A message from Ian Mell, Head of Planning, Property & Environmental Management
23 Jun 2026
As we head towards the end of the academic year, Ian reflects on his Department's achievements and the focus on employability
As we move towards the celebrations of graduation for our undergraduate students it’s useful to take stock of the achievements of all members of the Planning, Property & Environmental Management (PPEM) department. In a time of global change it’s good to reflect on the value of our teaching, research and engagement with these bigger ecological, economic and social issues. What we see though in the department are students who ready to make changes and work with different people across the world to ensure that their futures are better. We look forward to watching their careers blossom as they make strides apply the learning from their degrees in practice.
This year saw some great academic successes with Prof. Cecilia Wong being awarded the 17th Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Gold Medal, and the first since 2019, for her achievements within the field of planning. Prof. Anupam Nanda was named a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. In addition, Dr Ian Thornhill represented the department and school at the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) meeting held in Manchester in January and Dr Khashayar Kazemzedeh’s work on e-bikes was featured on BBC North-West. We also had a number of people including Prof. Phil Black and Dr Guibo Sun being commended or receiving awards from the RTPI in 2025/26.
These are just a small number of examples of how our academics are making waves. We’ve also seen a variety of funding and project successes across the department showcasing the innovative work being developed by colleagues.
We once again ran a series of very successful residential field classes to Portugal, Vienna, Amsterdam, Italy, and Istanbul showcasing the ways in which our classroom teaching can be applied in practice. As staff we value these field classes, and know that the learning our students gain from being in the field is an invaluable part of their experience here in Manchester. This has been complemented with a series of day field trips that use Manchester and the North West as an outdoor classroom. Such a combination of local and international trips is essential to better understanding the interaction of people, place and space that is at the core of planning, design, and management of urban and rural areas. On behalf of the department, I would like to thank the Fieldwork Team for all their support in organising these activities.
We’ve also extended our programme of employability work this year to ensure that our graduates are ready to enter the workplace on day one after graduation. This has included a series of guest talks and events that have brought the real world into our teaching. Over the coming academic year this programme, which is being delivered Dr Bertie Dockerill and others, will be expanded into a school wide Employability Week, which we’re all looking forward to.
Employability is also key to our ongoing accreditation with the RTPI and Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Once again, we passed our accreditation with flying colours. We were particularly commended on the integration of policy, skills and practice into out undergraduate and postgraduate curriculums, and were praised for the forward thinking and maturity of our students.
Ensuring that our programmes are equipping students with digital, soft, analytical and communication skills for graduate roles has always been central to what we do. With the coming changes needed to support the Course Unit Framework and specifically the promotion of Partner Enabled Learning, we see ourselves as being well placed to champion the embedding of employability into the core of what we in PPEM. As we look to the future we can see how the links we have with practice in the public, private, and third sectors are key to the value of our degree programmes. We plan to make the most of these by supporting the journeys of our students, partners, and staff to navigate the challenges ahead.
We’re also pleased to announce that PPEM will be hosting the UK-Ireland Planning Research in September 2027 and joining in with the 60th anniversary of the Landscape Research Group (LRG) at the same time – so things to look forward to. Both events will engage academics and practitioners to explore best we can design, plan, and manage places more effectively.
Whilst the university never sleeps, we are all looking forward to some down time over the summer to reflect on the past year, recharge our batteries, and prepare for the 2026/27 intake in the autumn. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank everyone in the department, and the wider school, for making this year a success.