• SEED: Siân Lambert, Senior Communications and Engagement Officer, School of Environment, Education and Development sian.lambert@manchester.ac.uk 
• SEED Students: Maria Baltazar Viegas, SEED Student Communications Coordinator - maria.baltazarviegas@manchester.ac.uk
• Global Development Institute: GDI Communications and Support team
• Manchester Urban Institute: Emma Tsoneva, Research Manager, Manchester Urban Institute, emma.tsoneva@manchester.ac.uk
• Media relations: Joe Stafford, Humanities News & Media Relations Officer, Division of Communications, Marketing and Student Recruitment joe.stafford@manchester.ac.uk, and media.relations@manchester.ac.uk
• Policy@Manchester: Suzanne Booth, Engagement Officer for the Faculty of Humanities, Policy@Manchester, suzanne.booth@manchester.ac.uk 
• Faculty of Humanities Internal Communications: Humsnews@manchester.ac.uk  
• Faculty of Humanities Research Communications: humsresearchcomms@manchester.ac.uk 
• University internal communications: uninews@manchester.ac.uk 

SEED is further supported by colleagues who work as part of the wider Faculty of Humanities Communications and Marketing Team, and colleagues in the Directorate of Communications, Marketing and Student Recruitment. 

StaffNet (intranet) 

Useful guidance and information can be found on SEED StaffNet. If you think any information is missing or requires an update, or to share any feedback, please contact the SEED Communications and Engagement Officer.  

Our SEED newsfeed on StaffNet houses timely messages, such as updates on activities, notifications or process reminders, and messages from senior leadership.  

University website 

SEED news stories can appear on news feeds across the University website, we have a news page for SEED and for Education,  Geography, the Global Development Institute, and Planning. The Manchester School of Architecture (MSA) news page is hosted and managed by Manchester Metropolitan University.  

Social media channels 

Follow our social media channels, the University guidance will help you use social media safely and professionally. LinkedIn and Bluesky are the top recommended channels for academic use.

Watch on YouTube: Promoting your research on social media (Alistair Beech, Social Media and Digital Communications Manager, May 2025)

LinkedIn 

Read on the GDI blog: How to use LinkedIn to share your research (Skyla Bailey, GDI Digital Communications Officer, April 2025)

Bluesky

If you are new to Bluesky, a good place to start is by viewing the accounts associated with each department in SEED via the lists we've created, and you can choose to follow these accounts by using our starter packs: 

• Architecture list | Architecture starter pack
• Education list | Education starter pack
• Geography list | Geography starter pack
• Global Development Institute list | GDI starter pack
• Planning, Property and Environmental Management list | PPEM starter pack

Newsletters 

SEED eNews is sent to all SEED staff, typically on the final Friday of the month. Contact: SEED Communications and Engagement Officer. 

The TLSE newsletter is sent to all academic staff in SEED, typically every other month, on the final Thursday. Contact: SEEDHub@manchester.ac.uk.

The SEED student newsletter is issued fortnightly on Tuesdays to all SEED students. Contact SEEDHub@manchester.ac.uk. 

You can view past issues in the newsletter archive.

Display boards and display screens 

There are many areas across campus to display information. If you are displaying information on the boards, you are also responsible for removing the material in a timely manner. 

If you would like to share assets on digital screens across campus, please consult the SEED Communications and Engagement Officer.

Listserv email mailing lists 

As a member of SEED staff, you will be automatically enrolled onto SEED email mailing lists depending on your role, to ensure that you receive relevant information in a timely manner. 

You can access the Listserv portal to see which lists you are subscribed to, and to subscribe to others

What are auto-enrolled Listservs for?

Listserv is used to send urgent or high priority communications (i.e. requiring immediate attention or action). Example use cases:

• Highlighting recruitment opportunities to school academic leadership roles
• Circulating invitations to School events (e.g. School Visits, School Boards, and Inaugural lectures)
• Providing important updates relating to finance, people, operations, social responsibility, EDI, and teaching and learning.

What are auto-enrolled Listservs not for?

