We invite project or activity proposals from current staff in SALC that promote or develop our work towards the university’s goals in social responsibility. We expect most projects will fall into one or more of the following categories:
• Engaging our communities
• Cultural or creative engagement
• Environmental Sustainability
• Promoting equality and diversity
We will accept proposals that relate to or support teaching activities. We also support projects that enhance or promote public engagement with research. Ideas may involve working with charities, businesses and/or develop international collaboration.
Cultural Engagement Awards
This fund is jointly managed by SALC SR and Creative Manchester.
• We are looking to support 3 projects across the year with funds of up to £5000.
• These will likely be more advanced projects (rather than ‘seedcorn funding’-style starter projects), and our focus will be on awarding most of these in Semester 1, to give successful projects enough time to run over the whole year.
• These projects must involve a partnership with a cultural organisation outside the university and an academic partner from outside SALC.
• These projects should involve the development of relationships with creative or cultural partners and a plan for longer-term sustainability.
Social Responsibility Awards
We are looking to support a number of projects that meet one or more of the social responsibility goals across the year. These might:
• Develop partnerships with creative or cultural organisations/practitioners
• Offer opportunities for local communities to engage with the work of SALC
• Explore and promote approaches to environmental sustainability through arts, languages or culture
• Explore and promote social justice, equality and diversity through arts, languages or culture
• Have a strong relationship with teaching and/or research within SALC
• These could be new projects or developments of existing work
We can only allocate funding within the 2025/26 academic year. However, if you envisage your project spanning more than one year, please explain this in your proposal and/or talk to us about this.
Please take into account possible Covid-19 restrictions when planning your project. It is often helpful if you have a conversation about your project idea with divisional/departmental SR representatives before submitting your proposal, and please notify them in any case if you intend to apply.
You are also welcome to talk about any aspects of your project/proposal with Holly Morse, Director for Social Responsibility and Internationalisation (holly.morse@manchester.ac.uk).
Proposals will be considered by a sub-group of the SALC Social Responsibility and Internationalisation Committee in collaboration with Creative Manchester.
You can request funding for a variety of kinds of expenditures including:
• Media / artistic / web production costs
• Expenses for students, staff or other participants (in relation to the activity)
• Fees/expenses for external practitioners (e.g. artists, designers, public engagement practitioners etc.) but not normally for salaried project partners (e.g. other academics or museum staff). We encourage the inclusion of fees for freelance artists or others whose work may be precarious in the current conditions.
Proposal format / guidelines
Please submit your proposal to SALC_Social_Responsibility_Awards@manchester.ac.uk by Monday 3 November 2025. Your proposal should not be more than two pages of A4 (minimum font size 11) and use the following headings:
- Name and contact details of project lead (this can be a member of SALC PSS or academic staff, current student, or SALC graduate within the last 2 years)
- Other key people and project partners (these may be external or internal to SALC)
- Title of project
- 150-word summary description of project for general readership suitable for publication on the SALC Making a Difference blog
- Project aims and how these support SALC social responsibility aims (please refer to the aims and categories outlined above)
Ø Project activities (please explain as clearly as possible what you are going to do, your intended outcomes, and include a timeline)
Ø Projected costs (please give your project budget and the full amount requested. If you are not requesting the full costs of the project please also outline your other sources of funding)
Things to consider/check:
Ø Ensure that you have informed your departmental SR rep of your intent to apply and have the approval of your line manager;
Ø The award must be spent by the end of the academic year;
Ø The award should not be used as top-up for projects that are already supported by external funding (e.g,, AHRC, ESRC, etc – check with your SR rep if you are unsure);
Ø Ensure that the project you are applying for does not clash with any requirements attached to other grants you might be holding;
Ø Ensure that the project can be completed within the duration of your contract of employment.
Successful projects
We expect successful projects to provide us with an abstract to put on our blog, and a short report at the end of the year and material that we can use to publicise it on the SALC website / social media.
If you need help with marketing or publicising your activity further please contact us about this. You can find out more information about social responsibility in SALC on the SALC Making a Difference pages (abstracts for some of the successful bids from the previous year can be found there, for instance).