Senate report – major awards and achievements

05 Oct 2026

Congratulations to our colleagues for the recent major achievements and funding, reported in the Senate report (June 2026).

Research Funding Awards 

• Four University of Manchester researchers have received funding from the Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard programme to support them to take their first steps as independent group leaders testing bold ideas with the potential to improve lives, reduce health inequalities and strengthen the UK’s long-term research base. Congratulations to Dr Sara Federici (School of Biological Sciences), Dr Sara Gago (School of Biological Sciences), Dr Abigail Lay (School of Medical Sciences) and Dr Holly Lovegrove (School of Medical Sciences).  

UKRI AHRC 

• PI Dr Omer Aijazi (School of Arts, Languages and Cultures) and Co-I Dr Rubina Jasani (School of Arts, Languages and Cultures), Eating Our Way into the World: Exploring Entanglements Between Food and Violence in South Asia. 

UKRI BBSRC 

• PI Dr Micaela Chacon (School of Natural Sciences), Beyond the binary – exploring microbial mixotrophy for carbon-efficient bioproduction, BBSRC Fellowship. 

UKRI EPSRC   

• PI Dr Akhil Jain (School of Health Sciences), Establishing a technology platform to understand and harness the fundamentals of electrical-cellular interactions for future electro-medicine, EPSRC Open Fellowship. 

UK Government Ministries  

• PI Professor Barry Lennox (School of Engineering), RAICo Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Collaboration Programme- Phase 2, UK Atomic Energy Authority. 

Charities

• PI Professor Vera Tolz-Zilitinkevic (School of Arts, Languages and Cultures), Leverhulme Visiting Professorship for Professor Alexander Etkind (CEU, Vienna). 

Elected Fellows 

• Dr Stefan Güttel (School of Natural Sciences) has been elected a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics in recognition of his contribution to applied and numerical linear algebra, including work with significant industrial impact. 
• Professor Apala Majumdar (School of Natural Sciences) has been elected a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales in recognition of her expertise in the mathematics of materials science.  

Fellowships

• Three of the 11 recipients of the prestigious The British Academy/Leverhulme Senior Fellowships are colleagues in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures. Congratulations to Professor Felicia Chan, Dr Anthony Gerbino and Professor Anindita Ghosh. 
• Dr Laure Humbert and Dr Emma Martin (both School of Arts, Languages and Cultures) have each been awarded a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship.  

Recognition, Awards and Prizes 

• Professor Sarah Sharples (Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering) has been appointed to the Council for Science and Technology to advise the government on strategic science and technology issues. 
• Professor Zara Hodgson (Dalton Nuclear Institute) has been appointed by the government as an expert reviewer for an independent assessment of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. 
• Professor Mark Lancaster (School of Natural Sciences) and colleagues in the department of physics are part of the international team awarded the 2026 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for their leadership in the Muon g-2 experiment. 
• Professor Stefan Bouzarovski (School of Environment, Education and Development) has been awarded the Royal Geographical Society Back Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to policy in the area of geographical studies. 
• Professor Cecilia Wong (School of Environment, Education and Development) has been awarded the prestigious Gold Medal by the Royal Town Planning Institute in recognition of her leadership, mentorship and influential body of scholarship in the field of global planning. 
• Dr John McDermott (School of Biological Sciences), Dr Meghna Jani (School of Biological Sciences) and Dr Leah Quinlivan (School of Health Sciences) have each been nominated for the NIHR Rising Research Leaders Prize which recognises early- to mid-career researchers who are going above and beyond to improve health and care through innovation, collaboration and meaningful public involvement. 
• Professor Rob Bristow (School of Medical Sciences) and the NIHR Global Health Research Group have won the Greater Manchester Cancer Research Award for the international partnership between the University, The Christie NHS and Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital which is improving oesophageal cancer survival in Kenya. 

More to celebrate

An astounding 22 people from our University of Manchester community recognised in King’s Birthday Honours 2026. They include Professor David Knowles (CBE), Professor Luke Georghiou (OBE) and Professor Gareth Evans (MBE), honoured for their impact on the lives of people across the country. 

And Professor Jamie Woodward was named as one of top ten most influential environmental academics for his contribution to public understanding and policymaking on water pollution.