Most successful projects "always the ones where everybody is involved."
30 Apr 2026
Watch the latest inspiring film from our Research impact, shaped together campaign and celebrate how collaboration and partnership accelerate our research to impact aligning with our Manchester 2035 strategy.
Professor Lynne Bianchi founded the Science and Engineering Education Research and Innovation Hub (SEERIH) 12 years ago, to enhance science and engineering education for children aged 5 to 14.
But importantly, Lynne explains, the SEERIH team deliver this so effectively by working closely with schools and teachers – as collaborators: “Scientists brought ambition, teachers brought reality and together they found a way forward.”
Lynn Provoost, Assistant Head Teacher at The Derby High School (Bury) and one of our partners helping to shape science teaching in schools, adds: “The most successful projects are always the ones where everybody is involved, collaborating and co-creating,”
Their impact has been outstanding.
SEERIH has provided more than 40,000 hours of training and supported more than 1,000 science subject leaders with academic leads, specialist officers, data analysts and programme administrators working together to sustain delivery and evaluation at scale.
International partnerships are deepening – SEERIH’s approaches are becoming embedded in collaborative programmes and funding bids across Europe and beyond.
The team has secured UNESCO National Patronage for Great Science Share for Schools for a third year (2026), with more than 830,000 young people in 50 countries registering to ask, investigate and share science.
And at a policy level, SEERIH continues to contribute evidence to teacher development strategy and national curriculum reform.
But the ultimate proof comes from those with direct day-to-day experience in schools. Lynn Provoost, explains: “As an educator, you are in the classroom. You're working with young people; you're doing some inspirational stuff.
“But to try and communicate that takes time and to have the opportunity to work with a team that can pull all of that together and then give us the platform to showcase the work that we do, it's allowing us to know that we're making a difference.”
This 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 demonstrating excellence in team research: when teams share ownership and learn from each other’s strengths and skills, collaboration becomes stronger and more adaptable.
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.
And please help us celebrate by sharing and commenting on our social media posts on LinkedIn, Bluesky and our YouTube playlist.