

In the 1949/50 academic year Turing had opportunities to think with colleagues like Emmet. She saw the University had role in enabling the convening and adjacency which could make things happen. Emmet’s model for collegiality and leadership in a university still applies: ‘administrators whose hearts are with the anarchists, and anarchists who can have a heart for the administrators’.

At a ‘big civic’ University like Manchester, we now award degrees to the same number of undergraduates (c.17,000) as were graduated nationally in 1950, and across a much wider range of disciplines, with many more links to our city-region and to international networks. But even as the work and scale of a University like this has grown, it remains uniquely populated by experts who are interested in finding new ways of understanding and re-imagining the world.

Since Creative Manchester started in 2021, we have – alongside the other platforms, Digital Futures, Healthier Futures and Sustainable Futures – depended on the appetite for connection across disciplines, which remains just as potent as in Emmet and Turing’s Manchester. Knowing how busy our disciplinary working days and weeks are, at Creative Manchester we have looked to engineer meaningful ways to connect researchers from both sides of the Oxford Road, or from different buildings, or from different floors of the same buildings, to enable cross-disciplinary inquiry.

Just as importantly, we have focused on our research’s potential impact, especially in the region, and whether we can respond positively to the changing and challenging context in which SMEs here work. With our partners, we have mapped the sector and sought to understand better what creative and cultural industries and our communities need in terms of research. As with our interdisciplinary conversations, we know this has to be a two-way street, and we want our city-region partners to know that our resources can be useful to their plans and projects. Just as, for University colleagues, we draw on this network to find a sector or community partner who will add a dimension as they design their research.

As Director, almost every week, I have had a memorable one-to-one meeting with a newly arrived colleague or with an arts organisation in Greater Manchester, or set up a facilitated workshop, or an innovation lab, or chaired a lecture, or contributed to an exhibition-associated roundtable or a research café. I have often quoted the Belfast poet Derek Mahon’s line – ‘There are places still where a thought might grow’ – with the ‘big civic’ university in mind. Our weekly Creative Manchester team meetings (and our social media) record and amplify the vitality of interdisciplinary research on our chosen themes, creative industries, CreaTech, our civic agendas, on creativity in the context of health and social care, areas which often overlap.

I have had the pleasure of working with a brilliant team, led by Anne-Marie Nugnes, in developing Creative Manchester. We have also been part of and benefited from a wider University effort to rethink the University’s civic role. Our cultural institutions in particular have pioneered this convening and partnership work, with both a local and a global lens, for many years; in my new role with them, I will be bringing five years of ‘partner-enabled learning’ with Creative Manchester to bear. And I will be hoping to contribute or eavesdrop still on the many conversations the platforms will convene in future.

Running from 2025 to 2027, Tuning into Opera is exploring four research themes:

• Opera in Greater Manchester: History, perceptions and visibility
• Place-making and storytelling: Reflecting local identity through opera
• Inclusion and accessibility: Breaking down barriers and opening doors
• Innovation and technology: Imagining the future of opera-making

The project takes a mixed-methods approach, combining surveys, interviews, workshops and creative collaborations. So far, this has included public surveys exploring perceptions of opera and career accessibility, artist and researcher roundtables and stakeholder interviews across the region’s cultural sector. Together, these activities are helping to build a nuanced understanding of opera’s current position in Greater Manchester and its future potential. At its core, this is a project about listening: listening to audiences, to those who feel excluded from opera, and to those already reimagining what it can be.

The project’s themes came into particularly sharp focus at a recent public workshop: Future of Opera: Human–AI Improvisation, held at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation in May. The event formed part of both Tuning into Opera and the OperAI: Future of Opera series and explored how digital technologies might reshape opera as a more participatory artform.

Opera meets AI: experimentation and participation

The workshop featured a live demonstration of scenes from an immersive sci‑fi opera developed by Dr Alexandra Huang-Kokina, Bicentenary Fellow in Music at the University of Manchester and Operactive Arts.

Audience members were not passive observers. Asked to become Yōkai – playful spirits influencing events – they used their smartphones to submit emoji-based emotional responses and vote on key narrative decisions. This input was aggregated through an ‘emotion engine’, which shaped the performance in real time, affecting scenography, timbre shifts and even the fate of characters within the story. For performers, this created a responsive and partially improvised environment, where they adapted not only to each other, but to audience input mediated through AI.

In conversation: AI, creativity and the future of opera

The performance was followed by a panel discussion to reflect on the broader implications of AI for opera. The conversation featured Dr Alexandra Huang-Kokina, Bob Holland, Executive Producer at English National Opera, Dr Jennifer Cearns, Lecturer in AI at The University of Manchester, and Cliona Cassidy, one of the event’s performers, a soprano, composer and experimental vocalist. It was chaired by Lauren Monaghan-Pisano, Director of Strategy and Partnerships at ENO.

Dr Alexandra Huang-Kokina framed the workshop’s performance as a cultural intervention: opera was used as a medium through which to explore and communicate the role of AI in society. She emphasised that this is particularly important given that public discourse often positions AI as inherently threatening. By embedding AI within an artistic context, she suggested, we can create a platform for more nuanced and imaginative engagement.

Another key theme was the move from linear narrative structures to interactive ‘storyworlds’, which Alexandra likened to gaming environments. The panel reflected on how this approach can reposition opera as an immersive and participatory experience, where meaning is co-produced rather than delivered. They noted that such an approach opens up new possibilities for audience engagement, while also prompting important questions about how creative control is balanced and how authorship is remunerated within more collaborative forms.

The discussion also touched on the practicalities of integrating AI into live performance. The use of mobile phones, for example, enables real-time interaction and participation, while also introducing considerations around audience focus.

The panel also reflected on the wider implications of applying technologies such as emotion recognition and data aggregation in live performance contexts. In particular, they reflected on how audience responses – such as emoji inputs – are translated into collective datasets that shape the performance, raising questions about how individual emotions are represented within aggregated data. The discussion also looked ahead to more advanced forms of audience sensing, including biometric tracking and facial recognition, highlighting the importance of consent and critical reflection when incorporating these technologies into live cultural experiences.

Questions of access and inclusion – central to Tuning into Opera – also formed an important part of the discussion. AI and digital technologies can be seen as offering new pathways into opera, particularly for younger audiences and those with limited prior exposure. At the same time, the panel recognised that not all audiences will have equal access to or feel comfortable with digital participation.

Continuing the conversation

As Tuning into Opera moves forward, these questions will remain central to the initiative’s research and engagement work. Over the coming year, Tuning into Opera will continue to develop workshops, consultations and collaborations across Greater Manchester, working with communities and partners to explore how opera can become more inclusive, responsive and relevant.

The Human–AI Improvisation workshop offered one possible vision of opera’s future. More importantly, it demonstrated the value of bringing research, creative practice and public engagement into dialogue.

If you are interested in being part of this conversation, we would love to hear from you. Get in touch by emailing tuningintoopera@eno.org.

About the Author

Dr Kamila Rymajdo is a writer and academic. She is an Honorary Research Fellow within the Music Department at University of Manchester and works as a Research Associate for English National Opera. She is also Leader in Residence at the University of Lancashire for her contribution to music journalism. Previously, she was a Research Fellow at University of Lodz.

About ENO

English National Opera are the national opera company dedicated to creating extraordinary encounters with opera, on stage and beyond. Founded in 1931 as Sadler’s Wells Opera to make opera accessible to all, we continue that mission today by presenting opera that’s different, creatively daring and inclusive. From performances at the London Coliseum and in Greater Manchester, to work in schools, communities and public spaces across the country, we are committed to reaching and reflecting the full diversity of our nation.

About Creative Manchester

Creative Manchester is an interdisciplinary platform based at The University of Manchester. The platform champions research in creativity and creative practice, bringing together research communities with external stakeholders to explore new research areas and address strategic opportunities. Please visit the Creative Manchester website for more information.

The panel event brought together leading physicists and artists underneath the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank, a UNESCO World Heritage site, to explore the interactions between art and science, the positive friction and overlaps between their practice and the benefits of interdisciplinary collaboration.

The Solstice and Equinox Series brings innovative creative artists to The University of Manchester's four cultural institutions. Each of our unique cultural institutions – the Whitworth, the John Rylands Research Institute and Library, Manchester Museum and Jodrell Bank Centre for Engagement – focus on building civic, national and international partnerships to advance the social, environmental and individual wellbeing of our communities.

The evening began with an opportunity for guests to view the Cosmic Titans exhibition, on display at Jodrell Bank until 7^th September 2026 as part of their ‘Curious Universe’ series. Cosmic Titans was co-developed by artists and physicists at The University of Nottingham’s ARTLab, a dedicated space to encourage and study interactions between artists and physicists. Co-founded by Prof Silke Weinfurtner and Dr Ulrike Kuchner, physicists at The University of Nottingham, the space highlights the potential of creativity in accelerating innovation and the widening of scientific participation in the arts.

Following the exhibition viewing, attendees were invited to the Space Dome for the keynote panel discussion, ‘Interdisciplinary approaches to Quantum’. After an introduction by Prof Tim O’Brien, Director of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Engagement, the audience welcomed Prof David Olusoga OBE, Prof Weinfurtner, Dr Kuchner and renowned artist, Conrad Shawcross RA to the stage.

Prof David Olusoga began discussions by mapping the division between the arts and science replicated in our culture and education system, which ignores the potential overlaps they share. Drawing on the historical figure of the polymath, Prof Olusoga established the historical and social significance of collaboration between the often-divided fields.

The panel discussion was centred around the shared collaborative experience between Prof Weinfurtner, Dr Kuchner and Conrad Shawcross. As co-founders of ArtLab at the University of Nottingham, Prof Weinfurtner and Dr Kuchner had invited Shawcross to become one of the first resident artists of their space.

The panellists discussed the cost of the division between science and art that is hard-wired into our culture and thought. The panel talked of the ‘catastrophic’ impact of STEM on the arts, and the narrowing specialisation of scientific careers with seniority. By bringing creative practice and art into science, the panel highlighted the two-way benefits of collaboration, not only in mediating abstract concepts to wider audiences but the benefit of artistic representation of scientists themselves.

The panellists then concluded with reflections of their experience collaborating, before opening the discussion up for questions from the audience.

Following the panel discussion, attendees were invited to enjoy a DJ set and multimedia performance by Matthew Woodham, another ArtLab resident artist and contributor to Cosmic Titans. Audiences were given a demonstration of the technology and science behind the piece, which used an interferometer, a device used to measure the interaction of light waves, to produce music and visual displays.

‘Cosmic Titans – in-conversation with David Olusoga’ was hosted in partnership with Jodrell Bank Centre for Engagement as a part of Creative Manchester’s Solstice and Equinox series. To find out more about future events in this series and many more, sign up to our mailing list. 

We started with Paul Hines, CEO of Made by Mortals,  who invited attendees to share their own ideas around creative health and participation. He introduced the audience to Made by Mortals’ work, which is centred around facilitating creative projects with drawn from lived experience of healthcare.  He also shared more about The University of Manchester’s work with Made by Mortals, exploring participatory arts for health in research.

Rod Kippen, from 42^nd Street, then shared the charity’s work, particularly through The Horsfall, a creative space and art gallery attached to their mental health provision for young people.  He explored some of the problems that artistic spaces have when connecting with young people and showed some fantastic projects and artwork created by young people at The Horsfall.

In our final talk, Dr Hannah Waterson, gave us an overview of her research trip to Japan as part of a delegation sent to Tokyo to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between Creative Manchester, Tokyo University of the Arts and The National Center for Art Research, Japan. She had the opportunity to visit a wide variety of Creative Health projects during her time in Japan and shared with us some highlights including visiting community goats, who have inspired some more unusual creative projects using their hair and even their droppings!

We ended the day with a Happy Place workshop led by Cartwheel Arts; participants were welcomed to create a collage to create a visual representation of their happy place.

During the breaks we showcased Creative Health work from across the University of Manchester, which included artwork from “Hulme Nannas' exhibition of (in)visibility, community and urban change”, “Brave Spaces: Visualising Support for Women Experiencing Domestic Abuse in Faith Communities” and “Air Space”.

Find out more about Creative Manchester’s Creativity, Health and Wellbeing research theme.

Currently a Professor and Head of Enterprise (Academic) at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), Michelle will take up her new roles on 14 September 2026.

As Director, she will lead the strategic direction and development of the University’s Creative Manchester interdisciplinary research platform, bringing together academics, cultural partners and communities to advance creative research, practice and innovation. She will also be responsible for fostering partnerships, strengthening external engagement and enhancing the University’s impact across the creative and cultural sectors.

Michelle brings considerable research and creative industry engagement experience to the role. Her research practice explores audience response to live and recorded music, neurological response to music listening, music and time, perception of contemporary music, entrepreneurship, and music and Parkinson’s disease. 

