Newsroom University of Ұ��

Ұ�� Museum and the Whitworth reopen to the public

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 10:51:59 +0100

Ұ�� Museum and the Whitworth art gallery are reopening their doors to the public from today (Wednesday, 16 September) for the first time since the pandemic-enforced lockdown came into place six months ago.

Both venues will have new opening times of 11am to 4pm Wednesday to Sunday. Although only partially open, old favourites like Stan the T.rex at the Museum will again be accessible to patrons. At the Whitworth there are six exhibitions on display including the brand-new ‘White Psyche’ whilst the Cafe and meditative Alex Bernstein Garden are once again open to visitors.

Alistair Hudson, Director of the Whitworth, said: “All the team at the Whitworth are so excited to be able to open the gallery and park up again after six months of lockdown. During this time, it has been clear that there is a huge public need for the arts in people’s lives.

“The Whitworth provides the most wonderful environment for easing back into the world, with free access to world-class collections, acres of space to wander in galleries and gardens and plenty of stimulating content.”

Esme Ward, Director of Ұ�� Museum, added: “For the past few months we’ve continued to connect with the public through innovative and engaging ways online via our digital platforms, #mminquarantine and live streams, and this is something we intend to keep up. But we know nothing is better than welcoming our visitors to the museum in person. It’s beautiful to be back and we can’t wait for visitors to return.”

Both cultural venues will fully adhere to all the latest government advice and mandated protocols for Covid19, including hand sanitisers at entrance points, social distancing and the wearing of masks for those who aren’t exempt. At the Museum other measures include, a new one-way route where visitors can see all their favourite objects in the Natural History galleries, including Stan the T.rex and the Vivarium.

Other key dates for the Museum are the opening of its take-away coffee shop on Monday, 21 September, and the Museum Shop on Monday 5 October. These will both be open seven days a week. From 23 September, on Wednesdays and Fridays, the Museum will also have a dedicated time (11am-12noon) for vulnerable people with free priority tickets.

Entry remains free for both venues, but it is essential the patrons book a timed ticket in advance of their visits so the venues can adhere to social distances rules.

The Whitworth -
Ұ�� Museum -

For people who don’t have access to the internet via a phone or computer, then can attend in person and a member of the Visitor Team can book for you when you arrive if there are available time slots.

Ұ�� Museum in Quarantine

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 13:54:00 +0100

Connection and inspiration is needed during challenging times like this. Ұ�� Museum is a social space loved by many and very much missed by its visitors, as the museum is currently closed due to COVID-19.

The need for some awe and wonder in difficult times is something we’ve been thinking about and we wanted to continue to offer access to exhibitions, learning resources and volunteering opportunities, for all ages.

To address this the museum has curated ‘Ұ�� Museum in Quarantine’, uploading some of its most engaging digital content onto a mobile site so everyone can explore and enjoy the museum in their own homes. The purpose of the site is to help entertain, educate and spark joy and wonder until the museum reopens.

Esme Ward, Director of Ұ�� Museum said: ‘Ұ�� Museum aims to be the most inclusive, imaginative and caring museum you might encounter and the Ұ�� Museum in Quarantine is shaped by this too. There are multi-lingual exhibitions, films, a Cultural First Aid Kit for carers, home-schooling resources and a daily dose of awe and wonder in our Encyclopaedia of Wondrous Objects.’

Although the museum already had existing fantastic online resources, they were difficult to find. By organising and ‘curating’ them in one place on an easy to navigate site, Ұ�� Museum could be opened up to people not just locally but across the world.

The social media campaign #MMinQuarantine was launched on social media and within twenty-four hours received an amazing response with a reach of over 200,000 impressions and great feedback from the public, with many comments from schools and parents enjoying ‘virtual trips’ of the museum.

The mobile site includes:

You can explore the museum’s current exhibitions and displays Beauty & the Beasts, A Ming Emperor’s Seat and Minerals: Sustainability and Hidden Stories. There is also multilingual interpretation available too.
Ұ�� Museum has worked to raise awareness of overlooked and rarely told histories and the site has a section that helps shed light on the things they didn’t teach us in schools – a great resource for everyone!
Parents and teachers are catered for over the next few weeks with home-schooling and fun activities for the family.
The site includes creative and fun activities and workshop ideas for carers that can be completed at home, including a Cultural First Aid Kit produced in collaboration with The Whitworth. The activities have been created by artists, musicians and therapists.
If you’re looking to keep occupied and learn something new the site includes resources for adults and researchers. These include online volunteering opportunities to help archive our collections and online learning courses about our fantastic Egyptology collection.

