“We are living in a global village”
08 Apr 2026
Watch the latest inspiring film from our Research impact, shaped together campaign and celebrate how international partnerships accelerate our research to impact.
“Now we are living in a global village, and I think understanding diseases in a holistic manner will be very useful,” says Professor F George Njoroge, Chief Scientific Officer at Kenyatta University Teaching/Referral and Research Hospital.
He and his team are part of an international partnership of researchers from Manchester and clinicians, community health workers and health leaders in Kenya who co-designed a mobile screening model to detect oesophageal cancers earlier. This while building trust, training and diagnostic capacity across the region, transforming take up and access to early diagnosis in Kenya for a condition usually found too late to treat.
From the outset, the partnership agreed that meaningful change would depend on shared ownership rather than importing an external model.
“When we started this work, I was clear about one thing: it would only succeed if it was genuinely co-created,” Director MCRC, Professor Rob Bristow explains.
“We couldn’t take a cancer detection model from Manchester and drop it into Kenya without our Kenyan colleagues showing us the way forward that worked for them.”
Since then, hundreds of clinicians, health workers and community promoters have been trained, the mobile endoscopy truck has reached five Kenyan counties and screened thousands of participants, and knowledge and skills continue being shared across borders.
Insights from the international partners now shape approaches to early detectionin Greater Manchester’s Black communities.
Professor Bristow adds: “That virtuous cycle in terms of global through to national approaches to research is actually what the University is all about and about the care that The Christie [NHS Foundation Trust] want to give.”
Their story is just one of ten highlighted in Research impact, shaped together – a campaign that celebrates the people and practices behind our research, encouraging potential partners to connect and explore opportunities with us.
The campaign has five intersecting themes, and this is one of two stories from the international theme: when partnerships cross borders, positive transformation can be made globally.
Research impact, shaped together supports three of the five leaps in our Manchester 2035 strategy, From Manchester for the world: Research excellence to impact, A powerhouse of innovation and The university to partner with. ‘Shaped together’ with academics and professional services colleagues from across the institution and their partners, the campaign itself exemplifies our One University approach.
It also supports our Research Culture and Environment Framework and is a collaboration between the Research Strategy and Communications and Marketing teams.
Get inspired and involved
You can discover more about this story and others that show how we collaborate with partners, communities and industry at: Research impact, shaped together
You can also find out how we support research impact here at Manchester.
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