The following list is not exhaustive, and the final decision lies with the moderators, but auto-enrolled lists should not be used for: 

• Sharing personal views on a topic, making accusations or criticism
• Messages promoting charitable activities
• Reply all to a previous email
• Sharing large attachments
• Anything prohibited by the JANET Acceptable Use Policy

Messages to our School Listservs ought to:

• Be urgent or high priority (i.e. requiring immediate attention or action)
• Be relevant to the intended audience 
• Have a clear directive for the reader 
• Have a clear author and contact details for any queries or responses 
• Contain no attachments 
• Be authored by SEED. SEED Listservs can be used by other areas of the University only at the discretion of the list owners/moderators. 

Microsoft Viva Engage (internal online communities) 

Microsoft Viva Engage is an employee communication platform that allows everyone at the University to connect through communities and conversations.

You may be interested in joining:

• All Company
• SEED Digital Learning Community 

You may also be interested in signing up to the following newsletters: 

• The Global Development Institute
• African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC)
• Manchester Urban Institute
• Manchester Environmental Research Institute
• Social Responsibility
• Sustainable Futures
• Healthier Futures (internal)
• Policy@Manchester (internal)
• Policy@Manchester (external)
• Masood Entrepreneurship Centre

You can find general guidance and resources on the promoting your research pages on StaffNet. 

GDI colleagues are encouraged to get in touch directly with the GDI comms team for assistance promoting their research. Please contact gdi@manchester.ac.uk and Chris Jordan, Communications and Impact Manager.

For other departments, please contact Kelly Burgess, SEED Senior Communications and Engagement Officer, or the appropriate communications contact for your needs.

• The University brand – For brand assets, guidelines including on the written word, and suppliers
• Graphic Support Workshop– For a range of costed design and print services 

• Media Services provide media production audio-visual support for teaching, research and promotion.
• AV support for rooms that are not centrally timetabled is provided by the Faculty AV team, see Media Services and audio visual support

Planning 

See guidance on booking rooms and catering.

You may find it useful to look through the Event Planners Checklist provided by the Conference and Events team.

For any event that is outside of regular teaching and learning practice (i.e. not already covered by an existing risk assessment) a risk assessment must be completed and approved: SEED Generic Risk Assessment for Social Activities and Lectures

If you plan to document the event, please adhere to the University's compliance guidance on the correct use of images, including recording participant consent, and follow the guidelines for photography and film. 

Videos can be uploaded to the Video Portal.

Planning a research event? Find more support and guidance from the Faculty of Humanities. 

Promotion

Columba is the system used to collect and display events information on the University webpages. For organisers in SEED that do not have access to Columba, please complete the SEED Event Submission Form and the School Office will support you to get your event listed online on internal and external feeds. 

We recommend that you create a calendar invitation for your event and invite SEEDEvents@manchester.ac.uk. Your event will then appear in the SEED Events calendar. Learn more about the SEED Events Outlook Calendar for additional promotion and visibility.

To update SEED's pages on The University of Manchester website or SEED StaffNet submit your request to the Faculty of Humanities Web Team using the Humanities web changes and requests form.

Please note, if your query relates to your research profile, you should visit the Pure/Research Explorer user guides.

The University has brand guidance for the written word, in addition to this, you may find it useful to consider the following when creating or reviewing copy for StaffNet:

1. Who is the intended audience, and what information is valuable to them?
   
   It might help to identify the audience you are talking to in the first few introductory sentences, for example ‘all staff are required to...’ ‘any academic can...’ ‘all permanent research staff are eligible for...’
   
   Avoid over explanations and try to get to the point quickly. To ensure content is accessible, try to use the full names before simplifying with acronyms
   after.
2. Is this information unique to SEED or already provided (or should be provided) elsewhere?
   
   If the information is not unique to SEED, please consider if it is needed at all on the SEED StaffNet pages, and if it is important, please use hyperlinks to content and do not replicate content that can be found elsewhere.
   
   If you cannot find the content elsewhere, please raise this with the appropriate person, or seek direction from the School’s Communications and Engagement Officer.
3. Is this content for internal or external audiences?
   
   If the content you are providing is applicable to an external audience, then please update the appropriate pages on the University website and supply a hyperlink, avoid duplicating content across the University.