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Alliance Manchester Business School

AMBS introduction from Ken McPhail

21 May 2026

This week, Ken McPhail, Head of School introduces the e-bulletin

Group posing in front of AMBS

Dear all, 

I’d like to give a brief update on two things this week.  

This week, the University announced a five‑year, £5m collaboration with BNY Mellon called the Future of Work Alliance to focus on advancing how human-led digital transformation can be integrated responsibly into large, data-intensive organisations in the AI era.  

The initiative, enabled by Unit M will be delivered through AMBS and will focus on designing, testing and scaling new models for the responsible use and application of AI.  

The Future of Work Alliance will focus on five connected areas:  

  • BNY Research Challenge Programme: live operational challenges converted into structured, student‑led academic projects delivering practical insights and solutions.  
  • Executive Education: bespoke academic programmes designed to equip BNY leaders to excel in an AI‑enabled organisation.  
  • PG internships: multi‑week placements giving high‑performing students hands‑on experience within BNY’s Manchester office.  
  • Scholarships and an Endowed Chair: support for five AI‑focused scholarships and a BNY‑endowed Chair to provide long‑term academic leadership via the University’s Challenge Accepted campaign.  
  • Keynote Lecture Series: convening academic and industry leaders to shape debate on the future workforce and responsible AI. 

I’m really excited about this collaboration and working closely with BNY who’ve been operating in Manchester for 20+ years and already work closely with Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Central Florida.  

If you would like to know more about this, please contact our Partnerships Director, Chris Garnett. 

The second thing I’d like to mention is that the top level Your Voice Matters results were published on Wednesday. As I mentioned in School Board this week, it’s encouraging to see more AMBS colleagues responded this year and that engagement is good. There have been small improvements in managers supporting career development and recognition which is promising but there’s still more to do. Many people reported feeling stressed and there are still issues to address with recognising colleagues and how we communicate change management. There are also some changes coming soon for colleagues to track updates if they have raised something anonymously on Report and Support. I will be discussing School-level results with my School Executive and we will be sharing some of the highlights in the e-bulletin over coming weeks. There will a Your Voice Matters update session for all colleagues on 21 July, so please look out for a calendar invite about that soon and attend if you can. 

I hope you get a chance to relax and enjoy the sunshine over the Bank Holiday weekend. 

Ken