Her research on ‘What makes live music special?’, in collaboration with the University of Manchester, was featured in UK Research and Innovation’s ‘101 jobs that change the world’ series. She was Principal Investigator of the £1 million RNCM StART Entrepreneurship Project, exploring the most effective ways to train creative industries students in entrepreneurial skills.

She is a Fellow of Enterprise Educators UK (EEUK), chaired the subject association for music in higher education, MusicHE, and was a member of the Advance HE Aurora Advisory Group.

Her publications include multiple journal articles and book chapters, and a co-edited volume entitled Music and Time: Psychology, Philosophy, Practice. She is joint Editor-in-Chief of the journal Psychology of Music.

Michelle won the I Love Manchester Alan Turing Award in 2025 for innovation, creativity and smart thinking, and was a finalist in the Northern Power Women Awards in the People with Purpose - Public Sector category in 2026.

Professor Fiona Devine, Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Manchester, said:

Michelle said:

We’re delighted to announce that we’ve signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tokyo University of the Arts and The National Center for Art Research, Japan.

On Saturday, 23 May 2026 at The National Art Center, Tokyo (NACT), Japan, Prof John McAuliffe, Associate Vice President (Cultural Portfolio), signed a Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of Creative Manchester, at The University of Manchester. 

This landmark agreement commits the University to collaborate in a three-way partnership with the “Arts-Based Communication Platform for Co-creation to Build a Convivial Society" at Tokyo University of the Arts (TUA) — commonly known as the ART-based Platform for Co-creation — and the National Center for Art Research (NCAR), part of the National Museum of Art, Japan.

As part of this MoU, the three partners (UoM, the ART-based Platform for Co-creation, and NCAR), will work collaboratively with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) GM Place Partnership, to strengthen international research collaborations

The formal signing ceremony took place following the NCAR Co-Creation Forum Vol.2: Enhancing Wellbeing with Museums ―Place-Based Co-Creation in the UK and Japan.

Prof John McAuliffe, Associate Vice President (Cultural Portfolio), Prof Sook-Kyung Lee, Director of The Whitworth, Dr Hannah Waterson, Research Associate – Knowledge Mobilisation and Julie McCarthy, Strategic Lead for Creative Health at the GMCA presented as part of the event exploring Creative Health initiatives from Manchester.

The event drew 150 guests to The National Art Center, Tokyo, and  over 700 registered for the online event. The afternoon focused on knowledge exchange around Creative Health and Social Prescribing, along with discussion around future collaboration and shared research opportunities.  

Colleagues were also invited to speak at the Kyoto University International Social Prescribing Conference (ISPC 2026), alongside academics from TUA and NCAR. The conference brought together people from across the world interested in social prescribing and non-medical approaches to health and wellbeing. The University of Manchester and GMCA, joined Tokyo University of the Arts and NCAR for a joint session at the conference, exploring differences and similarities in the UK and Japan. They discussed supporting community-based groups to deliver the work and the role of museums and galleries. 

Image Credit: Yumi Saito

Andrew Melchior is a British-German creative technologist with over 25 years at the intersection of music, technology, and art. As CTO of Massive Attack and founder of Genotone Ltd, he has spent his career building the infrastructure that connects creative practice to emerging technology, from pioneering work on one of the world's first artist websites with David Bowie in 1999 to encoding Massive Attack's Mezzanine into synthetic DNA with ETH Zürich. 

Andrew advises the UK government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s Working Groups on AI and copyright, representing coalitions of over 30,000 artists through the Music Managers Forum, Featured Artists Coalition, and AFEM. He is a leading voice on artist provenance, AI transparency, and the future of creative rights in the age of generative AI. 

At the heart of the visit was the major public lecture Proof of Human: AI, Copyright, and the Fight for Creative Authorship, which took place at the heart of the Innovation District at SISTER. 

In this special lecture and discussion, Andrew Melchior presented a compelling case for strengthening creative authorship in the era of generative AI. 

Drawing on his experience advising UK government technical working groups on AI and copyright, Melchior explored how large-scale AI systems trained on vast datasets of copyrighted material, often without consent or compensation are disrupting established frameworks for protecting creative work. He argued that the challenge facing artists today is not only legal but infrastructural: without reliable systems to verify authorship and trace creative lineage, existing rights regimes cannot be effectively enforced. 

Following the lecture, he was joined in conversation by John McGrath, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Factory International, and responded to audience questions. 

Earlier in the day, Melchior lead an interactive masterclass for undergraduate and postgraduate music and composition students. 

The session focussed on practical workflows for producing and releasing music while maintaining provenance and control of intellectual property in a rapidly evolving AI landscape. Students engaged directly with Melchior and explored the real-world implications of emerging technologies on their creative practice. 

The visit also included a roundtable discussion bringing together academic experts and policymakers. They examined the relationship between music, culture, technology, and Manchester’s creative heritage; the impact of AI and other technologies on the creative industries and mechanisms to protect the rights and livelihoods of creative practitioners. 

This visit was part of Creative Manchester’s ongoing commitment to fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and critical debate at the intersection of culture, technology, and society.

My name is Callum, and I am a master's student studying Creative and Cultural Industries at the University of Manchester. Since December 2025, I have been on placement with Creative Manchester, where I have supported and learned about the wide range of activities the platform undertakes. This has included gaining insight into how Creative Manchester operates as a research platform within the University, and how this work translates into exhibitions and public events.

My decision to return to university was driven by a strong interest in how creative practice and the arts can contribute to health and community regeneration and particularly how communities can work collaboratively to create meaningful change. I have worked in different organisations around Community Collaboration and wanted an insight into what the University does to engage with the community and different engagement approaches. When the opportunity to apply for a placement with Creative Manchester arose, I recognised it as an ideal way to explore how academic research and cross-sector collaboration can influence community development both within the University and across the wider region. The organisation’s strong network of community and arts partners made the placement feel like a perfect fit.

During my time at Creative Manchester, my role focused on supporting the delivery of events and exhibitions developed through both internal research and external partnerships. I contributed to audience engagement evaluation, assisted with social media promotion in the lead-up to events, and supported the organisation of activities from early planning stages, such as researching venues, coordinating catering, and drafting event briefs, through to acting as an ambassador on the day.

Two particularly memorable projects that demonstrate the depth and impact of Creative Manchester’s work were the International Women’s Day event held in collaboration with MACFEST (Muslim Arts and Culture Festival) and the Hulme Nannas' exhibition of (in)visibility, community and urban change.

The Hulme Nannas' exhibition of (in)visibility, community and urban change was a community-focused project involving women over the age of 50 living near the University. Created by author and artist Anthea Cribbin, and led by researchers Tina Cribbin and Niamh Kavanagh, the exhibition explored The University of Manchester's position within Hulme, an area historically marked by deprivation but now undergoing significant regeneration and gentrification. The project provided a platform for local residents to share their perspectives, raising important questions around place-making, identity, and community voice during periods of substantial change.

International Women’s Day 2026 ripple effect: Co-researching work, precarity and contribution in later life, was the largest event during my placement and highlighted Creative Manchester’s commitment to inclusivity and accessibility. Thoughtful considerations, such as providing takeaway food options during Ramadan, helped ensure all attendees could fully participate. The event featured a panel discussion on inequalities in employment for women over 50 in Manchester, from the project Uncertain Futures, alongside contributions from local residents involved in the research. Performances from artists within Muslim and Turkish communities added a celebratory dimension, showcasing the strength of collaboration between the University and its wider community. It was a diverse, inclusive, and genuinely collaborative event, and a great example of Creative Manchester at its best.

These examples are just two of the activities I was able to get involved in during my time at Creative Manchester. There where lots of other events that took place from AI in Music through to Creative Inspiration from Plants, Memorial Launches and research symposiums. Alongside this, I supported a diverse range of exhibitions from Moss Worlds, through to Biblical Women. The diversity of activities that took place where really interesting and showed different approaches delivery, teaching me a great deal

This placement has helped me develop both my confidence and my commitment to working collaboratively with communities to address challenges around health, equality, and access to the creative industries. I have gained valuable insight into how meaningful partnerships can bridge the gap between academic research and real-world impact. The work undertaken by Creative Manchester is vital in fostering these connections, and it has provided me with approaches and perspectives that I will carry forward in my future work.

I am extremely grateful for my time at Creative Manchester. The team were welcoming, supportive, and deeply passionate about their work. I would strongly encourage anyone who has not yet attended one of their events to do so, they cover a wide range of topics and are consistently engaging and inspiring. The exhibitions in the Samuel Alexander Building’s glass corridor are also not to be missed; having worked with the team, I now appreciate the care and effort that goes into curating and regularly updating this space.

For anyone considering a placement that offers genuine insight into community engagement, academic collaboration, and creative approaches to complex social challenges, Creative Manchester is an opportunity not to overlook. It has been an incredibly valuable and rewarding experience, and I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the entire team for hosting me.

Find out more about Student and Graduate opportunities with Creative Manchester.

The event was the first in a series of workshops exploring the how MSAs are embracing the power of creative and cultural assets to support health and wellbeing, and what more we can do to embed creative health more sustainably into our systems, maximising its potential to contribute to population health and address inequalities.

Mayoral Strategic Authorities and Creative Health 

Mayoral Strategic Authorities are key players in the creative health ecosystem. As a regional tier of government, MSAs can use their devolved powers in areas such as housing, transport, culture, work and skills, and police and crime to strategically align investment and infrastructure and organise public services in a way that best meets local need and promotes economic growth across clusters of local authorities. 

While until now only Greater Manchester has held a devolved health remit, typically a MSA will have powers relating to a range of complex social and economic factors that have such an important impact on our health and wellbeing – the wider determinants of health. The forthcoming English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act will devolve more powers and place a statutory duty on all MSAs to consider how they can improve population health and reduce health inequalities. These policy levers encourage MSAs to coordinate cross-sectoral, place-based and preventative approaches to health. As these approaches take shape, there is a timely opportunity to ensure that creative health forms an important part of the conversation from the outset. 

Several MSAs have already taken a strategic approach to creative health. For example, Greater Manchester’s Creative Health Strategy sets out an ambition to become the world’s first Creative Health City Region. West Yorkshire’s Creative Health Consortium brings together cross-sector partners to boost creative health infrastructure across the region, and in the Greater London Authority, creative health is part of the Mayor’s Health Inequalities Strategy and Health in All Policies approach. The Mayoral Authorities Creative Health Network provides a forum for support and knowledge exchange across MSAs who wish to develop their approach to creative health. Our Creative Communities Co-Lab Policy Network project will allow the Network to engage in research exploring how creative health improves population health and adds social and economic value across a whole system, and to co-design sustainable investment models. 

Mapping Creative Health Policy Alignment in MSAs 

To begin this process, we brought together representatives from different policy areas, geographies, and with varying levels of expertise in creative health to discuss where creative health is already taking place within and across policy domains. 

Facilitated by Lucy Taylor from Make Work Play, participants shared examples of programmes and projects from culture, health and social care, work and skills and the environment, with links to early years education, housing, transport, violence reduction, criminal justice and economic development, highlighting the breadth and scope of creative health.

Example: Early Moves (Greater Manchester)

Early Moves has been developed in partnership with the national dance organisation Rambert and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority School Readiness Team to support pre-school children with their motor skills and to build the skills and confidence of early years practitioners.

The project trains and supports practitioners to introduce structured movement sessions in the daily routine of early years settings, working with children aged 2-4 years. It has demonstrated improvements in children's motor skills, speech, language and communication, as well as positive impacts on practitioner wellbeing and confidence.

Zooming out to consider a whole system approach, we mapped the cross-sectoral partnerships, initiatives and infrastructure necessary to address complex challenges such as health inequalities and began to imagine how a creative health approach could support a MSA to address these. 

Example: West Yorkshire Creative Health System

A scene setting presentation from Jim Hinks, Head of Culture, Heritage and Sport Policy, West Yorkshire Combined Authority and David McQuillan, Arts & Health Programme Manager at South West Yorkshire Partnership nos foundation Trust, described the development of a ‘Hub and Spoke’ model for creative health, centred around a collaborative hub, bringing together a constellation of creative health providers, five place-based work programmes and a matrix of stakeholders to develop infrastructure for creative health across a whole system.

 The process identified opportunities for creative health to feed into MSA priorities:

• Prevention and neighbourhood models of health: The shift to a more preventative and community-based approach to health, as set out in the NHS 10-year plan and reflected in the new health duty for MSAs, is a key lever for creative health. This shift promotes join up across local services, including health, local authorities and the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector to provide person-centred support. Creative health can be built into the provision of neighbourhood health and used to engage residents in the co-design of such services.
• Regeneration and placemaking incorporating housing, transport and the built environment. Creativity and culture can play a vital role in engaging residents in the design of their neighbourhoods, supporting social cohesion and social capital within communities and boosting pride in place.
• Work and skills and employment: Many MSAs could provide examples of creative health in action improving workforce wellbeing and supporting people that are unemployed on a pathway back to work. Creative health also provides new opportunities for the creative workforce.
• Good growth – Delivering economic development and growth is a primary function of a MSA. Health and economic growth are intrinsically linked, with improved health an outcome of economic growth, and good health a precursor to a stronger economy. Creative health therefore contributes to the growth agenda as an important element of the cultural and creative industries and through its influence on population health. In order to address health inequalities it will be vital that this growth is inclusive and the benefits are felt by all residents. 