Ұ�� Museum has launched a new campaign ‘Encyclopedia of Wondrous Objects’, a daily dose of awe and wonder from Ұ�� Museum’s encyclopedic collection of over 4.5 million objects.

At The University of Ұ��, our people are working together and with partners from across society to understand coronavirus (COVID-19) and its wide-ranging impacts on our lives. to support the University’s response to coronavirus or visit the University’s to lend a helping hand.

Ancient Egyptian mummies travel to Ұ�� for health check-up

Tue, 17 Sep 2019 14:29:36 +0100

Two ancient Egyptian mummies have made an intrepid visit to Ұ�� for a state-of-the-art radiographic investigation, conducted by researchers at The University of Ұ��.

The two human mummies, one of which has been identified as Pypy-Iw – a priest from the 23^rd Dynasty of Ancient Egypt (837 – 728 BC) – travelled to to be photographed, CT-scanned and digitally X-rayed to provide a comprehensive insight into the mummified remains. Their journey was documented by , and was broadcast on Monday 16.

The mummies are currently part of the and have only left once in the last 140 years, when they visited Lincoln University in the early 1990s for cleaning, stabilisation and X-raying. It is hoped that modern imaging techniques, including CT-scanning, will reveal more about the mummies’ provenance and condition to help with future conservation efforts.

Dr Lidija McKnight, Research Associate at The University of Ұ��, oversaw the imaging procedure at the Royal Ұ�� Children’s Hospital. “Although these two mummies were X-rayed many years ago, the clarity and resolution of the images is relatively poor, enabling little more than a basic assessment to be made.” she said.

“Imaging technology is so advanced nowadays, that even mummies studied as recently as 5-10 years ago, can benefit from repeated study. This new investigation will provide much clearer evidence on the lives and death of the two individuals.”

The mummies were imaged in the evenings when the hospital clinics finished, to minimise inconvenience to patients. They were then repackaged into their specially produced crates and couriered back to the museum.

A re-examination of the hieroglyphic texts on the coffin and mummy wrappings was undertaken by Dr Campbell Price, Curator of at , to assess whether any personal details of the individuals were recorded. The team included Dr Iwona Kozieradzka-Ogunmakin, an osteologist who specialises in the study of bones and mummified human remains from Egypt and Sudan.

From the scans, the team discovered one of the mummies, a male, was Pypy-lw (pronounced Pee-Pee-EE-you), a priest at the Temple of Karnak in the 8^th century BC. His position, along with his location at Karnak, a centre of the Ancient Egyptian economy, suggests Pypy-lw was very wealthy, representing the top of Egyptian society.

The other mummy was in worse condition, with the head, feet and much of the pelvis missing. However, based on the small amount of pelvic bone left, Dr McKnight believes that this mummy was female.

As part of an elaborate set of funerary rites, the ancient Egyptians believed that mummifying their dead would ensure entry to an afterlife. The process took around 70 days and would have been overseen by a priest.

The body would have been washed and purified, the organs removed, then stuffed and dried before being wrapped in long strips of linen for burial. Mummification was practiced throughout most of early Egyptian history from around 2600BC for well over 2000 years into the Roman Period (ca.30 BC–364 AD).

Rachel Atherton, Co-Production Curator for Human History at Derby Museums said: “We were delighted to work with The University of Ұ�� and the (MFT) on this project, which will give us a much clearer insight into the two mummies in our collection.”

Ұ�� institutions awarded University of Sanctuary and Museum of Sanctuary status

Mon, 29 Jul 2019 15:55:00 +0100

The University of Ұ�� and Ұ�� Museum have been awarded university of sanctuary and museum of sanctuary status.

The universities and museums of sanctuary initiatives celebrate the good practice of institutions that welcome asylum seekers and refugees into their communities and promote a culture of inclusion.

To be awarded the status, organisations must demonstrate an existing commitment to welcoming and supporting ‘sanctuary seekers’ and then pledge to develop this even further over the next three years.

Ұ�� is the first university of sanctuary in the north-west and one of only 10 across the country whilst Ұ�� Museum is just the second museum of sanctuary nationwide.

