This event was recorded on Tuesday, 19 November 2024 at the University’s Whitworth Hall and is the fourth and final live instalment of the Talk 200 lecture and podcast series. In contrast to the preceding three Talk 200 live events, this was a live podcast episode, centred around a panel discussion rather than a lecture from an individual speaker.   

Professor April McMahon, Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students at The University of Manchester, was joined by Professor Duncan Ivison, the University’s President and Vice-Chancellor; alumna and former General Secretary of our Student’s Union Naa Acquah; and Management student and scholarship recipient William McArthur to discuss the University’s commitment to supporting students from all backgrounds.

The panel looked back to the University’s origins and its fundamental belief in education without barriers and how, 200 years later, those values are as important as ever. Established as a radically progressive institution that did things differently, we are today committed to understanding our history – both celebrating our achievements and working to repair any inequalities. Our experts considered how we strive to deliver equitable, affordable student experiences and provide access to career experiences that are truly transformative.

Find the full transcript of this episode on the Talk 200 webpage.

Find out more about:

Teaching and learning excellence at Manchester - https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/te...

Manchester Access Programme (MAP) - https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/so...

Widening participation - https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/so...

Equity and Merit - https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/so...

Our history - https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/hi...

Talking fairness and equality: “We’re not moving fast enough” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJscminQjm8&t=0s

Host Andy Spinoza invites Professor John McAuliffe, Director of Creative Manchester, Co-Director of the Centre for New Writing, and Professor of Poetry at The University of Manchester; Professor Caroline Bithell, Professor of Ethnomusicology at Manchester; and Keisha Thompson FRSA, Innovation Fellow with Creative Manchester; to explore Manchester’s rich creative and cultural environment – and the University’s important contribution to it. 

They consider how the city’s industrial past has helped to shape its cultural and creative landscape, highlighting key figures such as novelist Anthony Burgess and the formation of the University’s cultural institutions, including the John Rylands Research Institute and Library, Manchester Museum and more. 

The group delves into the importance of investment in culture and how we can strive to make it more accessible to all, and eye our future goals in this ever-changing sector. 

This podcast episode was recorded on 18 June 2024.

Find the full transcript of this episode on the Talk 200 webpage.

Further information

Find our more on:

• Creative Manchester 
• Manchester Museum 
• Jodrell Bank 
• The Whitworth 
• John Rylands Research Institute and Library 
• British Pop Archive 
• In Place of War: Supporting, developing and promoting artists from conflict zones 
• The natural voice movement: Giving a voice to singers and cultures across the world 
• Manchester Camerata x The University of Manchester 
• Klezmer – The Michael Kahan Kapelye 
• Universally Manchester Festival 
• UNESCO Manchester City of Literature 
• On Creativity: Practices and Perspectives (University College for Interdisciplinary Learning course) 

In this bonus content to accompany Professor Mike Shaver’s live lecture: ‘The unmaking of everything’, you’ll hear the full panel discussion with him that followed Mike’s talk. 

If you haven’t seen the lecture yet, head to manchester.ac.uk/talk200 to hear from the Director of Sustainable Futures at The University of Manchester as he discusses sustainability challenges and the complex nature of our material world, with a particular focus on plastics. 

Listen from our panel experts, chaired by Colette Fagan, Vice-President for Research at Manchester, including Dr Helen Holmes, Deputy Director of Sustainable Futures; Dr Rosa Cuéllar-Franca, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering; and Dr Ciaran Lahive, a Research Fellow at the Sustainable Materials Innovation Hub.

Find the full transcript of this episode on the Talk 200 webpage.

Further information

Find out more about: 

• Sustainable Futures research platform
• Sustainable Materials Innovation Hub
• Sustainable Consumption Institute
• The Tyndall Centre, Manchester
• Recycling waste in the beer industry – explore how Manchester researchers at The University of Manchester are using innovative methods to analyze and remove plastic from the brewing process

This lecture was recorded on Tuesday, 17 September 2024 at the Jarvis Hall in London and is the third live instalment of the Talk 200 lecture and podcast series.

Professor Mike Shaver, Professor of Polymer Science and Director of Sustainable Futures at The University of Manchester, discusses the complex nature of our material world, with a particular focus on plastics. He examines our presumptions around plastic packaging waste, the complexity of these materials in essential objects – from credit cards to conveyor belts to cars – and the interrelationships between these materials and sustainability.

Professor Shaver explores how to recover value by unmaking these systems at end-of-life, and why unpicking this complexity is essential for a more sustainable future.