What next? 

The workshop highlighted opportunities and common challenges for creative health felt in MSAs across the country, which will inform the direction of this research. 

There was a clearly expressed need to embed creative health more sustainably within a MSA, moving away from short-term project-based work towards long-term, cross-sectoral investment which can support preventative approaches and provide evidence of impact over time. To achieve this, it will be necessary to demonstrate and communicate the value of creative health consistently and coherently and in a way that is meaningful to decisionmakers in a devolved policy context.  

The next stages of this research will investigate how this might be achieved, working towards tools and resources that will be useful to those looking to make the case for creative health in their own systems, as well as a set of recommendations for policymakers.  

AHRC Creative Communities is a multi-million-pound research programme based at Northumbria University. AHRC Creative Communities Co-Lab Policy Network Awards are cross-sector cultural policy networks in devolved nations and regions of the UK. They create new capacity for cross-sector collaborative exchange of policy ideas relating to culture and devolution (regional and national) in the context of the UK Government Missions. Find out more here: https://creativecommunities.uk/research_articles/co-lab-policy-networks-2026/

The award-winning festival, which is supported by Arts Council England, features a vibrant programme that highlights the library network’s full offer, across wellbeing, culture and creativity, digital and information, and, of course, reading.

Festival of Libraries won Best Event at the Manchester Culture Awards 2024 and was named the second Most Inclusive Literature Festival by Inclusive Books For Children in 2025.

Creative Manchester has curated a series of four free events for the Festival programme, showcasing our research, in partnership with the Centre for New Writing and the Linguistic Diversity Collective.

Writing for Wellbeing workshops will see poets from the Centre for New Writing run two sessions at Stockport and Manchester libraries, exploring how creative writing can positively impact wellbeing.

The Linguistic Diversity Collective will present ‘Roots, Resistance, Reinvention: Exporing Jamaican Patois/Patwah [Creole]’ which will explore how dictionaries define words and will take place at the Old Trafford Library. This interactive event will explore the meanings, uses, origins, and evolution of Jamaican Patwa. It draws on research from Dr Serge Sagna, of the Linguistic Diversity Collective and is aimed at all generations of people of Jamaican descent living in Manchester along with members of the wider public who would like to learn more about Jamaican Patwa / Patois. All are welcome.

‘Tasting Children's Literature - An Edible Readathon’ will provide a family-friendly, immersive session exploring foods in children's literature. The workshop will engage children in drawing pictures of and telling stories about the foods that come to life in their favourite stories, as well as the foods that mean most to them and their communities.

Find out more about the University’s Festival of Libraries workshops and book your free places by visiting Eventbrite.

Organised with help from the Department of Computer Science, ‘Music and Manchester: The Past, Present and Future of the Computer in Electronic Music’ addressed the city’s contributions to electronic music from an interdisciplinary perspective. The event explored the themes in computer science, musical composition and history, and asked what Manchester’s past can tell us about the future of machine‑assisted creativity. 

Manchester’s influence on popular music has long been celebrated, with bands such as Oasis, The Smiths and Joy Division/New Order cementing the city’s reputation. Furthermore, Manchester’s contributions to computing are well known, with the University of Manchester celebrating 75 years since the development of the Turing Test this academic year. However, far less attention has been afforded to the intersection of these two histories, the city’s contributions to electronic music.  

The event addressed three main components of this musical relationship: the early development of electronic music and Turing's work in Manchester; electronic music facilities and research at The University of Manchester throughout the years; and contemporary human-machine collaborations shaping the future of electronic music.  

The event began with a welcome address by Creative Manchester Director, Professor John McAuliffe, before Dr Riza Batista-Navarro (Senior Lecturer in Text Mining and Creative Manchester Theme Lead for Creative Industries and Innovation/CreaTech) introduced the aims and speakers for the day.  

The first lightning talk was delivered by Dr Jonathan Swinton, a former mathematical biologist and author of Alan Turing’s Manchester. Dr Swinton highlighted that Turing himself was not especially interested in musical composition. Instead, it was the need to market computers that encouraged early experiments in using machines for entertainment. While Turing did not compose electronic music, contemporaries such as Christopher Strachey were instrumental in developing some of the earliest computer-generated works. 

Dr Iain Emsley (Research Software Engineer, Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, University of Warwick) then turned to the representation of sound in computing, drawing on the archive of Eric Sunderland, a maintenance engineer on Manchester’s Atlas machine who created polyphonic music using the computer. Dr Emsley highlighted the challenges of researching such archives, which are often incomplete: while numerical data survives, the sounds and voices those numbers once represented are frequently lost. 

Manchester’s electroacoustic heritage was explored further by Professor David Berezan (Professor of Electroacoustic Music Composition and Director of the Electroacoustic Music Studios and MANTIS). Professor Berezan traced the history of the University’s electroacoustic studios, founded in 1967, from sparse archival records in the 1980s through a period of rebirth from the early 1990s to the present. These developments led to the founding of the MANTIS Festival and the NOVARS Research Centre in 2007, with a strong emphasis on taking electronic music out of the studio and into live performance. 

Subsequently, Professor Frank Boons (Professor of Innovation and Sustainability, The University of Manchester; Professor of Political Economy of Sustainability, Maastricht University) reflected on his personal journey with electronic music. Drawing on Zen Buddhist teachings from Shunryū Suzuki, he described a ‘second beginning’ with music later in life. Professor Boons considered the concept of the ‘musical centaur’, a human musician assisted by a machine, alongside the risk of ‘reverse musical centaurs’, where humans become appendages of uncaring machines. 

The final lightning talk was delivered by Dr Alexandra Huang-Kokina (Bicentenary Fellow in Music), who offered a glimpse into the future of machine involvement in music. Discussing her research project OperAI, an immersive opera with live audience interaction, Dr Huang-Kokina explored the artistic and technical challenges of integrating AI into performance. She also previewed her forthcoming project, ‘Emotion Engine’, which creates a real-time feedback loop between audience response and stage design, concluding with the question: “If the stage can finally listen, what will audiences say?” Dr Huang-Kokina’s work will be further discussed at the forthcoming research café, Future of Opera: Human-AI Improvisation, on 19 May 2026.

Following the lightning talks, a panel discussion featuring Dr Alexandra Huang-Kokina, Dr Iain Emsley, Professor Chenghua Lin (Professor of Natural Language Processing) and Dr Jemily Rime (Professor of Electronic and Produced Music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama) and chaired by Professor Sean Bechhofer (Professor, Department of Computer Science). The panellists discussed what the role of machines should be in music production.  

Following the event, attendees were invited to view Turing – Machine, a sound installation by Professor Frank Boons that articulates the evolving ways in which humans and computers interact, and an interactive two-player musical Turing test by PhD student Harry O’Brien. 

To stay informed about Creative Manchester’s work in the Creative Industries and Innovation/CreaTech theme, as well as our other events and activities, please sign up to our mailing list.

This notable three-way partnership is centred on creative health and will help to foster a deeper academic and cultural exchange between Japan and the UK in this area of research. It will form the basis for future research collaboration and knowledge exchange.

Greater Manchester (GM) is recognised as a national and world reference for creative health. Building on a long history of arts and health work, GM launched its Creative Health Strategy in 2022, with ambitions for GM to become the world’s first Creative Health City Region. The GM Creative Health Place Partnership continues to support the development and delivery of creative health activity across Greater Manchester.

As part of this MoU, the three partners (UoM, the ART-based Platform for Co-creation, and NCAR), will work collaboratively with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) GM Place Partnership, to strengthen international research collaborations.

The agreement will be formally signed in Tokyo on 23 May 2026, following the NCAR Co-Creation Forum Vol.2: Enhancing Wellbeing with Museums ―Place-Based Co-Creation in the UK and Japan, at The National Art Center, Tokyo, where colleagues from The University of Manchester will present on creative health initiatives in Greater Manchester.

Whilst in Tokyo, The University of Manchester and GMCA colleagues have been invited to speak at the Kyoto University International Social Prescribing Conference (ISPC 2026), alongside academics from TUA and NCAR.

The University of Manchester is proud to work collaboratively with a number of renowned teaching institutions across the globe, with several partners located in Asia including Manchester-Chinese University of Hong Kong, Manchester-Ashoka University, Manchester O.P. Jindal Global University, Manchester-IISC Bangalore and Manchester-Manipal Academy of Higher Education.

The University collaborates with other institutions around the world at a faculty level through impactful MoUs, ensuring colleagues can collaborate with global peers in their field and access the resources they need to co-create cutting-edge research.

The Faculty of Humanities was a founding member of the Global Humanities Alliance, a partnership that includes the University of Melbourne, University of Toronto, University of Nairobi, Ashoka University, Mahidol University, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Universitas Gadjah Mada and The University of Manchester.

The University of Manchester is globally renowned for its pioneering research, outstanding teaching and learning, and commitment to social responsibility. We are a truly international university – ranking in the top 50 in a range of global rankings – with a diverse community of more than 44,300 students, 12,800 colleagues and 585,000 alumni. 

Led by sociologist Professor Sophie Woodward, Air Spaces: Getting the Measure of Air will explore the social, scientific and environmental dimensions of air quality, focusing on communities in Manchester where pollution levels are significantly above WHO guidelines.

Air pollution does not affect everyone equally. Housing conditions, neighbourhood geography, transport infrastructure, and work environments all contribute to unequal exposure. Yet research and policy responses often rely on narrow or fragmented datasets. This project seeks to address that gap by combining:

• atmospheric sensor data
• qualitative research
• creative and heritage-based methods
• community knowledge and participation

By developing a new framework for understanding “air inequalities”, the team aims to inform more inclusive and effective approaches to air quality policy and public health intervention.

The research will work closely with community groups and local authorities and brings together UoM academics across multiple faculties: Dr Jenna Ashton, Dr Andrew Balmer, Dr Thomas Bannan, Dr Steve Hicks and Dr Vladimir Jankovic. The project was selected by UKRI as a featured award within its latest Cross Research Council Responsive Mode scheme which is a highly competitive call highlighting breakthrough interdisciplinary ideas. The project partners include Ardwick Climate Action, Love Old Trafford, Manchester City Council, Transport for Greater Manchester and Trafford Council.

From January to July 2025 broadcaster and producer Karen Gabay carried out research as part of a Simon Industrial Fellowship with the Creative Manchester platform and the Music Department, School of Arts, Languages and Cultures at The University of Manchester. 

As part of the fellowship Karen Gabay produced a podcast series entitled ‘You Ought To Know’ that will be published across various platforms, with the first episode premiering on 23 March 2026. Each podcast captures a conversation with musicians that have had and continue to have a significant impact on British popular music. These conversations were recorded at public engagement events as well as in intimate one-on-one settings across Manchester.

You can listen to and watch the podcast episodes on various platforms. To be notified of new episodes subscribe to Karen Gabay’s Substack and the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures’ YouTube channel.

The first podcast is a recording of Karen Gabay’s panel event on Reggae and Dub-Poetry in the UK with Lovers Rock legend Sylvia Tella, Dub Poetry great Levi Tafari and Reggae and Hip Hop artist J.Chambers in the Manchester Museum in June 2025. This episode will premiere on 23 March 2026 at 3pm. You can watch the premiere on this link.

The second episode explores the history of Black British Gospel Music and was recorded in Low Four Studio in Deansgate in May 2025. Manchester musician Luke Smith, gospel pioneer Juliet Fletcher, Mancunian vocalist Yvonne Shelton and Kingdom Choir member and founder of Manchester Inspirational Voices Wayne Ellington star in this episode to be released a few weeks later.

The third podcast episode features a conversation with renowned Soul singer-songwriter and former Ikette PP Arnold known for her work with Paul Weller, Peter Gabriel, and Jimmy Cliff. The recording took place across three sessions at The University of Manchester and Versa Studios Manchester, the iconic home of Granada Television in July 2025.  

The final episode of this series was recorded in July 2025 and features Manchester singer-songwriter Daley. It explores how the musician’s alternative soul and R&B sound is influenced by Black British musicians and led him to pursue collaborations with soul great Jill Scott and UK artist Marsha Ambrosius of Floetry.

These episodes form the beginning of a series of conversations around the unsung legends and influential artists in the UK music industry. Future episodes will be released on Karen Gabay’s channels in the coming months. This bonus content includes in-depth conversations with the Queen of Northern Soul Gloria Jones (Tainted Love) and earlier podcast guests Sylvia Tella and Luke Smith on their lives and work in the Black British music industry. It also features an intimate one-on-one discussion with Sananda Maitreya, who is considered a musician’s favourite and trailblazer in redefining Soul for British audiences.