The awards took place at the Ұ�� City of Sanctuary Big Conversation event and were presented by Kate Green MP who said: "I am delighted to present Ұ�� Museum and The University of Ұ�� with these awards and thank them for the welcome they offer to those seeking sanctuary."

The Museum’s award was collected by Andrea Winn, Curator of Community Exhibitions at the Museum and the University’s award was collected by Gulwali Passarlay, a refugee from Afghanistan and alumnus of the University who completed its Ұ�� Access Programme whilst in sixth form.

One of the ways in which the University is addressing the challenge faced by asylum seekers in accessing higher education is through the which provide five fully-funded places to study at the University.

Stephanie Lee, Head of Widening Participation at the University, said: "We’re extremely proud to have received this award as it reflects the work already taking place across the University. This ranges from our academic research in this area to student and staff volunteering with refugee and asylum seeker charities.

"We are also making the University more accessible through the provision of study space at our Library and our Article 26 Scholarships. This award provides us with another opportunity to create better awareness of the existing work we do as well as continue to develop and improve our support."

Andrea added: "To be only the second museum in the country to get the award is a real honour and is a testament to our hard work in this area. We want to engage all visitors, including sanctuary seekers across our two core missions; working towards a sustainable world and building understanding between cultures.

"By working in partnership with organisations who closely support sanctuary seekers we have developed programmes to boost participation and actively engage with these communities."

The university and museum of sanctuary awards is a branch of the movement which began in 2007 when Sheffield became the first city of sanctuary. Today there are over 100 cities, towns and villages of sanctuary, including Ұ��. This work has grown to encourage other organisations such as universities, museum, libraries and schools to build a united voice to advocate for people seeking sanctuary.

An open meeting for staff interested in finding out more about this work will be held on 12 September 12pm – 1pm in A101, the Samuel Alexander Building.

Ever seen an elephant in a train station? Maharajah…A Moving Story

Tue, 04 Jun 2019 14:09:00 +0100

The skeleton of Maharajah, Ұ��’s most famous elephant, is escaping Ұ�� Museum to stop commuters in their tracks at Piccadilly Station.

Maharajah, whose journey to Ұ�� began nearly 150 years ago with him smashing up a train carriage in Edinburgh, is being exhibited at the city’s main station from Tuesday, 4 June to Sunday, 16 June. It will be on display from 7am to 7pm daily during that time.

It is part of a new range of activities by the museum to bring some of its most extraordinary objects to unlikely locations across the city to find new meaning and relevance.

Esme Ward, Director of Ұ�� Museum, which is one of The University of Ұ��’s cultural institutions, said: “The aim of taking Maharajah to Piccadilly Station isn’t just to add more miles to his journey. It is about bringing the museum’s collections to people who might not usually get the chance to witness them. We’re also using the exhibition to raise awareness of population levels of Asian elephants, as they’re at a high risk of extinction.”

For Maharajah, this is the latest chapter in a transient life that brought him to Belle Vue Zoological Gardens in Gorton, Ұ��, in 1872. The zoo’s owners bought the elephant from a travelling circus in the Scottish capital from where he was supposed to travel down south on the train.

Maharajah had other ideas and tore the roof off his carriage, so the driver refused to let him board. The only option left was to walk the 200 mile journey with his keeper, Lorenzo Lawrence. It took 10 days and turned the pair into local legends.

After ten years as the star attraction in Belle Vue, Maharajah died aged 18. His skeleton was displayed at the zoo before being sold to Ұ�� Museum where it took centre stage in the Ұ�� Gallery.

That gallery is currently closed for the Museum’s £13.5 million ‘ transformation. The development includes a new Exhibition Hall, South Asia Gallery, Chinese Culture Gallery and the world’s first Centre of Age Friendly Culture. The work is due to be complete in 2021.

During this time, the museum is working with local communities and businesses to display its collections across the city. It is inviting people to share their ideas of where in Ұ�� they would like to see other artefacts from the museum.

Esme added: “We have 4.5 million objects in our collection and will be taking some of our favourites directly to the people of the city to the places they live, work and play. We’re on a mission to become the most imaginative, inclusive and caring museum in the country – and Maharajah in Piccadilly exemplifies this ambition. Only in Ұ�� could the story of an elephant that refused to get on a train end in a train station”.

Newly discovered jumping spider named for children’s author

Tue, 16 Apr 2019 12:30:00 +0100

A new spectacular jumping spider has been discovered and named in honour of Eric Carle, the famous author of children’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

A spider expert at the has confirmed a new species of jumping spider discovered in a park in Hong Kong. The unique spider bears a striking resemblance to a caterpillar leading it to be named Uroballus Carlei, after author of the ubiquitous children’s book , Eric Carle. The book celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, the same year that Carle turns 90.