The event also included a question-and-answer session with members of the audience and those joining online, as well as a panel discussion led by Professor Colette Fagan, Vice-President for Research at Manchester, and including Dr Helen Holmes, Deputy Director of Sustainable Futures; Dr Rosa Cuéllar-Franca, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering; and Dr Ciaran Lahive, a Research Fellow at the Sustainable Materials Innovation Hub.

Find the full transcript of this episode on the Talk 200 webpage.

Further information

Find out more about: 

• Sustainable Futures research platform
• Sustainable Materials Innovation Hub
• Sustainable Consumption Institute
• The Tyndall Centre, Manchester
• Recycling waste in the beer industry – explore how Manchester researchers at The University of Manchester are using innovative methods to analyze and remove plastic from the brewing process

Sitting down with host Andy Spinoza to talk all things digital and AI are Dr Riza Batista-Navarro, Senior Lecturer in Text Mining at the University; Dr Mauricio Álvarez, Senior Lecturer in Machine Learning; and Dr Filip Bialy, Research Associate here at Manchester, Assistant Professor at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, and Lecturer at the European New School of Digital Studies. 

Our experts discuss Manchester technological innovation from the Industrial Revolution to present day, including the development of the Manchester ‘Baby’ – the world’s first electric stored-program computer – and Alan Turing’s pioneering work in AI. 

They size up the ethical and political implications of AI and digital advancements and evaluate the University’s current position as a leading centre for progress in this field – aiming to drive innovation and leverage these powerful technologies for the greater good. 

Find the full transcript of this episode on the Talk 200 webpage.

Further information 

Find out more on: 

• Digital Futures research platform 
• The Institute for Data Science and AI (IDSAI) 
• Centre for AI Fundamentals 
• Turing Innovation Catalyst (TIC) 
• Centre for Digital Trust and Society (CDTS)  
• Department of Computer Science 
• Digital Campaigning and Electoral Democracy (DiCED) – five-year, cross-national EU-funded project 
• SpiNNaker computing platform – enabling brain-inspired AI 
• AI – Should we be pessimistic or optimistic? – Alumni Association panel discussion on the future of AI technology
• Artificial Intelligence at The University of Manchester – explore our groundbreaking artificial intelligence research

Host Andy Spinoza is joined by Professor Alejandro Frangi, Director of the Christabel Pankhurst Institute and the Bicentennial Turing Chair in Computational Medicine at The University of Manchester; Dr Louise Hunter, a Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology Gastroenterology; and Raluca-Elena Valcescu, Executive Officer for the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health at The University of Manchester Students’ Union. 

The group discuss Manchester’s storied history of medical and health-related breakthroughs and how these led to the city remaining at the forefront of medical innovations for over two centuries, and consider the University’s role today in advancing medical knowledge, driving positive healthcare and tackling global health challenges. 

They also look to what the future might bring – and what impact digital technologies, AI and advanced materials could have on positive healthcare outcomes. 

This podcast episode was recorded on 27 June 2024.

Find the full transcript of this episode on the Talk 200 webpage.

Further information 

Find out more on: 

• The University’s Healthier Futures research platform 
• Our Cancer research beacon 
• One in Two: a Manchester cancer research podcast  
• The Christabel Pankhurst Institute for health technology research and innovation 
• The Christabel Pankhurst Institute’s podcast Health Tech Matters 
• Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB) 
• Health Innovation Manchester 
• Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health
• Health research at The University of Manchester – Discover how our researchers are using cutting-edge techniques to enrich crops with essential nutrients

Find out more on our Talk 200 webpage or discover more about our wider bicentenary celebrations.

Joining host Andy Spinoza are Professor Colette Fagan, the University’s Vice-President for Research and responsible for leading our research and doctoral training strategy; Aisha Akram, University of Manchester Students’ Union Wellbeing and Liberation Officer; and George Obolo, a final year MBChB Medicine student at Manchester and award-winning social entrepreneur, leader, builder and public speaker. 

They discuss fairness, equality, equity and the role of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) action plans in higher education for students and staff, and more widely in society. They highlight how the University has advanced equality and fairness through the impact of its research – from the past, through to the present and into the future. 

From Manchester’s role in the Industrial Revolution and its ties to the global cotton trade, through to key figures in the University’s radical history, such as Christabel Pankhurst, Alan Turing and Arthur Lewis, the group chart the University’s EDI journey, examine our institutional commitment to EDI, and discuss how our research produces evidence and solutions to advance equality and fairness across the globe, as well as in our local community.

Find the full transcript of this episode on the Talk 200 webpage.

