2024's news highlights from the Faculty of Humanities

The Faculty of Humanities at The University of Manchester has experienced another fantastic year in 2024, and has had many significant achievements and announcements to celebrate throughout the last twelve months. Here are some of the most notable highlights:

January

The year started with the news that the University’s Jason Allen-Paisant had been named the winner of the UK’s most prestigious poetry award, the TS Eliot Prize, for his collection Self-Portrait As Othello which explores Black masculinity and immigrant identity. The Jamaican poet, who is a Senior Lecturer in Critical Theory & Creative Writing at the Centre for New Writing, also won the Forward Prize for Best Collection in 2023, and the book has also since been shortlisted for the Writers’ Prize.

January also saw the University being awarded over £23.5m by the Department for Education to lead a national consortium of eight Russell Group universities providing doctoral training places for educational psychologists, which underlined the government’s confidence in our capability to deliver the programme to the highest academic and professional standards. 

February

In February our researchers were awarded with £4.2 million to help them to tackle some of the UK’s most challenging resilience and security problems. The funding from UK Research and Innovation will enable the University to create a Research and Coordination Hub which will confront pressing risks and threats both online and in the world around us.  

The month also saw the launch of major research stories which revealed a crisis in children’s autism assessment, as well as a shocking level of abuse of women runners – both of these stories received widespread media coverage and led to discussions at the highest level by policymakers, experts and campaigners.

March

March was a particularly good month for the Faculty with several great news stories and announcements – these included Professor of Sociology and Social Gerontology Tine Buffel being recognised as a leading expert in her field by being named a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, the Global Development Institute receiving a transformational £2 million donation from the Rory and Elizabeth Brooks Foundation, the naming of the University as an Academic Centre of Excellence in recognition of our internationally leading cyber security research, and a film based on a novel penned by late creative writing Professor Martin Amis making Oscars history as the first British production to be named as ‘Best International Film’.

April

In April Professor of Education Pamela Qualter was appointed as co-chair of the Technical Advisory Group for the World Health Organization’s Commission on Social Connection, which aims to reposition social connection as a genuine global public health and well-being priority and to scale up cost-effective solutions to address loneliness and social isolation. 

A major piece of research launched this month also found that millions of pounds of benefits were delivered to society in 2023 as part of a mental health initiative in schools, The research – undertaken for educational charity Football Beyond Borders by experts from our University – found that their project to provide a trusted adult for young people in secondary schools has resulted in wellbeing benefits of £5.5 million.

May

The School of Social Sciences launched a new scholarship in May in memory of Politics, Philosophy and Economics graduate Laura Nuttall, who sadly passed away in 2023 after a long battle against cancer. In keeping with Laura’s dedication to helping others, and with the collaboration and support of Laura’s family, the School will award an eligible student from a less privileged background with a physical condition, long term illness or learning difference with a scholarship of £3000 per year for every year of their degree. 

Also in May, the Faculty announced that it had secured £2.73 million to enhance its research and teaching capabilities in the critical areas of AI, trust and society. The funding is being matched by £2 million from the Faculty itself, and the investment will go towards appointing an interdisciplinary team of six senior lecturer or lecturer-level academics, six post-doctoral research associates and six PhD students. 

June

In June, Professor of Physical Geography Jamie Woodward was named as one of the most impactful environmental professionals in the UK in The ENDS Report Power List. The annual report names 100 UK environmental professionals who have made the greatest impact in the past two years, with Professor Woodward one of the 10 academics identified as shaping the science on environmental issues. He was one of the earliest academics to raise awareness about the issue of widespread discharges of untreated sewage into UK rivers and waterways, and he has worked tirelessly to expose this scandal, engaging policymakers across Parliament and local government to ensure water companies are held to account for their illegal practices. 

In the same month Programme Director for MA Screenwriting Jonathan Hourigan won the Grand Jury Award for the International Competition at Sheffield DocFest for his film ‘At the Door of the House Who Will Come Knocking’ – the film follows an elderly man living in isolation in  Bosnia and Herzegovina, weaving together a tapestry of dreamlike visuals as it records the routines of his daily life.

July

July saw Steven Courtney, Professor of Sociology of Education and Director of Research at the Manchester Institute of Education, being given a major award in recognition of the enormous contribution he has made to educational knowledge, leadership and management throughout his career. Steven was given a Distinguished Service Award – the society’s highest accolade – by BELMAS, the leading global independent voice in education leadership. Winners of the award receive a lifetime membership, and are invited to join the Distinguished Service Award Advisory Board which meets twice a year to provide the society with insight and feedback in relation to their work.

Also this month, the University’s Dr Ruth Lamont was appointed as the new Parliamentary Thematic Research Lead for Crime and Justice. She will be joining a cohort of 8 top researchers, selected by The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology and UK Research and Innovation, who will play a crucial role in bringing research and innovation to the forefront of Government decision-making. 

August

There was good news for the Faculty during the summer break, as eleven student teachers from The University of Manchester received the Primary Science Enhancement Award for Initial Teacher Education. Our students made up over 10% of the entire UK’s winners, and after receiving the award, they are now able to start their careers with increased competence and confidence when teaching science and are equipped to take up future school leadership positions in science. 

September

The start of the new academic year was marked by the appointment of Professor Cecilia Wong as the new Chair of the UK2070 Commission, an independent inquiry into city and regional inequalities in the United Kingdom – has announced the appointment of Professor Cecilia Wong as its new Chair. Professor Wong – a distinguished academic and a Professor of Spatial Planning and Co-Director of Policy@Manchester – will bring a wealth of expertise and an exceptional track record in urban and regional development to the prestigious role.

The month also saw the launch of several major pieces of research into a range of subjects including shortcuts being taken by architects, teenage social media use and older people not claiming benefits – each of these stories gained widespread media coverage drawing attention to important societal issues.

October

October saw the naming of our 26th Nobel Laureate, as Manchester alumnus Simon Johnson was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for his groundbreaking research into understanding wealth disparities between different nations. Simon studied Economics at Manchester in the 1980s, and is now a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Also this month, the University inaugurated the Global Humanities Alliance, an initiative forged by eight international universities to raise the profile of humanities and social sciences across the globe. Academics from partner institutions gathered in person and online to mark the beginning of this collaborative effort at an inaugural meeting.  

November

The University announced a new £8 million research centre in November focused on equitable low-carbon living, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, which aims to address climate change challenges. The Centre for Joined Up Sustainability Transformations (JUST) will accelerate the understanding of a just transition by coordinating research into action at all levels of society.

The move of English National Opera to Manchester was also accompanied this month by the launch of a new partnership with the University which will invite the people of Greater Manchester to explore the opportunities for the artform, engage with new communities and discuss what it means to have an opera company based in our city region. 

December

The final month of the year saw Professor Claire Alexander being announced as this year’s winner of the Distinguished Service to British Sociology Award, which is given to the outstanding individual who has contributed most to the discipline by leading an extraordinary life as a sociologist.

In December researchers at the Global Development Institute were also awarded with £1.3 million by the Ford Foundation to establish a research observatory studying the role land rights play in a just transition to a decarbonised future. A team of GDI researchers will lead the observatory’s activities alongside co-investigators at the University of Ghana, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and the Federal University of Pará in Brazil.. 

These stories reflect the Faculty’s commitment to addressing global challenges through research, education and social responsibility.