This new species was discovered on the outskirts of one of the most densely settled places on Earth, within sight of the high-rises of Chai Wan in Hong Kong's Eastern District. Naturalist Stefan Obenauer made the exciting observation and contacted Dr Dmitri Logunov, Curator of Entomology at The Ұ�� Museum, who is a recognised expert on jumping spiders. Dmitri examined this species and confirmed it to be previously unknown to science. The species was formally described in the .

Jumping spiders have evolved superior vision, aiding them greatly in their unusual mode of hunting. Apart from a battery of larger and smaller eyes on their foreheads, they typically have at least one other pair of eyes on the back edges of their thorax, giving them all-round and binocular vision and a precise judgement of distances.

As typical for the jumping spider family, they spin no web to entangle their prey, but rather stalk small insects and similar animals on foot, and jump at them from quite some distance, in a similar manner to cats. This is why they are often called ‘eight-legged cats’. Among their victims are many nuisance and pest species, in particular flies and bugs.

Dr Dmitri Logunov said: “Jumping spiders belong to the most diverse spider groups on Earth, accounting for more than 6,100 described species worldwide. They are particularly notable for their complex courtship behaviour.”

The males of many species will display towards each other, warding off competitors. Jumping spiders can see colours, and males of many species will stage elaborate courting dance routines towards females, while wearing a sort of permanent make-up of brightly coloured, metallic and/or iridescent markings, which further increase their sex appeal. Dance repertoire of some species can consist of more than 40 different postures, movements and jumps.

Most jumping spiders rely on surprise to catch their prey, their venom is comparatively weak, their fangs are more useful for sucking juices from the food than for attack or defence, and they have little if anything to ward off as much as a hungry mid-sized wasp. Being stealthy would help - but they need open space to see and jump.

All this makes it harder to get to eat and not get eaten. Jumping spiders are stuck in an evolutionary dilemma: How to see and not be seen? The spider's curious spiky appearance provides the clue to how the species have developed to better survive.

Logunov and Obenauer contacted Roger Kendrick of C & R Wildlife, noted expert on Hong Kong's butterflies and moths. Kendrick confirmed that found in the same woods as Uroballus Carlei is a few dozen species of peculiar moths. Commonly called ‘lichen moths’, these small relatives of the colourful tiger moths are quite common in the area. Their caterpillars are initially brown, and like those of most tiger moths are covered in noxious bristly hair.

It is most likely that the new Uroballus species imitates these ‘lichen moth’ caterpillars, as they are commonly found on the very trees and shrubs the spider inhabits and are distasteful as they retain the toxic components of lichens on which they feed. Most of them are brightly-coloured and conspicuous in habit. Yet predators usually avoid them after ending up with a mouthful of hairs and venom.

Spectacular frog identified as new species

Mon, 30 Jul 2018 15:00:00 +0100

One of the world’s most spectacular frogs has been identified as a new species after 20 years of painstaking research at The University of Ұ��.

Amphibian conservationist Andrew Gray, Curator of Herpetology at Ұ�� Museum, has named the creature Sylvia’s Tree Frog, Cruziohyla sylviae, after his 3-year-old granddaughter.

The large colourful tree frog has remained under the radar of zoologists for almost 100 years.

Sylvia’s Tree Frog, Cruziohyla sylviae, was originally collected in Panama in 1925 but has remained confused with the Splendid Tree Frog, Cruziohyla calcarifer, ever since.

The discovery has highlighted that the original Splendid Tree Frog, first collected in 1902, remains much rarer than anyone ever realized and could face complete extinction in the near future.

Less than 50 specimens are known of that species and less than 150 specimens of Sylvia’s Tree Frog are recorded.

Gray officially describes the frog as a separate species in the top zoological journal, Zootaxa.

He has worked extensively with this unusual group of frogs from Central and South America, both in the wild and in the live amphibian collection at Ұ�� Museum.

Genetic and biochemical work carried out at The University of Ұ��’s Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health was instrumental in the findings.

The scientist at the University combined the unique characteristics of the Central American frog with skin peptide profiling and a genetic assessment.

And that, says Gray, clearly identified the distinctiveness of the new species, which is in fact more closely related to another unusual South American species than the original Splendid Tree Frog.