Throughout her fellowship, Karen was able to build on her interest in uncovering and showcasing forgotten artefacts of Black music history and gained access the British Pop Archive in the John Rylands Library for further archival research. This allowed her to amplify the voices of those working within the UK music sector, in particular Black vocalists, and industry professionals, who have heavily impacted popular music in the UK and globally. She explored how different cultural spaces in Manchester have played a significant role in the lives of these musicians and their path in the music industry over the decades. 

Secondary outputs of the project include Karen Gabay’s reading list and a playlist providing the musical soundtrack for exploring the recent past and present of Black British music and its influences, which can be accessed via her LinkTree.

This Simon Industrial Fellowship laid the foundations for documenting alternative music histories in the UK. It explored and applied ethical and collaborative methods of archiving personal stories of a demographic, who have suffered from experiences of institutional exclusion, absence of fair accreditation and missing commercial opportunities due to their race or geographical location. It is taking steps towards righting wrongs of the recent past and gives talented but previously overlooked creatives a platform to tell their stories on their own terms. 

As such it reasserts the relevance and significance of the John Rylands’ British Pop Archive and is adding more diverse and nonetheless equally relevant archival artefacts to its catalogue. This work aligns with the University’s renewed strategic focus on archives and just archival practices to celebrate, document and bring to the fore the stories that make Manchester the city we know today. 

Creative Manchester were delighted to host ‘Unlocking Historical Archives with AI', an event addressing the opportunities and challenges that AI presents to researchers and practitioners working with archives, how AI can drive greater accessibility and utility of archives for new groups of users, and what future archives might look like as a result of further developments in AI.  

Hosting speakers from The University of Manchester, the John Rylands Research Institute and Library, Manchester Histories and The University of Glasgow, the event aimed to generate interdisciplinary and cross-institutional conversations about AI’s place in the present and future of the archival sector. 

With the University celebrating 75 years since Alan Turing’s seminal paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence this academic year, Creative Manchester also hosted the ‘AI at Manchester’ exhibition in the Samuel Alexander Glass Corridor. Attendees of ‘Unlocking Historical Archives with AI’ were invited to attend a private viewing of the exhibition, which spotlighted 20 early career researchers from across the University exemplifying creative research approaches to AI.  

The event began with an introduction by Creative Manchester Deputy-Director, Dr Constance Smith. A round of lightning talks commenced with Dr Benjamin Wiggins (Senior Lecturer of History and Library & Archive Studies), who provided an overview of how AI-powered tools such as Transkribus, a cooperatively run transcription tool, are transforming the accessibility of archives, though with significant consequences for climate, data scale and research practice. 

Subsequently, Dr Riza Batista-Navarro (Senior Lecturer in Text Mining and Creative Manchester Theme Lead for Creative Industries and Innovation/CreaTech) presented her research on how natural language processing (NLP) can help to make ‘community-generated digital content’ (CGDC) more searchable and queryable. Focusing on the UKRI-funded ‘Our Heritage, Our Stories’ project, Dr Batista-Navarro presented an approach to CGDC which uses NLP to recover valuable information often lost in its metadata. 

Prof Hannah Barker (Professor of British History) then gave a historian’s perspective by highlighting the work of the OHOS/Manchester Histories Champs Camp Archive Project. The ongoing project seeks to reinstate Moss Side’s Champs Camp, the UK’s first Black-led boxing gym, as a significant chapter in Black British history. Prof Barker highlighted the ethical considerations of using AI in approaching CGDC, with there being both opportunities to uncover hidden histories alongside ethical risks regarding copyright and data protection. Overall, Prof Barker concluded that researchers must take an informed, empathetic approach to using AI in archives.  

An interdisciplinary perspective was once again provided by Dr Thomas Flavel (Creative Manchester Research Associate), who gave a demonstration of the methodological approach used in the Creative Manchester-supported MediaQuery reseach project. Dr Flavel gave insight into how AI models can be used to annotate multimodal data in the form of TV shows. By analysing audio, video and subtitles, researchers can conduct large-scale analysis of on-screen representation (such as Bechdel tests) with greater accuracy than simply analysing screenplays.  

The round of presentations was concluded by Prof Guyda Armstrong (Professor of Italian and Director of the John Rylands Research Institute and Library), Principal Investigator of ‘Envisioning Dante, c. 1472-c. 1630: Seeing and Reading the Early Printed Page’. Prof Armstrong presented takeaways from this ongoing project, which uses cutting-edge machine learning computational technologies and image matching to study the material features of the early printed page for almost the entire body of prints of Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’. 

The lightning talks were followed by a panel discussion featuring Dr Ben Wiggins, Dr Riza Batista-Navarro, Prof Hannah Barker, Prof Lorna Hughes (The University of Glasgow) and Rachel Hetherington (Manchester Histories), chaired by Dr Constance Smith. The panellists responded to some of the provocations raised in the lightning talks and further discussed what the future of archives might look like. An audience Q&A followed the panel discussion.  

Dr Gail Millin-Chalabi (Head of Digital Reach, The University of Manchester Library) concluded the day’s programme with a talk on how the Library’s digital archives and digitisation services could enable further research innovation in this rapidly developing interdisciplinary field. 

To stay informed about Creative Manchester’s work in the CreaTech theme and our other events and activities please sign up to our mailing list. 

The formal handover of the Inquiry Memorial to the University of Manchester will take place on Tuesday 24 March. The University is providing a permanent home for the Inquiry Memorial. 

The Inquiry Memorial is located in a central location that has limited space so we will livestream the formal handover for Inquiry participants who would like to follow online or watch the recording afterwards.  

The livestream will begin at 14.00 on Tuesday 24 March. Sir Brian Langstaff will make remarks as part of the event. If you wish to watch the livestream, please go here.  The recording will be available on the Inquiry website.

From Wednesday 25 March, it will be possible to visit the Inquiry Memorial at the University of Manchester.  The Inquiry Memorial is in the Old Quadrangle of the University of Manchester, on the ground floor of the Whitworth Building which is open weekdays 7am – 5:30pm.  The Inquiry Memorial is also visible from the Old Quadrangle without entering the Whitworth Building.

The CreaTech Network series returns in 2026, led by Digital Futures in collaboration with Creative Manchester and the Turing Innovation Catalyst. This three-part event series, running between February and June 2026, is designed to strengthen connections across the CreaTech ecosystem in Greater Manchester and the North West, and to support collaboration between the University and the wider creative and cultural industries community.

The theme of this year’s series is Creativity and AI, exploring how artificial intelligence is shaping creative and cultural practice. Across a series of in-person events, the programme brings together researchers, creatives, technologists, and industry partners to examine emerging opportunities and challenges. The 2026 series will focus on AI in entertainment, cultural heritage, and free and open-source tools.

If you’re curious about what’s coming in 2026, take a look back at previous CreaTech Network events from 2024 and 2025, which explored AI across music, publishing, fashion, and other creative areas. Those past programmes show the exciting mix of ideas, collaborations, and experiments that have shaped the Network and give a hint of the conversations and creativity to expect this year.

Creativity and AI: Entertainment

🗓️🕒 Thursday 26 February l  14:30 - 17:00 
📍Contact Theatre, Space 0, Oxford Rd, Manchester M15 6JA

The first event of the 2026 CreaTech Network Series will focus on how AI is currently being used across the entertainment sector, particularly in film, television and games. It will look at practical uses of AI in areas such as animation, screen production and creative workflows, alongside some of the challenges this raises for creative practice.

Hear from academic and industry speakers in short lightning talks, followed by a panel session and an open Q&A inviting audience participation.

Sign up now – tickets are selling fast!

Creativity and AI: Cultural Heritage

🗓️🕒 Thursday 30 April  l  14:30 - 17:00 

The growing use of AI in cultural heritage raises important questions around data, ethics and partnership. This event examines how galleries, libraries, archives and museums are working with AI, and the implications for practice.

🔗Tickets available

Creativity and AI: Free and Open-source AI Tools and Platforms

🗓️🕒 Thursday 25 June  l  14:30 - 17:00 

What role do free and open-source AI tools play in creative and cultural practice today? This event examines how open technologies enable collaboration and shared innovation.

🔗Tickets available

This year will be the 10th International Mother Language Day observed in Greater Manchester, a celebration of the cultural diversity and vast number of languages spoken across the city region.

Creative Manchester, one of the University’s research platforms, will offer a series of events to mark the occasion in collaboration with partners and colleagues. All events are free to book, and all are welcome. 

• 19^th February 2026 - International Language Exchange - Join the Language Society and the International Society in the Student’s Union to celebrate International Mother Language Day with an international language exchange! This event will be a great chance to meet new people whilst speaking together in a new or familiar language. There will be optional activities including zine making for you to join in with, centred around the theme of languages and the linguistic diversity of our community. The event will take place from 2pm in The Nest.
• 21^st February 2026 - Linguistic Landscapes in Manchester and Beyond - Join the Linguistic Diversity Collective for a talk by Dr Serge Sagna, Prof. Tine Breban and Dr Simone de Cia to mark International Mother Language Day 2026. This talk centres around the multilingual public signs found across towns and cities, and what they tell us about language domination and language policy in Manchester and beyond. This event will be held in Manchester Museum from 11am – 12pm.
• 21^st February 2026 - Looking for Languages – Family-friendly trail at Manchester Museum - The Linguistic Diversity Collective invites you to a free, family-friendly language themed trail around Manchester Museum to celebrate International Mother Language Day 2026. Grab your activity sheet and follow the language-themed trail around the museum’s enchanting collections, thinking about your own language(s) along the way. 

To find out more about International Mother Language Day and the city’s celebrations, visit the Manchester City of Literature website. 

Working with the Mayoral Authorities Creative Health Network (MACHN), convened by Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Greater London Authority, the network will map policy alignment and challenges across mayoral areas and establish a first of its kind framework for embedding creative health for growth into devolved strategy.  The project is titled ‘Embedding Creative Health in Devolved Policymaking: the Mayoral Authorities Creative Health Network’.

2026 Co-Lab Policy Network Awards

The AHRC Creative Communities programme based at Northumbria University has today announced the results of the 2026 Co-Lab Policy Network Awards: an ambitious intervention to reorientate place-based cultural policy making in a new context of UK devolution and the UK Government Missions.

The awards mark a pivotal opportunity to deliver devolution and community-led innovation not just as buzzwords, but as practical tools for better place-based policymaking. Together, the four awards mark a timely shift in how we understand innovation, community, and collaboration across the UK. 

The programme will fund 4 new Co-Lab Policy Network Awards to support innovative cross-sector cultural policy networks in devolved nations and regions of the UK.

Co-Lab Policy Network Awards 2026

The Co-Lab Policy Network Awards will create new spaces for deliberation on complex cultural challenges and opportunities—from culture-led regeneration to creative health—building devolved policy infrastructure that will enable better outcomes. The networks will work across sectors to ensure that people in devolved settings become not just participants in policy but the co-creators of it. 

The AHRC Creative Communities programme will bring the four networks together to host a devolution and cultural policy summit in December 2026. The programme will publish a Policy Priority Paper from each network award in March 2027. The papers will make new policy recommendations direct to devolved administrations to strengthen delivery and create new capacity for devolved policy exchange within and between the nations and regions of the UK.

About Creative Communities  

AHRC Creative Communities is a major multi-million pound research programme based at Northumbria University in Newcastle. The investment builds a new evidence base on how cultural devolution can enhance belonging, address regional inequality, deliver devolution, and break down barriers to opportunity for communities in devolved settings across all four nations of the UK.

With representatives from theatre, music, orchestral production, and music education, the event began with a roundtable discussion that examined routes to finding a home within a community. Presentations covered a breadth of topics spotlighting current initiatives and relocations in arts organisations; experimental AI in collective practice; festival partnerships; the positioning of the arts within (and by) universities; civic capital in classical music outreach projects; ethics, rights, and regulations in the University of Sheffield’s Access Folk’s participant-led research; and preliminary findings from the University’s research partnership with English National Opera. 

This symposium was the third in an ongoing series of Think Tank events, in which themes emerging from a collaborative PhD project are discussed and interrogated by a diverse range of voices and disciplines. The Think Tank series will continue in 2026 with an event focusing on the theme which was considered the most urgent for further interrogation: community. 

This event was funded by the North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership, part of the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Thanks also to Creative Manchester for their generous support. 

For more information on the Think Tank series, please email Rebecca.parnell@manchester.ac.uk

• Discuss the challenges of interdisciplinary research
• Showcase recent and ongoing research, and best practices
• Highlight (and critique) existing support structures

Sign up from the event topics below:

• Leadership & Team Building: Challenge-Led Hackathon 2-4pm, Wednesday 11 February 2026
• Harnessing Storytelling to Amplify Research 1.15-2.45pm, Wednesday 18 March 2026
• Co-Authorship: Rotating Roundtables 2.30-4.30pm, Tuesday 21 April 2026
• Research Ethos: Speed-Networking 2.30-4.30pm Wednesday 13 May 2026 

To foster the development of ideas and relationships, we encourage attendees to participate in multiple workshops within the series. Attendance at previous workshops is not a prerequisite for joining subsequent sessions. 