Further information

To learn more about equality, diversity and inclusion at The University of Manchester, take a look our Let's Talk series of blogs, videos and podcasts. The first conversations in the series cover the experiences of disabled staff and students.

Find out more on:

• The University’s global inequalities research beacon 
• Our EDI strategy 
• Our EDI accreditations 
• Creating a more equal world – case studies 
• Cotton Capital: Slavery and The University of Manchester 
• Healthier Futures platform 
• Global Development Institute 
• Work and Equalities Institute 
• Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) 
• Manchester Urban Institute 

Find out more on our Talk 200 webpage or discover more about our wider bicentenary celebrations.

In this panel discussion to accompany the second lecture of our Talk 200 series, Nazir Afzal is joined by Tom Hedges, sub-postmaster at Hogsthorpe Post Office near Skegness from 1994 until he was unjustly sacked in 2010, aged 57, after being wrongfully accused of false accounting; barrister and advocate Thalia Maragh; and Suzanne Gower, PhD researcher, lecturer in Law and former Managing Director of legal charity APPEAL.

The panel was chaired by Claire McGourlay, Professor of Legal Education at Manchester and a National and Principal Fellow of the HEA. Against the backdrop of recent injustices both in the UK and globally, including the ongoing Post Office scandal, they considered the disparities in access to justice and how we might chart a path towards fairer treatment within the legal sphere. 

Find the full transcript of this episode on the Talk 200 webpage.

Further information 

Find out more about: 

• The University’s research in global inequalities  
• The University of Manchester Justice Hub 
• Manchester Innocence Project 
• The Innocence Podcast series 
• Prosecuting Rap research 
• Racial Bias and the Bench report 
• Policy@Manchester article on the Westminster Commission on Miscarriages of Justice report

Find out more on our Talk 200 webpage or discover more about our wider bicentenary celebrations.

Find the full transcript for this podcast episode on the Talk 200 webpage - manchester.ac.uk/talk200

This lecture was recorded on Friday, 7 June 2024 at the Martin Harris Centre as part of Universally Manchester Festival. It is the second live instalment of the Talk 200 lecture and podcast series. 

Nazir Afzal, Chancellor of the University and former Chief Crown Prosecutor for north-west England, discusses inequalities in access to justice and a vision for fairer treatment across the legal service. 

During his legal career, Afzal prosecuted some of the highest profile criminal cases in the UK. Here he talks about limits to equality and the many issues that exist within our current legal system. Cutting across ethnicity, gender, economic status, age and health, he explores what is being done – and what more should be done – to combat these challenges. 

Find the full transcript of this episode on the Talk 200 webpage.

Further information 

Find out more about: 

• The University’s research in global inequalities  
• The University of Manchester Justice Hub 
• Manchester Innocence Project 
• The Innocence Podcast series 
• Prosecuting Rap research 
• Racial Bias and the Bench report 
• Policy@Manchester article on the Westminster Commission on Miscarriages of Justice report

Find out more on our Talk 200 webpage or discover more about our wider bicentenary celebrations.

Professor Richard Jones, Professor of Materials Physics and Innovation Policy and Vice-President for Regional Innovation and Civic Engagement, and Professor Aline Miller, Professor of Biomolecular Engineering and Associate Dean for Business Engagement and Innovation in the Faculty of Science and Engineering, join host Andy Spinoza to talk innovation, economy and commercialisation at the University and across Manchester – and discuss how we’re converting ideas into impact.

The group dive into the University’s remarkable history of path-breaking research delivering truly radical solutions – from world-changing nuclear breakthroughs at the beginning of the last century to kickstarting the computer revolution and artificial intelligence research around its middle, to the isolation of graphene at the start of the 21st century.

They consider how at Manchester today we bring together expertise across economics, politics, sociology, education, innovation and beyond to address the myriad of challenges that exist on a local, national and international scale; and how through our work in areas such as digital and AI, advanced materials and biotechnology – and the positive benefits delivered for the environment and health – our commitment to innovation and delivering real-world impact continues.

Find the full transcript of this episode on the Talk 200 webpage.

Further information

Discover more about the University’s innovative work and partnerships: 

• Christabel Pankhurst Institute
• Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre
• Henry Royce Institute
• Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Catalyst (IBIC)
• Innovation District (ID) Manchester
• Manchester Innovation Factory
• Masood Entrepreneurship Centre 
• The Productivity Institute
• Turing Innovation Catalyst Manchester
• Quantum research at The University of Manchester – dive into our cutting-edge quantum research, from computing to next-gen materials

Find out more on our Talk 200 webpage or discover more about our wider bicentenary celebrations.