United Nations Academic Impact

We are a proud to be a member of the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI).

Intro para

Manchester Metropolitan is part of a network of institutions worldwide working with the United Nations to promote global priorities including peace, human rights and sustainable development.

UNAI aligns institutions of higher education with the United Nations in supporting and contributing to the realisation of the organisation’s goals and mandates, through research and education related to the 10 UNAI principles.

Guiding principles

The UNAI is informed by a commitment to support and advance ten basic principles:

  1. Addressing Poverty - a commitment to addressing issues of poverty through education
  2. Capacity Building - a commitment to building capacity in higher education systems across the world
  3. Education for All - a commitment to educational opportunity for all people regardless of gender, race, religion or ethnicity
  4. Global Citizenship - a commitment to encouraging global citizenship through education
  5. Access to Higher Education - a commitment to the opportunity for every interested individual to acquire the skills and Human Rights - a commitment to human rights, among them freedom of inquiry, opinion, and speech
  6. Intercultural Dialogue - a commitment to promoting intercultural dialogue and understanding, and the “unlearning” of intolerance, through education
  7. Peace and Conflict Resolution - a commitment to advancing peace and conflict resolution through education
  8. Sustainability - a commitment to promoting sustainability through education
  9. United Nations Charter - a commitment to the principles inherent in the United Nations Charter.

Our researchers work towards the guiding principles of UNAI and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), addressing grand challenges and some of the biggest questions facing society and the planet.

We have conducted high-profile international research projects in partnership with 875 universities and research institutes around the world over the last five years. Many of these support UNAI principles and contribute directly to solutions to the SDG challenges faced by middle-low and low-income countries and beyond. Examples include:

  • Improving the sustainability of ecosystems in conservation areas
  • Application of new advanced materials and microbiology in prevention and halting of diseases, such as Zika virus
  • Microbiology and improvement of international food standards
  • Poverty and re-engagement of vulnerable, displaced and refugee youths through education
  • Development of new diagnostics for age-related and degenerative diseases
  • Transforming legislation and international debate on gender, race, LGBTQ equality