The Series will take place in person in GA.056, Ronson Blended Theatre, located by the café in the Nancy Rothwell Building, Booth St E, Manchester, M13 (South Entrance). 

Summaries will be shared with Registrants after each event.

Leadership & Team Building: Challenge-Led Hackathon

2-4pm, Wednesday 11 February 2026 

In a vast university setting, bringing together interdisciplinary researchers to tackle complex challenges is essential. These teams combine expertise from various fields, focusing on problems that cannot be solved through a single research lens. But how do you find colleagues with similar interests? How do you identify those willing to collaborate?

Join us to explore effective leadership and team building, build teams, support networks, and develop interdisciplinary research leaders, enhancing your research impact and collaboration opportunities.

Register now! 

Objectives

·        Foster interdisciplinary collaboration through problem-solving.

·        Develop leadership and teamwork skills, working towards larger funding bids.

·        Generate innovative solutions to real-world research challenges.

Agenda

·        Chair: Richard Kingston - Leadership & Team building Welcome Address (10 mins)

·        Challenge Briefing & Team Formation (10 mins)

·        Ideation & Planning (25 mins)

·        Prototyping & Development (25 mins)

·        Pitch Preparation (10 mins)

·        Team Presentations & Feedback (40 mins)

Harnessing Storytelling to Amplify Research

1.15-2.45pm, Wednesday 18 March 2026

How can we ensure our interdisciplinary research creates real-world benefits?

At The University of Manchester, we recognise that transformative research requires not just technical expertise, but also strong collaborations across disciplines and authentic engagement with communities.

This workshop explores how we can co-create research narratives with diverse partners, forge lasting interdisciplinary relationships, and employ compelling storytelling to communicate the significance and societal value of our work. Drawing on real-world examples and shared experiences, we will identify practical strategies to measure, amplify, and sustain the reach and influence of research beyond traditional academic boundaries.

Join us to discover how your research can break silos, connect with multiple disciplines, and truly benefit the wider world.

Register now! 

Objectives

·        Explain the societal value and ethical considerations of research.

·        Create compelling narratives for non-specialist and cross-disciplinary audiences.

·        Boost public engagement and foster interdisciplinary collaboration.

Agenda

·        Chair: John McAuliffe - Welcome & Introduction (10 mins)

·        Storytelling Techniques & Case Studies (20 mins)

·        Individual Story Drafting: Framing Your Research Narrative (20 mins)

·        Peer Feedback (20 mins)

·        Sharing Stories & Wrap-up (20 mins)

Co-Authorship: Rotating Roundtables

2.30-4.30pm, Tuesday 21 April 2026

Co-authoring can offer significant benefits in interdisciplinary research bringing together experts from various fields to produce impactful publications. How can we effectively manage co-authoring processes to ensure equitable contributions and recognition? What best practices can we adopt to enhance collaboration and productivity?

Join us to discuss the challenges and benefits of co-authoring in interdisciplinary research and explore ways to improve support structures.

Register now!

Objectives

·        Facilitate connections between researchers from different disciplines.

·        Encourage discussions around shared values and authorship practices.

·        Identify potential collaborators for future projects.

Agenda

·        Chair: Helen Holmes - Introduction & Table Themes (10 mins)

      ·        Rotating Roundtable Discussions (15 mins x 3 rounds)

      ·        Group Synthesis & Reporting Back (30 mins)

·       Wrap-up & Reflections (10 mins)

Research Ethos: Speed-Networking

2.30-4.30pm Wednesday 13 May 2026 

Each research discipline has its own ethos—distinct ways of asking questions, applying methods, and communicating ideas. This diversity can sometimes feel like a barrier to collaboration, even within schools, let alone across the wider university.

As interdisciplinary research becomes increasingly vital—driven by complex societal challenges and evolving funding landscapes—how can we foster mutual understanding and smoother collaboration across disciplines?

We invite researchers from across The University of Manchester to a speed networking session to share perspectives on research ethos, highlight what is working, and identify opportunities to strengthen interdisciplinary connections.

Register now!

Objectives

·        Explore diverse perspectives on research values and practices.

·        Encourage open dialogue across disciplines.

·        Identify shared principles and tensions in research culture.

Agenda

·        Chair: Nicky Cullum - Welcome & Instructions (10 mins)

·        Speed Networking Rounds (5 mins x 6-8 rounds)

·        Group Reflection & Thematic Clustering (20 mins)

·        Closing & Next Steps (10 mins)

This series builds on the "Tackling Interdisciplinarity in Research" workshop held on September 10, 2024, which brought researchers together to discuss interdisciplinary research challenges, funding opportunities, and ethical requirements.

The events will bring together academics with experience of interdisciplinary research projects, teams across the university who provide support in specific areas, and the University Platforms. Formal presentations will be made available for colleagues to access on the research strategy StaffNet pages. 

Each event will focus on a particular challenge relating to developing successful interdisciplinary partnerships. Where this is closely linked to particular business areas, the platforms will work with those areas to design a discussion that ties in with existing activities and priorities.

Our target audience includes UoM interdisciplinary researchers and those who have yet to engage in interdisciplinary activities, ensuring we reach and inspire the broader research community.

Do you have a case study related to this topic? Please contact Researchplatforms@manchester.ac.uk to discuss your participation, or for further information.  

You can find out more at the call launch taking place on Monday, 12 January, 3:20-4:30pm, at the Nancy Rothwell Building (Blended Th1 (GA.056). Register your attendance now.

The aim of this call is to pump-prime projects which will lead to an increase in successful interdisciplinary research through external research funding applications.  Applications are invited to align with a research platform and one of their priority areas:  

• Creative Manchester priority areas include Creativity, Health and Wellbeing; Creative Industries and Innovation/CreaTech; Creative and Civic Futures.
• Digital Futures priority areas include Digital Society, Digital Health, Digital Economy, Digital Cultures, Digital Worlds and AI@Manchester.
• Sustainable Futures priority areas include Nature, Equity, Materials, Resilience, Energy and Skills.
• Healthier Futures priority areas concentrate on the causes, consequences, and ways to address health inequalities. Healthier Futures focuses on the determinants that empower or inhibit people from leading Healthier Lives in Healthier Places and engaging equitably with Health and Care Services and Systems. Please note that applications should have addressing health inequalities as the main driver of the research challenge. 

Call guidance will be available on the interdisciplinary funding call page from 6 January.

Call deadline:  4pm, 13 March 2026

For inspiration, visit:

• WATCH: Interdisciplinary research – “absolute heaven”
• Discover more from our previous award winners

One of the highlights was Professor John McAuliffe, Creative Manchester’s Platform Director, taking part in the panel discussion “Civic, Creative and Cultural: University Collaboration”. The session brought together members of the Greater Manchester Civic Universities Board, including Professor Kirsty Fairclough (School of Digital Arts, Manchester Metropolitan University), Dr Sam Ingleson (University of Salford) and Professor Wiebke Thormählen (Royal Northern College of Music). Together, they demonstrated how universities are helping to create a more connected, creative and equitable city-region through strategic partnerships and cultural engagement.

Creative Manchester also invited three PhD students and their supervisors along to BEYOND for their CreaTech Student Research Showcase. The showcase, located among many other exciting product and research demos in the Immersive Futures Lab, featured the students’ PhD research and celebrated the University of Manchester’s vibrant postgraduate research community. These projects show how creative technology can tackle real-world challenges across diverse industries:

• Pingting Xiao - PhD in Electroacoustic Music Composition
  Stream of Strings explores embodied music cognition, blending cultural heritage with creative technology to create motion-responsive performances and visual works. The project reimagines the ancient Chinese Guqin as an interactive instrument for live performance and public engagement. She is supervised by Professor Ricardo Climent.

• Harry O’Brien - PhD in Electroacoustic Music Composition
  Data Sonification for Algorithm Behaviour uses sonification, the mapping of non-auditory data into sound, to better understand how optimisation algorithms work. This approach advances mathematical research while inspiring educational tools and musical compositions. He is also supervised by Professor Ricardo Climent.

• Bowen Xue - PhD in Computer Science
  ReflectanceFusion is a neural text-to-texture model that generates editable, relightable materials from text prompts. It enables precise control of physical attributes, producing highly accurate textures for rendering and material design. He is supervised by Dr Zahra Montazeri. 

The showcase sparked lively conversations among attendees, with many playing the Guqin virtually via a Leap Motion Controller and others listening to the beats generated by algorithms being solved in real time. Not only did the students get to practise their pitching skills, but they also found partners for onward collaboration and learning. It was great to see how the next generation of researchers and business partners can come together and seize opportunities for R&D.

More content from BEYOND 2025 will be shared soon, but you can watch this reel to get an idea of the atmosphere at this special conference. Follow our social channels to stay updated.

Tell us a bit about yourself and the roles you have had at the University over the past 20 years

After I finished my master's degree, I worked as a Research Assistant for three years in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures. I then joined the Faculty of Life Sciences IT team in a projects and planning support role – it was during this time that I became a PRINCE2 practitioner and developed my project management skills. Following this, I came back to SALC as a project manager of research projects. In parallel, I spent 15 years in self-employed roles – firstly as a freelance web designer, and then 10 years as co-director of an events company. The company stopped operating during the pandemic and it was then that I turned my hand to writing children’s books. In 2022 I began working for Creative Manchester in my current communications and engagement position which brought together the different skillsets I have gained over my career so far.

Looking to the future, what are your plans once you leave the University?

Once I leave the University, I will be taking some time to do the things I find fulfilling and that spur me on creatively – reading, walking, spending time in nature, letting my mind be calm and allowing it to wander. Of course, I hope to get a lot of writing done, and I will be working hard promoting my school and library visits.

After 20 years, what will you miss most about working at the University of Manchester?

I am going to miss my Creative Manchester colleagues so much! I feel very lucky to have spent the past few years with such a lovely group of people. I will also miss seeing the campus in the autumn, when I think it is particularly beautiful, and being able to have a quick look around Manchester Museum or the Whitworth Art Gallery on my lunch break.

What is your favourite Creative Manchester memory?

That’s a tough question as there are lots of lovely memories. Event-wise, probably the Bicentenary weekend, which was a big team effort with a fun atmosphere (and lots of Diet Coke). Another highlight was attending the AMA conferences in Brighton and Edinburgh with the team. Lastly, I have enjoyed working with Manchester Museum and the Linguistic Diversity Collective on developing and promoting a language trail for children.

How has your time with Creative Manchester prepared you for the next phase in your career?

I’ve had the chance to refine my skills in communications and marketing during my time with Creative Manchester, which I will take forward in promoting my books and my school visits.

Finally, what literature is keeping you inspired at the moment?

I am currently halfway through book four of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan – it's a very long series which I should finish in about a year or so. I like to read across different genres, but the world-building found in fantasy really tickles my imagination. I was also recently given a book on the history of vampires, which I know will inspire me for a future project.

The Creative Manchester-affiliated projects featured in the videos are:

• Moss Worlds – with Dr Anke Bernau, Dr Aurora Fredriksen and Dr Ingrid Hanson
• Media Query – with Dr Riza Batista-Navarro and Dr Tom Flavel
• Exploring and enacting 'Very Local' cultures of mathematics – with Prof Laura Black and Keisha Thompson
• Animate Materials for Design – with Dr Ahu Gümrah Parry

These short films provide insights into the world of interdisciplinary research, including project team composition, the participants’ experiences of interdisciplinary work and working with the Creative Manchester platform. They are designed to inspire potential interdisciplinary pump-priming applicants who are looking to find out more about successful interdisciplinary research projects.

Watch all the videos on our YouTube channel.

Through 25 interviews, and two stakeholder roundtables with senior leaders, emerging leaders, and employment support practitioners from cultural institutions of different sizes, the research sought to highlight the perspectives of the sector, whilst identifying sector-needs in terms of building a more equitable and diverse leadership cohort.

The study’s key findings reveal that despite the widespread uptake of EDI initiatives and workforce development interventions, there are still stark inequalities around diversity and leadership in Manchester. The issues range from challenges diversifying the leadership cohort; to problems attracting, recruiting, developing and retaining emerging leaders from diverse backgrounds; to widespread experiences of isolation in leadership; to skills gaps relating to fundraising, digitalisation, and pastoral support; to mental health issues and the wider care crisis; to challenges around responding to polarised political debates. 

The study highlights how this is a sector which not only acknowledges these problems, but they are also pushing forward numerous initiatives, policies, and workstreams in their endeavours to cultivate workplaces where minoritised groups can thrive. Yet, the conversations also indicate how the sector is faced by innumerable wider structural and cultural barriers, as detailed in the report.

