2025 Featured

A year into his Presidency and Vice-Chancellorship, Professor Duncan Ivison is firmly focused on the future. He tells us about his vision for Manchester’s next decade and the work being done to take us there.

Manchester alumna Judith Sear established the Sear Family Cancer Research Fund after losing her son, Jason, to adrenal cancer. In this interview, Judith explains how Jason’s diagnosis was the driving force behind a $1.3 million (approximately £1 million) donation to our university, and her hopes for the difference the funding will make.

As a Londoner, I wanted to go to a big city for university – I needed somewhere vibrant, energetic and community-driven. Manchester ticked all the boxes. The University has this amazing ability to draw on the influences and culture of the city that surrounds it. It never felt like we were in an exclusive bubble – we were able to experience both the University and the city as one.

Winners of four Ivor Novello Awards, three Grammys and the joint most-nominated act in Mercury Prize history, Radiohead remain among the most revered bands in the music industry. But according to Ed O’Brien (BA Econ 1990), the band’s guitarist and co-songwriter, these accolades mean little compared to the recognition he received from our university in 2024.