Peterloo Massacre
1819
60,000-80,000 people gathered at St Peter’s Field in Manchester to demand the reform of parliamentary representation following periods of famine and chronic unemployment exacerbated by the first of the Corn Laws.
Birth of Trades Union Congress
1868
The first Trades Union Congress (TUC) meeting was held in 1868 when the Manchester and Salford Trades Council convened the founding meeting in the Manchester Mechanics’ Institute – a University of Manchester building.
Christabel Pankhurst fights for equality for women
1901
Dame Christabel Pankhurst was a suffragette and graduate in Law from The University of Manchester. She was co-founder of the Women’s Social and Political Union.
Professor Arthur Lewis – the founder of development economics
1948
Aged 33 years old, Arthur Lewis arrived at The University of Manchester and became Britain’s first black Professor. Over the next decade he became famous while at Manchester for developing some of the most important concepts about the patterns of capital and wages in developing countries.
Find out more about Arthur Lewis
UK-Med improves disaster responses
1995
This charity was established by the University as a direct result of Manchester research recommendations. It facilitated the provision of health care workers across the UK to support the hospitals in Sarajevo during the Balkans war and has since deployed teams to countries and crises including Haiti in 2010 following the earthquake, Gaza in 2014 following renewed conflict and responses to the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Sierra Leone.
Find out more: UK-Med improves disaster responses
In Place of War project launches
2004
This Manchester project team engages NGO, government, academic and intergovernmental sectors across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America on addressing terrorism, war, peace building, poverty, human rights abuses, LGBTI, indigenous rights, censorship, gang violence, refugees and limited opportunities for youth.
Find out more: In Place of War project
Launch of Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (HCRI)
2008
The HCRI is a research and teaching institute with a focus on the fundamental research that underpins humanitarian, global health, peace and conflict, and disaster response issues.
Cadbury becomes Fairtrade
2009
Following Manchester’s research to investigate the Cadbury cocoa supply chain and find out more about the challenges facing cocoa producers, the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership was launched – a £45 million initiative to support cocoa growers over the next ten years. It also achieved Fairtrade certification for its main chocolate lines.
Global inequalities research beacon
February 2014
Global inequalities became one of five research beacons for The University of Manchester alongside cancer, energy, advanced materials and biotechnology.
Find out more about our global inequalities research beacon
Manchester Migration Lab
January 2016
The Manchester Migration Lab brings together more than 70 researchers who are working on migration issues across the University, and seeks to promote Manchester’s migration research to academic, policy and practitioner audiences.
Find out more about the Manchester Migration Lab
Launch of Global Development Institute (GDI)
February 2016
The GDI united the strengths of the Institute for Development Policy and Management and the Brooks World Poverty Institute to create Europe’s largest dedicated development research and teaching institute, with 45 academics and up to 100 PhD students. It is home to The Rory and Elizabeth Brooks Doctoral College – the world’s first doctoral college for international development.
National award for developing age-friendly communities in Manchester
April 2016
A research study to improve the quality of life in low-income ageing communities in Manchester led by Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing (MICRA) won the Working in Partnership award at the National Coordinating Centre for its involvement of older people as co-researchers.
Find out more about the age-friendly Manchester project
Launch of Business and Human Rights Network
November 2016
Backed by the Lord Alliance Foundation, Alliance Manchester Business School established one of the world’s first business and human rights networks at a business school.
Find out more about the Business and Human Rights Network
Launch of Manchester Urban Institute (MUI)
May 2017
With cities playing an increasingly important role in addressing many of the most pressing global challenges, the University created the Manchester Urban Institute – one of the largest urban-focused research institutes, emphasising the University’s commitment to addressing global inequalities.
Find out more about the Manchester Urban Institute
A Human Development Report for Greater Manchester
June 2017
The University produced a human development report for Greater Manchester to mirror the UN’s approach and provide new and innovative indices for comparing human development in Greater Manchester and its constituent local authorities to a national benchmark.
Find out more about the human development report
60 years of development studies
September 2018
2018 marks 60 years of development studies at The University of Manchester. The 1980s saw a shift towards diplomas and master’s degrees from our Overseas Administrative Studies department, with staff increasingly active as consultants for a number of government and non-government agencies.
The University of Manchester is advancing our understanding of the world in which we live, addressing global inequalities to improve lives.