This is a difficult context. However, despite the ongoing structural challenges facing the sector, something needs to be done. This report puts forward five key recommendations which offer a route to broadscale positive change in Manchester’s cultural industry. These recommendations make use of several Manchester-specific opportunities - namely, the close-knit ties between organisations, the context and tone of the new cultural strategy, and the desire for deeper cross-institutional collaboration around EDI.

Recommendations

1. Encourage a new network of cultural leaders – this network should take a focus on including and developing minoritised leaders and organisations in Manchester.
2. Create a formalised Manchester mentorship scheme – to focus on including leaders from diverse backgrounds, and facilitated by collaborative efforts between the new network of cultural leaders, the Always Everywhere Arts HR Working Group, and the Oxford Road Corridor culture network.
3. Facilitate joined-up coaching provision across cultural organisations - as part of the commitments of the new cultural leader’s network and The Manchester Cultural Consortium – sharing skills, expertise, and building networks for emerging leaders from diverse backgrounds.
4. Mid to high-level training schemes/placements for emerging leaders – supported by Manchester higher education providers and skills development providers in the city, including Factory Academy and others. Training should take a focus on supporting leaders from diverse backgrounds, understanding their specific development needs, and creating bespoke and tailored programmes of support.
5. Develop a joined-up EDI model – creating frameworks for organisations to home in on and share expertise in specific areas of EDI and workforce support.

You can read the full report on our Outputs webpage.

Curran-Troop, H (2025). Workforce challenges, diversity and cultural leadership: Exploring the challenges and opportunities for Manchester’s cultural sector. The University of Manchester/Creative Manchester.

The Creative Communities programme, funded by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and led by Northumbria University, has extended its signature award, the Community Innovation Practitioner (CIP) Awards, for a new 2025-26 cohort. This represents an investment of nearly £500,000 to catalyse place-based innovation across all 4 nations of the UK research ecosystem.

The AHRC Creative Communities programme examines the role of culture and devolution in unlocking cross sector co-creation and place-based innovation across all 4 nations of the UK.

AHRC Executive Chair Professor Christopher Smith said:

Ruth Flanagan is an artist who has been working with Creative Manchester partner organisation, Cartwheel Arts, with diverse communities in Rochdale to deliver craft and heritage projects. During 2025-2026, Ruth will work as Community Innovation Practitioner (CIP), along with University of Manchester researchers through Creative Manchester and the School of Arts Languages and Cultures to introduce a research framework to her work finding connections through diverse communities through craft traditions.

‘Unity and Strength: Banner-Making as a Craft Tool to Support Belonging and Community Cohesion’ – University of Manchester is one of six new UK CIPs across a spectrum of projects that represent the rich cross-sector community research and inclusive innovation that is catalysing growth.

In partnership with Cartwheel Arts and national organisation Heritage Crafts UK, and working closely with Greater Manchester Combined Authority, this project draws on the history and legacy of Manchester’s Co-Operative movement by using crafting methods to promote resilience, belonging and cultural engagement in diverse communities in Rochdale (which is Greater Manchester’s Town of Culture 2025).

Ruth Flanagan said of the award:

About the Community Innovation Practitioner Awards

This is a major investment in place-based innovation and cross-sector research partnerships across the devolved nations and regions of the UK. Each CIP will work in their devolved policy context to explore how co-created cultural innovation can enhance belonging, address regional inequality, deliver devolution and break down barriers to opportunity.

The CIPs will generate vital new knowledge about co-creation and the unique role played by their communities and partnerships in growth through new research, development and innovation (RD&I).

Each CIP will produce a case study, policy paper and an episode of the Creative Communities podcast series to share learning from their community and cultural partners. Together, the CIPs will form a Community of Practice network with the aim of fostering new relationships and sharing innovative practice.

Funding has been awarded to six new CIPs across a spectrum of projects that represent the rich cross-sector community research and inclusive innovation that is catalysing growth in all 4 nations of the UK.

About Creative Communities

AHRC Creative Communities is a £3.9m major research programme based at Northumbria University in Newcastle. It builds a new evidence base on how cultural devolution can enhance belonging, address regional inequality, deliver devolution and break down barriers to opportunity for communities in devolved settings across all four nations of the UK.

For more information you can also visit the Creative Communities website.

In September, coinciding with Japan Week 2025, we had the opportunity to hear an international perspective on creative health as we welcomed colleagues from the from the Art & Wellbeing aa-TOMO programme - an innovative and ambitious 10-year creative health and cultural prescribing research programme led by the National Centre for Art Research in Japan and the Tokyo University of the Arts. Aa-TOMO is currently rolling out cultural prescribing programmes across local government areas in Japan, in partnership with a range of organisations including museums, universities, healthcare providers and private industry.

This visit builds on previous exchange of ideas between Greater Manchester and aa-TOMO, exploring the innovative ways in which museums and galleries are using their collections and expertise to support health and wellbeing and how this can be supported by research and in policy – including the translation of the Greater Manchester Creative Health Strategy into Japanese.

UK and Japan in conversation

Manchester Museum hosted a public panel discussion where we were able to hear more about the creative health work taking place in Japan. Sawako Inaniwa, Senior Curator of Learning, National Centre for Art Research, introduced Creative Ageing ZUTTOBI – a pioneering collaborative project led by Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and Tokyo University of the Arts supporting people of all ages to stay connected to art and museums, in response to the challenges of an ageing society. 

ZUTTOBI brings health and welfare professionals into museums to codesign participatory opportunities for older adults and people living with dementia. The programmes provide participants with enjoyment and a sense of purpose, a chance to share feelings and memories inspired by the artwork, and the opportunity to connect and interact with others, helping to prevent isolation and cognitive decline.

The concept of cultural prescribing was introduced to a wider audience through the “Hello Future! 100-Year Museum”, exhibition at EXPO 2025 in Osaka. Takashi Kiriyama, Dean of the Graduate School of Film and New Media at Tokyo University of the Arts, described how the exhibition not only provided an opportunity for the public to engage with the concept of cultural prescribing, and to explore their own use of arts and culture to support wellbeing, it also demonstrated the innovative use of technology in creative health. The exhibition employed NFC tagging to allow visitors to instantly upload pictures from their smartphones to the exhibition, also providing the research team with metadata to support subsequent analysis.

From Greater Manchester, Julie McCarthy, Strategic Lead for Creative Health at Greater Manchester Integrated Care (NHS GM) and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) introduced the GM Creative Health Place Partnership, a 3-year programme that will deliver the aims of the GM Creative Health Strategy through a series of test-and learn programmes and a focus on embedding creative health within the health and social care system. Charlotte Leonhardsen, Programme Manager for Social Prescribing within the Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership, described the social prescribing infrastructure across GM’s ten boroughs and the potential for creative and cultural prescriptions to support people with complex or long-term health conditions, or at risk of social isolation.

As a panel we discussed with the audience the benefits to individuals and communities when we can provide opportunities for people to engage with creativity and culture across their life-course. We also recognised common challenges such as measuring and demonstrating impact of the work, developing a shared understanding across health and cultural sectors and ensuring that creative health addresses rather than reinforces health inequalities.

International knowledge exchange opportunities

It was clear from our conversations throughout the visit that although the national contexts may be different, our approaches to creative health research have much in common. Creative health brings together interdisciplinary research fields and cross sectoral partners and can be a catalyst for developing new approaches to collaborative research with strategic partners and alongside cultural institutions and community-based organisations. 

In Japan, Tokyo University of the Arts co-ordinates over 40 partners as part of the Arts-based Communication Platform for Co-Creation to Build a Convivial Society, which aims to foster a society where everyone can express themselves through art communication that integrates welfare, healthcare, and technology. The National Art Research Centre is working with museums and cultural institutions, as well as health and welfare groups and local governments to explore how cultural resources can become spaces that support wellbeing and social change.

Similarly, in Greater Manchester a wide range of stakeholders are involved in creative health research, policy and practice. A key function of the new Research Associate in Knowledge Mobilisation post, based at the University of Manchester, is to map interdisciplinary research feeds into creative health and facilitate new opportunities for further collaboration across Greater Manchester’s universities and with policymakers and communities. We are working closely GMCA to evaluate the GM Creative Health Place Partnership and to identify the conditions necessary to sustainably embed creativity and culture into the health and social care system.

We will continue our relationship with our colleagues from Tokyo University of the Arts, pushing forward creative health research through international collaboration. Specifically, we discussed working together to explore opportunities for createch in creative health, drawing on Greater Manchester’s expertise in social prescribing to inform the cultural prescribing model, and sharing experiences around knowledge mobilisation across research, policy and practice. 

We hope to arrange a reciprocal visit to see creative health in action in Japan next year. Watch this space for further updates!

Creative Manchester Director, Professor John McAuliffe, said of the appointments:

The newly appointed Deputy Director, Dr Constance Smith, will work closely with Director, Professor John McAuliffe, the broader Creative Manchester team and management board to develop and coordinate activity across three core research themes, with a focus on internal stakeholders, advancing and coordinating interdisciplinary research and cross-School working.

Dr Constance Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures in the Faculty of Humanities. Her research focus is the anthropology of architecture, time and urban change. She is interested in shifting landscapes of buildings, planning and infrastructure and how their materialities inflect ways of engaging with the past and anticipating the future.

Professor John McAuliffe commented:

The Research Theme Leads will work with the senior leadership team to further develop and help coordinate activity across their respective core research themes. They will convene and grow the Platform’s interdisciplinary research communities with both University and external partners, to address strategic opportunities.

Creative Manchester is pleased to announce that Dr Stephen Hicks has been re-appointed as Research Theme Lead for Creativity, Health and Wellbeing. Creative Manchester are also thrilled that Dr Riza Batista-Navarro will formally take up the Research Theme Lead role for Creative Industries and Innovation, following her work as maternity cover for former Research Lead Dr Claudia Henninger. Finally, Creative Manchester looks forward to welcoming Dr Anke Bernau to the academic team as Research Theme Lead for Civic and Creative Futures.

Dr Riza Batista-Navarro is a Senior Lecturer in Text Mining at the School of Computer Science in the Faculty of Science and Engineering. Her research focusses on the development of natural language processing methods for information extraction, explainable text classification, machine reading comprehension and language modelling. She has led a number of inter-disciplinary text mining projects, in which she developed computational approaches together with collaborators from various domains such as biomedicine, biodiversity, sustainability and online safety.

Dr Stephen Hicks is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work (FBMH) and also a member of the Morgan Centre for Research into Everyday Lives. He has been the Creativity, Health and Wellbeing Research Lead for Creative Manchester since 2022 and has a professional background in child care/protection as a qualified and registered social worker. Steve has been involved in research projects on: LGBTQ parenting; social care and housing needs of older LGBTQ people; communities, neighbourhoods and belonging in modernist housing; and an interdisciplinary project on concerns about air quality/pollution and impact on local communities and environments. He has also been a volunteer in HIV/Aids services; homelessness support for young men and LGBTQ people; and LGBTQ adopters and foster-carers.

Dr Anke Bernau is a Senior Lecturer in Medieval Literature and Culture at the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures in the Faculty of Humanities. She has worked on a diverse range of topics, including female virginity, poetics, aesthetics, material culture and environmental humanities. She is particularly interested in recent work emerging out of Critical Plant Studies and is co-editing a special issue on 'Plant Temporalities', as well as a volume on the global cultural history of 'nature' in the Middle Ages.

Professor John McAuliffe reflects:

Creative Manchester is looking forward to working with Drs Constance Smith, Stephen Hicks, Riza Batista-Navarro and Anke Bernau, and would like to extend a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to Drs Claudia Henninger and Jenna Ashton for their important and impactful work as Research Theme Leads at Creative Manchester since 2022.

The 2025 programme is here, featuring global bestsellers, radical thinkers and powerful poets.

We’re especially excited for the Centre for New Writing and Creative Manchester partnership events:

• Sarah Hall and Daisy Johnson
• The Faber Lecture 2025: Gary Younge
• Sayaka Murata
• Marcus du Sautoy
• The Poems of Seamus Heaney
• Mimi Khalvati: Rylands Poetry Reading
• Zadie Smith
• Jeanette Winterson 

The members’ presale is happening now – set your alarm for 10am on Thursday 14 August, when tickets go on general sale.

My name is Uxutvi Kapdee and I started my internship at Creative Manchester after graduating from my MA in Creative and Cultural Industries at The University of Manchester. During that time, I also completed a placement with Creative Manchester, through which I realised that this would be a good place to learn and grow early in my career. The Graduate Internship through Manchester Graduate Talent scheme has taught me a variety of skills, from events to marketing, admin to finance.

Social media marketing is at the forefront of all event and communications teams, including Creative Manchester’s. Through my placement and then internship here, I’ve had the opportunity to action campaigns and comms plans on multiple social channels, and through this, there are a few things I’ve learnt, which I will examine in this article.

Platform-specific audience targeting

Successful social media marketing happens where your target audience is the strongest, so it’s important to understand what each social media platform can do for you. Each platform attracts a different audience: LinkedIn is our most popular all around but especially with the Creativity and Innovation theme, Facebook seems to work really well for our Creativity, Health and Wellbeing theme, Instagram is aimed at a general audience and great for video content (though posts on the Creativity and Civic Futures theme do better on this platform, partly because of our active partner accounts). We are still building our Bluesky account since we moved to the platform earlier this year.

