Third year students from the University of Manchester are contributing to global policy discussions on trade, women’s economic empowerment and gender equality on the basis of their course assessment. In early 2026, Dr Silke Trommer, Senior Lecturer in the University’s Politics Department, received a call for expert input from the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights.  As an internationally renowned expert on global trade and gender relations, Dr Trommer was invited, among a wider group of global policy institutions, civil society organisation and academic experts, to provide testimony for a commissioned UN Human Rights Council report on ‘women’s economic empowerment and trade agreements’.

The call for expert input aligned perfectly with the final assessment on the course POLI32082, The International Political Economy of Trade, which consisted of a trade policy briefing on one of 5 chosen topics: women’s economic empowerment, consumer protection, green transition, data governance or access to medicines.

Four students from the course – Meghan Burnip, Sarp Ibrahimhakkioglu, Amy Millward and Kian Putterill met the global challenge.

According to Amy Millward, “working in a small group of four, alongside students equally passionate about the subject, was incredibly rewarding”.

Their submission, including policy recommendations, drew on what they had learned through their coursework, while bringing their own research, perspectives and ideas to the discussion. Students felt motivated not only by the chance to make coursework count beyond the classroom.

Sarp Ibrahimhakkioglu, was pleased to see “an issue as broad and deeply rooted as gender inequality and women’s economic empowerment successfully move beyond the classroom and potentially reach policymakers and other stakeholders”. 

Since students provided their input, titled Challenging the Burden of Unpaid Labour: Women’s Economic Empowerment in UK Trade Policy, to the UN in June 2026, the submission has not only been posted on the UN HRC website, and is currently feeding into the UN report.  Dr Trommer has also taken the submission forward on knowledge exchange work in her recently published monograph, A feminist political economy of trade (2026, BUP, with Adrienne Roberts).  

The UN submission produced by University of Manchester students has travelled to global policy discussions at the World Trade Organization Public Forum in Geneva (September 2026), at the London School of Economics Overseas Development Institute workshop convened at the UK’s 2027 G20 presidency (October 2026), and at the European Parliament International Trade Committee (November 2026).

As Sarp testified, the experience is “showing that change is indeed possible”. In the case of women’s economic empowerment and trade agreements, change was dreamed up in a University of Manchester classroom.

 Written by Sarp Ibrahimhakkioglu, Amy Millward and Silke Trommer.

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