
April McMahon: Introductory message
Absolutely the best thing since my arrival at Manchester has been the daily discovery of more and more colleagues who are also devoted to ensuring that we support our students as they learn, gain mastery of their academic disciplines, build their many and varied student experiences, and juggle their often complicated lives. If that’s you, then regardless of your job title or where in our University you work, I’m delighted to welcome you to ‘Team April’, whether or not we have met yet.

Patrick Hackett: All change?
When I’m out and about meeting staff I hear much debate about the why, what, when and how of change in our University. I wanted to share my thoughts on this often contentious topic – and hear your views too.

Stephanie Lee: Removing barriers and boundaries to learning
Everyone should have equal opportunity to benefit from higher education if it’s right for them.

Open letter: The tide of change
Museums are products of their age, reflecting the preoccupations, politics, obsessions and values of their time. They are not and never have been neutral.

Patrick Hackett: An update on the Student Experience Programme
Now that the new academic year is well underway, there’s a real buzz around campus. We all want our students to have as positive an experience as possible throughout the whole time they spend with us, as well as creating better processes and ways of doing things for our staff, saving us time and effort.

Sarah Littlejohn: Supporting the mental health of our students
You don’t need me to tell you that mental health is a significant issue – approximately 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year [1].

Hannah Rundle: Do Humanities matter?
There is plenty of evidence, articles, blogs, newspaper stories attempting to debunk the myths about the ‘financial’ value of Humanities and yet the negative discourse stubbornly remains.

Professor Andy Westwood: The week in Parliament
Professor Andy Westwood from our Faculty of Humanities reflects on events in Parliament.

Cary Cooper and Julian Skyrme: Why high-performing institutions need to understand wellbeing
Professor Sir Cary Cooper answers Dr Julian Skyrme’s questions on the topic ‘Why should high performing organisations prioritise wellbeing?’

Teresa Anderson and Tim O’Brien: Jodrell Bank added to UNESCO World Heritage list
On 8 July this year we were in Baku in Azerbaijan to hear UNESCO’s 2019 World Heritage Committee decide to award World Heritage Site status to the University’s Jodrell Bank Observatory.