By recognising these traits, we’re able to customise our communications plans for events; if the event is in Creativity, Health and Wellbeing we might focus more on Facebook output, with paid ads; if it’s a large event, we post more frequently on LinkedIn to reach our large audience there; each event is thought about more individually to maximise our possible event reach.

Anticipation and community through events

Marketing for events is more than just posting the event location and date. For audiences to be interested in the event, they also need to know why this event takes place, what this specific event is going to offer them? Our content strategy revolves around three phases: building anticipation for upcoming events, sharing relevant research, and creating meaningful retrospectives.

All our event posts have Business As Usual (BAU) posts which detail the event name, location and time, but there are also ‘Deep-Dive’ posts. These are posts that go further into the speakers, the theme or the research behind the event. They aren’t necessary for every event, but these posts create more interest and attract potential attendees who may not have felt addressed the business-as-usual announcements. And whilst we don’t create written or visual look-backs for every event, when we do put out post-event communications, they are well received, especially on Instagram.

Visual consistency

Most social media is image-led, so our graphics need to do three things: deliver the important details of the event, stay consistent and on brand for the platform and for the University, and also be visually appealing.

We have approved colour palettes and fonts that keep our brand image consistent, and professional, and we find images that relate to the event but are striking and appealing. And for events that are within a series or collection, we keep collateral visually consistent so they are easily identifiable. Strong brand image is essential for audiences to recognise the platform at a glance and be memorable.

Looking forward

Whilst this isn’t all I’ve learnt, I would say these three strategies have really shaped how I think about social media marketing. Success is found through consistency and constant evaluation, focusing on what works and what could be better.

As I move forward in my career, I'll carry these insights with me, knowing that effective social media marketing is about understanding your audience, creating valuable event experiences, and maintaining the right balance between promotion and genuine value.

The event, held at Aviva Studios, featured three sessions exploring the intersection of research and the arts and brought together researchers, artists, and cultural leaders.

The showcase opened with a session on the research of Creative Manchester’s Innovation Fellows who shared insights from their work with Manchester City Council and Factory International. 

Dr Hannah Curran-Troop addressed workforce diversity and talent development in the creative industries, alongside Manchester City Council representative Sarah Elderkin. Dr Tasos Asonitis and Gabby Jenks (Factory International) presented their work on a CreaTech project in collaboration with Factory International’s Digital Team, which researches digital skill gaps for artists and people working in the creative industries and will result in a toolkit for new digital artists that facilitates access to new technology supporting creative processes.

The second session spotlighted the “First Breath” PhD research project.

Postgraduate researchers Leanne Cook and Lizzie Lagan, alongside their Principal Investigator Prof Pamela Qualter, discussed the impact of arts-based activities on the emotional and social development of preschool children and their parents.

The final panel, Tuning into Opera, marked the launch of a new initiative between English National Opera (ENO) and The University of Manchester. As ENO prepares to establish a new base in Greater Manchester by 2029, Tuning into Opera is new research and engagement initiative from English National Opera and The University of Manchester, exploring what it means to have a national opera company based in Greater Manchester. 

The session explored the future of opera in the region through community engagement and cultural dialogue. It began with a welcome by ENO Artistic Director Annilese Miskimmon and an introduction to the research plan of Tuning Into Opera by Research Associate Dr Kamila Rymajdo. 

This was followed by an in-conversation with Manchester-based electronic opera makers Devon Bonelli and Joshua Inyang (Space Afrika), as well as an interview with the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer of Angel’s Bone, Du Yun.

The event concluded with a poetic summary and reflections of the afternoon, delivered by Young Identity artist Saf Elsenossi (SAF-S2E).

In keeping with MIF25’s theme to ‘Dream Differently’ the Creative Manchester Showcase was a joyful celebration of the innovative and interdisciplinary research facilitated by the Platform and our partnerships with external stakeholders from across Greater Manchester and beyond.

We are pleased to announce that Dr Hannah Waterson will be starting her position as Research Associate – Knowledge Mobilisation in July 2025. This 24-month post is made possible by the Arts Council England (ACE) funded Creative Health Greater Manchester Place Partnership and Civic University Board (CUB).

The three-year place partnership aims to create lasting ways for creativity and culture to be at the heart of communities’ health and wellbeing. This builds on the growing recognition that engaging with creativity and culture helps us to lead longer, healthier, happier lives - a relationship that is increasingly referred to as ‘creative health’. 

This role will play a central role in developing a framework to understand how the Creative Health GM Place Partnership embeds creative health sustainably across the system.

The post will work between the GMCA and NHS GM (Greater Manchester Integrated Care), the Population Health team at NHS Greater Manchester and The University of Manchester. Dr Waterson will be hosted by Dr Simon Parry at the University of Manchester and supported by an advisory group including colleagues from the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester Metropolitan University and University of Salford. 

Dr Hannah Waterson has a background in Public Health and supported the development of an Arts in Public Health module at The University of Manchester, before leading on research and policy at the National Centre for Creative Health.

In May and June 2025 Creative Manchester, Digital Futures and Turing Innovation Catalyst came together to host the CreaTech 2025 event series, exploring Creativity and AI in Music, Publishing and Fashion. 

This series brought together creatives, tech professionals and researchers from Greater Manchester and beyond to explore how AI is impacting the creative industries, sharing research from within The University of Manchester with expertise outside of it. 

We began at SISTER, exploring the use of AI in the Music industry. The sessions began with lightning talks from Ricardo Climent, Professor of Interactive Music Composition at the University of Manchester and Director of the NOVARS Research Centre. Professor Climent was followed by Pete Woodbridge, R&D Innovation lead for the Music Futures AHRC Creative Cluster at the University of Liverpool.  Our panel discussed the challenges and opportunities of AI applications in the music industry, production and dissemination.  

The second event was held Oddfellows Hall and focused on the role of AI in the Publishing Industry. The panel brought together CEO of Manchester University Press, Simon Ross, Poet and CEO of the Faber Academy, Joey Connolly, writer, Michelle Collier and Neil Sprunt, from The University of Manchester Library. We heard concerns about the use of AI to replace the role of the writer or poet, but potential uses in other areas of the industry like finance and managing stock. 

The event series rounded up at Arbeta, with a heated panel discussing the use of AI in the fashion industry. The panel was chaired by Dr Charlene Gallery, and had representation from researchers in Fashion Technology, Business and Marketing, alongside Gemma Gratton from Manchester Fashion Week and Joe Darwen, founder of CircKit. The panel discussed concerns about the use of AI in the design process, but more positive potential uses in analysing trends or helping small business owners to grow their fashion businesses.  

Throughout the series, the issue of sustainability was raised along with an urge throughout all industries for there to be ongoing analysis on the sustainability impact of using AI within their businesses. Overwhelmingly, across all sectors, there was a call to keep creative work in the hands of humans, but potential for many ways AI might influence how organisations operate including finance, marketing, production and materials.  

Hi, my name is Shiyuan Huang. I recently completed a placement with Manchester Camerata as part of my Master's in Arts Management at The University of Manchester.

My placement experience has been both rewarding and eye-opening. It allowed me to engage with the organisation across multiple areas - from concert support to library work and music therapy - each offering a unique perspective on how a cultural institution can enrich lives beyond the concert hall.

One part of my role involved assisting with concert operations, including helping during rehearsals and performances. This gave me valuable insight into the backstage logistics that make live events possible, from stage setup to coordinating with musicians and technical staff. I also worked closely with Zoe, the music librarian, in preparing and organising sheet music. I learnt how essential this often-overlooked work is to the smooth running of concerts - it requires precision, efficiency, and great attention to detail.

A particularly meaningful aspect of my placement was my involvement in Music in Mind, a music therapy project designed for people living with dementia. I joined several sessions of the Music Café, where music-making became a space for connection, expression, and joy. It was deeply moving to witness how music could unlock memories, spark conversations, and bring comfort to participants and their families. The warmth of the volunteers, staff, and attendees made this an incredibly human and humbling experience.

Throughout the placement, I’ve gained practical skills in arts administration, project coordination, and community engagement, but more than that, I’ve come to appreciate the role of music as a tool for wellbeing and social connection.

I’d like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Max Thomas, my supervisor, for his guidance and encouragement throughout the placement. I’m also very grateful to Zoe and Amy, and to all the wonderful people I met through the placement. Their kindness, passion, and commitment to making music accessible to all have left a lasting impression on me.

This placement has reaffirmed my belief in the power of the arts to transform lives. I’m excited to take these insights forward into the next steps of my journey in the cultural sector.

The daytime programme formed part of the conference Neither Factory Records Nor Madchester: Rethinking Manchester’s Musical and Subcultural Histories, hosted in collaboration with the School of Digital Arts at Manchester Metropolitan University. After a morning of sessions in Manchester, attendees travelled to UNESCO World Heritage site, Jodrell Bank, for an afternoon of thought-provoking discussions on Manchester’s rich musical legacy, led by University of Manchester experts. 

A panel, chaired by Creative Manchester’s Simon Industrial Fellow Karen Gabay, featured Alison Surtees, Basil Clarke, Debra Burns and Yvonne Ellis, and discussed the subcultural side of Stockport’s well-known Strawberry Studios. Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics Associate Director Prof Tim O’Brien delivered a keynote on ‘moonbouncing’, exploring when Kraftwerk’s performance was transmitted to the moon, bounced off the surface and transmitted back to Jodrell Bank at Bluedot Festival 2019.  

The research conference concluded with a panel discussion on the science and politics of togetherness in music cultures. The panel was led by Dr Roddy Hawkins (Lecturer in Music) with Dr Kamila Rymajdo (Creative Manchester/ENO Research Associate), Dr Christabel Sterling (RCM London), Dr Michelle Phillips (RNCM) and Dr Paul Martin (New Buckinghamshire University). 

The evening event was part of Creative Manchester's Solstice and Equinox series, which brings innovative creative artists to The University of Manchester's four cultural institutions. Each of our unique cultural institutions – the Whitworth, the John Rylands Research Institute and Library, Manchester Museum and Jodrell Bank Centre for Engagement – focus on building civic, national and international partnerships to advance the social, environmental and individual wellbeing of our communities. 

The Solstice event began with a fascinating and important conversation between Soul II Soul founder Jazzie B OBE and acclaimed historian, broadcaster and Professor of Public History David Olusoga OBE, chaired by Dr Sophie Everest, Lecturer in Film Practice at The University of Manchester. Set against the backdrop of the Grade I listed Lovell Telescope, the discussion explored the intersections of music, cultural heritage, and identity, and how the enduring influence of British Black music and subculture has shaped today’s cultural landscape. 

Jazzie B, a pioneering figure in UK music and founder of the legendary Soul II Soul collective, shared reflections on his journey from pirate radio to Grammy-winning global success. The Solstice event also featured the film premiere of ‘The Jazzie B Archives’, which documented his involvement in a University of Manchester research project and was produced in association with the British Pop Archive and Creative Manchester.

In the film, Jazzie B takes viewers on an immersive journey through his personal archive. Rifling through papers and artefacts, Jazzie uncovers his family’s Caribbean heritage and move to the UK, school days, sound system culture, employment history, business ventures and the story of Soul II Soul - from their ideological foundations to warehouse parties and global critical and commercial success. In doing so, Jazzie traces a vital and under-told history of post war Black British music, creativity, enterprise and collectivity.

This film was made by Dr Sophie Everest (Lecturer in Film Practice) and music documentarian Matt O’Casey in collaboration with Jazzie B and aims to trial new models of shared collecting and storytelling in association with the British Pop Archive (BPA). The BPA is a University of Manchester national collection dedicated to the preservation and research of popular culture, counter-culture, and youth culture. The film output is shared with Jazzie B and the footage from the shoot will enter the collection of the British Pop Archive for future research and public engagement with the collections. 

The evening concluded with an exclusive DJ set by Jazzie B with his signature sound in the First Light Pavilion, spinning classic tracks and contemporary hits that embody the spirit of Soul II Soul. 

We are delighted to introduce the Principal Investigators, categorised by their platform theme:

Creative Manchester Director: John McAuliffe

Priority areas: Creativity, Health and Wellbeing, Creative Industries and Innovation and Civic and Creative Places.

• Clara Dawson School of Arts, Languages and Cultures 

Dead or Alive: Birds in our World

• David Foster School of Engineering

Challenging the impossible: Questioning the reconstruction of ancient Egyptian faces through interdisciplinary collective approaches from digital, medical and arts methods 

• Dharman Jeyasingham School of Health Sciences 

Co-producing inclusive housing and care solutions with older lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer people 

Digital Futures Director: Richard Kingston

Priority areas: Digital Cultures, Digital Health, Digital Worlds, Digital Society, and the Digital Economy.

• Katarzyna Cieslik School of Environment, Education and Development 

Platformization of rural Africa: dependency, dispossession and data in the ‘sharing economy’  

• Sokratia Georgaka School of Health Sciences 

Bridging the Gap: AI-Powered Spatial Tumour Profiling of Glioblastoma from Routine H&E Images 

• Simon Harper School of Engineering 

Hypo-cheat Randomised Control Trial Enabler 

Sustainable Futures Directors: Michael Shaver and Helen Holmes

Priority areas: Skills, Resilience, Resources, Net-Zero, Health and Equity.

• Gareth Clay School of Education, Environment and Development

Pan Africa Mining Study   

•  Jaise Kuriakose School of Engineering 

Community-led Energy Renewables 

• Andrew Welfle School of Engineering 

Route 66: Visions for Rapid Decarbonisation of Transport – Exploring Integrated Approaches for Road, Aviation and Maritime

Healthier Futures Director: Nicky Cullum

Priority areas: Healthier Lives, Healthier Places and Healthier Systems.

• Victoria Palin School of Medical Sciences 

Closing the health gap: using technology to improve data transfer to tackle inequalities in CVD-related diagnoses and outcomes

• Gareth Price School of Medical Sciences 

Addressing Cancer Inequalities Through Integrated Clinical and Environmental Data Analysis

Healthier Futures will also be directly supporting a further five awards:

• Camilla Lewis School of Education, Environment and Development

Co-developing interdisciplinary research bids to advance healthy ageing and age-friendly urban regeneration in North Manchester

• Ola Demkowicz School of Education, Environment and Development

Understanding gendered trends in worsening adolescent mental health: Reviewing the evidence and facilitating knowledge exchange

• Abigail Lay School of Medical Sciences

            Epigenetic Risk scores for early prediction of kidney disease in diabetes: 

            A pilot study in Greater Manchester

• Katherine Rogers School of Health Sciences

            Electronic patient records and Deaf BSL users: exploring system potential and health profiles

• Cathy Walton School of Natural Sciences

            Socioeconomic, behavioural and environmental drivers of chikungunya in Africa

Congratulations to the funded research projects and teams. We look forward to the advancements interdisciplinary research will bring to tackle society's most pressing global challenges.

For further funding opportunities, please refer to the webpages:

• FBMH
• FHums
• FSE
• Research Professional Funding Calendar

To discover more from our previous award holders, please visit the UMRI and Case Studies webpages.

The Festival, which takes place in spaces and partner venues throughout the city, including Factory International’s home Aviva Studios, is for the first time venturing further with events in locations across Greater Manchester, including Rochdale and Wigan. Festival attendees are invited to ‘experience art that pushes boundaries, addresses the big questions of our time and creates hope for the future’ with a varied programme of free, low-cost and ticketed events. 

The University of Manchester is proud to be a long-standing Senior Supporter of the Festival and its organiser Factory International, who are continuing to build on the MIF legacy with a varied programme of groundbreaking world premieres and local events, co-created with local communities, students and partners. The Festival celebrates Manchester as a global hub of creative innovation and features homegrown artists returning to the region with many of the artists programmed originally coming from the North West. 

The Whitworth, one of The University’s four cultural institutions, is also part of the MIF25 programme. From 4 July 2025 to 4 January 2026, Santiago Yahuarcani’s ‘The Beginning of Knowledge’ will be on show at the gallery and is the result of a project by the artist, Indigenous activist, and leader of the Aimeni (White Heron) clan of the Uitoto people. In his first international solo exhibition Yahuarcani showcases large-scale, narrative-rich paintings exploring the relationship between the Uitoto people and the natural world. 

Throughout July MIF25 is looking to inspire fresh perspectives, challenge conventional thought and invite audiences to ‘dream differently’ - envisioning new possibilities, brighter futures and utopian spaces. Presenting some of the most exciting creative minds of our generation, the programme champions indigenous artists and creators from the Global South, expanding the Festival’s renowned international impact as well as fostering deep connections with local artists and communities in the North West of England.  

Creative Director at Factory International and member of the Creative Manchester Research Platform Advisory Board, Low Kee Hong says:

On the opening weekend hundreds of participants, including students and staff from The University of Manchester, joined puppeteers in THE HERDS for a public artwork on an unprecedented scale. This monumental migration of life-sized puppets, some of which have been made in Manchester, took over the streets of Greater Manchester to open the Festival and raise awareness of the climate crisis and the collective effort needed to fight it. 

Across Greater Manchester’s boroughs residents will also be able to enjoy local community showcases featuring cabaret, performance and comedy on each Festival weekend, or join the free programme of events at MIF’s Festival Square outside Aviva Studios. 

Across Greater Manchester’s boroughs residents will also be able to enjoy local community showcases featuring cabaret, performance and comedy on each Festival weekend, or join the free programme of events at MIF’s Festival Square outside Aviva Studios. 

I am Beisi Wang, now studying at the university of Manchester, majoring in Digital Media, Culture, and Society. Over the past few months, I have had the pleasure of completing a placement with Creative Manchester, a research platform based at the University of Manchester that supports interdisciplinary collaboration between the arts, culture, and academia. 

As a postgraduate student in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, I have always been interested in health communication and the power of creative practices in raising public awareness. This placement gave me the valuable opportunity to explore how cultural events can promote meaningful community engagement as well as improving my own communication and organisational skills in a UK working environment.

Throughout my placement, I undertook diverse responsibilities that related to cultural events and digital communication. I participated in the full delivery of events, from internal meetings and external partner coordination to on-site logistics, such as setting up venues, preparing materials, and supporting guest registration. I also had chances to engage in digital communication planning, including managing and scheduling social media content across a variety of platforms (e.g. Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky), creating digital visual material (eg. posters and promotional videos) and monthly analysing social media performance. These experiences enhanced my understanding of how to tailor content to specific platforms and different audiences, while strengthening my skills in English writing, and professional workplace communication.

One of the most memorable and significant events throughout my placement is Silent Skies exhibition. It is an engaging temporary exhibition hosted at Manchester Museum, looking at both the historic and modern contexts of air quality in the city of Manchester. It brought together researchers, local campaigners, and members of the public to reflect on environmental injustice and collective action. 

The event was structured in three parts: an immersive exhibition, a drinks reception, and a lecture with interactive elements. During the drinks reception, some students moved through the crowd wearing gas masks and carrying trays of jelly with toy cars embedded inside, a striking metaphor for how exhaust fumes may affect the human lungs. The lecture also began with a powerful artistic moment: several performers held umbrellas adorned with recycled bottle caps, turning everyday objects into a symbol of environmental awareness. Throughout the talk, interactive activities encouraged attendees to reflect and participate in the discussion.

I was involved from the early planning stages to final promotions. I drafted and scheduled promotional content tailored to each stage of the campaign - writing teaser posts, designing digital assets, and managing cross-platform posting using Hootsuite. I also prepared targeted email updates for attendees and edited a video reviewing the whole event for our Instagram and Facebook account. Silent Skies showed me how storytelling, design, and creativity can come together to convey complex environmental issues in engaging and memorable ways.

Beyond practical digital communication skills, such as design and copywriting, this placement helped to grow as a communicator and team member. I became more confident to deliver a speech in team meetings, and coordinate audiences in events. I also improved my written English and became more familiar with the tone and branding of public-facing communication. More broadly, this placement allows me to realize how creative practices can bridge the gap between social issues and the public.

I’m incredibly grateful to the Creative Manchester team for their support and encouragement throughout the placement - especially my supervisor Kate, whose guidance helped me grow in confidence and independence. This has been a valuable and inspiring experience that has shaped both my academic journey and professional goals.

To any students considering a placement in Creative Manchester: go for it! It’s a great chance to apply your skills in a real-world context, meet inspiring people, and explore how creativity can drive change.

The day concludes with Creative Manchester’s Solstice and Equinox event ‘Jazzie B in conversation with David Olusoga’ and an exclusive DJ set by Jazzie B himself. 

The summer solstice event brings together two remarkable cultural figures against the backdrop of the UNESCO World Heritage site of Jodrell Bank, home to the iconic Lovell telescope. This unique combination of research and public engagement events contributes to Creative Manchester's ongoing mission to foster dialogue between different creative disciplines and cultural perspectives.

The conversation, chaired by Dr Sophie Everest, Lecturer in Film Practice and Filmmaker, will explore the intersections of music, history, and cultural heritage in a setting of scientific discovery and innovation.

Coach transport to and from Jodrell Bank and admission to the Solstice and Equinox event are included in the conference ticket. 

Celebrating Jazzie B's legacy

Trevor Beresford Romeo OBE, known as Jazzie B, is a DJ, music producer, entrepreneur and founding member of the iconic music collective, Soul II Soul. Born in London to parents of Antiguan descent, Jazzie began DJing in the 1980s on pirate radio and holding parties adapting the reggae sound system. This evolved into the formation of the Soul II Soul Collective and signature sound, a number one single, global success, two Grammy Awards, and the sale of millions of records.

Soul II Soul and Jazzie B have left an indelible mark on British culture, not only through their music but also via legendary club nights, fashion lines, retail ventures, and radio shows on both pirate station Kiss FM and the BBC. Jazzie was awarded an OBE in 2008, and in 2024, Soul II Soul received the MOBO Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of an enduring impact on British music and culture.

Archival Collaboration with The University of Manchester

The event is part of an ongoing collaboration between Jazzie B and researchers at The University of Manchester, who are working together to document his extensive personal archive. This archival project represents an important effort to preserve and study the cultural impact of Soul II Soul and the broader musical and cultural movements they influenced.

Following their conversation, the evening will culminate in a special DJ set from Jazzie B himself, bringing his signature sound to the First Light Pavilion—a rare opportunity to experience his musical artistry in such a unique scientific setting.

The Solstice and Equinox Series: Bridging Arts and Sciences

The evening event is part of Creative Manchester's Solstice and Equinox series, which brings innovative creative artists to The University of Manchester's four Cultural Institutions. Each of our unique cultural institutions – the Whitworth, the John Rylands Research Institute and Library, Manchester Museum and Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre – focus on building civic, national and international partnerships to advance the social, environmental and individual wellbeing of our communities.

On 29 April 2025, Creative Manchester and the American Studies Department hosted a compelling in-conversation event featuring Professor Michèle Lamont (Harvard University) and Professor Gary Younge (University of Manchester), at the Alliance Manchester Business School.  

The afternoon began with a welcome address from Professor Maggie Gale, Vice Dean for Research in the Faculty of Humanities, who introduced the speakers and highlighted the significance of the discussion in today’s political climate. 

In a wide-ranging dialogue, Professors Lamont and Younge explored the politics of recognition and multiculturalism in the context of Trump’s second presidency, drawing comparisons between the US and UK. Their conversation focused on the experiences of working-class communities and racialised groups, and the cultural shifts occurring amid political backlash.

Professor Lamont, currently a Leverhulme Visiting Professor at Manchester, shared insights from her new book project, which investigates recognition claims across different social contexts. Her reflections were enriched by her interdisciplinary work in sociology, African and African American studies, and European studies at Harvard. 

Professor Younge, known for his incisive journalism and sociological commentary, brought a sharp lens to the discussion, highlighting the role of media, memory, and political backlash in shaping public discourse around identity and belonging. 

The event concluded with a lively audience Q&A and a drinks reception, offering attendees the opportunity to continue the conversation informally. 

This event was part of Professor Lamont’s Leverhulme Visiting Professorship, hosted by Professor Andrew Miles and the Department of Sociology.  

Creative Manchester was delighted to host the inaugural event in a new series examining the critical role of arts centres across the UK and Ireland, in The Martin Harris Centre at the University of Manchester on 29 April. 

Led by Honorary Research Fellow Dave Moutrey in partnership with Future Arts Centres, the event brought together cultural leaders, researchers, and policymakers to explore the funding landscape and future potential of these vital community institutions.

Arts centres have long served as dynamic spaces for creativity, inclusion, and local engagement. Often operating outside the spotlight of larger cultural venues, they have nonetheless played a transformative role in shaping artistic practice and fostering social cohesion. Their significance was particularly evident during the Covid-19 pandemic, when their adaptability and deep community roots proved essential.

The event commenced with a networking lunch, followed by a presentation of new research by Ray Morrison, Research Associate to Dave Moutrey. Morrison’s analysis of Arts Council England (ACE) funding data offered a detailed view of how arts centres are resourced and the implications of current funding models.

A panel discussion followed, featuring Gavin Barlow of Future Arts Centres and Dr Jennifer Cleary of Arts Council England. The panel engaged in a robust dialogue on the findings, considering how funding structures influence the sustainability and reach of arts centres, and what strategic changes might be necessary to support their continued evolution.

This event marks the beginning of a wider programme of research and public engagement led by Moutrey during his fellowship. With the support of Future Arts Centres, the series will continue to investigate the development, impact, and future trajectory of arts centres, particularly in the context of ongoing political, social, and economic challenges.