He said: “It’s remarkable that such a distinctive new species has remained undetected for such a long time.

“However, more importantly, this work highlights that an assessment of the conservation needs for each species is urgently required to ensure these amazing creatures are still around in another 100 years”.

Esme Ward, Director of Ұ�� Museum, added “It’s a real privilege to be maintaining such rare frogs in our collection and supporting amphibian conservation around the planet.

“This multi-disciplined research highlights the importance of museum collections, where both live and historical specimens are aiding current taxonomy to make a real difference in shaping the future of wildlife conservation.”

Review of the genus Cruziohyla (Anura: Phyllomedusidae), with description of a new species is published in .

Multi-million pound funding to bring new galleries and exhibition space to Ұ�� Museum

Fri, 04 May 2018 11:17:47 +0100

Ұ�� Museum, part of The University of Ұ�� has received a confirmed grant of £4,215,800 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for a major capital project, it was announced today.

Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, the project will develop and transform the museum by providing new exhibition space, the North’s first South Asian gallery and an improved programme of outreach.

Through ‘The Courtyard project’, will become the UK’s most imaginative, inclusive and caring museum. As the UK’s leading university museum, the museum is committed to becoming an ever more powerful source of inspiration for learning for more people. This transformation, driven by social purpose, will make the museum more relevant and welcoming to all ages and communities.

Work will start in August 2018 and the finished building will reopen in late 2020. The transformation will include;

A major new Temporary Exhibitions Gallery enabling the museum to become the North of England’s leading venue for producing and hosting international-quality exhibitions on human cultures and the natural world. The 421m2 space will be a new home for blockbuster and international shows, drawing visitors from across the North of England who previously would have had to travel to London to see shows of such scale.

The North of England’s first large-scale gallery of South Asian history and culture, created in partnership with , bringing together the very best of Ұ�� Museum’s own South Asian collections and world-class sculpture, textiles and artefacts from the British Museum. It will be the UK’s first permanent gallery to explore the stories, experiences and contributions of diaspora communities. At the heart of the gallery will be a unique performance space, dedicated to showing the very best live music, dance and performance from and inspired by South Asia.

A new Oxford Road-facing entrance, welcome area and shop, to create a more visible and welcoming first impression. Throughout, particular emphasis will be placed on accessible design for older visitors and people with a disability.

Underpinning the transformation, there will be a dynamic co-created participatory programme to imaginatively address some of the key issues of our time; climate change, ageing, migration and belonging. This will extend the museum’s award-winning volunteering work and be pivotal to changing how we work with and reach new audiences.

News of HLF support marks the second major commitment towards this £12.7 million scheme, following a Treasury in November 2015.

The museum predicts hundreds of thousands of new visitors, including an additional 11,000 school children each year.

Esme Ward, Director of Ұ�� Museum said: “With new world-class spaces for extraordinary objects and stories, more volunteering opportunities and imaginative partnerships, Ұ�� Museum will reflect and explore the needs, interests and opportunities of the diverse communities we serve. The project will develop and transform the museum to bring more wonder and inspiration from around the world to the people of Greater Ұ�� and beyond ‘

Mayor of Greater Ұ�� Andy Burnham said: “As Mayor I’ve pledged to support our thriving cultural institutions across Greater Ұ��. We must continue to invest in our cultural facilities, not only to attract new visitors from the UK and beyond, but for the benefit of people across our city-region. Ұ�� Museum acts as a community hub and through this Heritage Lottery funding this inclusive museum is able to expand and continue to provide opportunities for all communities across Greater Ұ��.”

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Ұ��, said: “The Museum brings hundreds of thousands of people to our campus each year for both education and enjoyment. I am very pleased that this funding will now allow the Museum to build on this excellent work and create new spaces which will help attract new audiences and offer an even greater range of thought -provoking exhibitions.”

Ұ�� Museum appoints first female Director

Fri, 16 Feb 2018 13:28:55 +0000

Ұ�� Museum has appointed Esme Ward as its Director, the first woman to hold the role in the Museum’s 125-year history

Esme will take up her new role at the Museum, the largest of its kind in the UK, on Monday 9 April, succeeding Nick Merriman.

Esme, currently Head of Learning & Engagement at and , said: “I am thrilled to be appointed the new Director of Ұ�� Museum. The vision to use its collections to promote understanding between cultures and a sustainable world could not be more timely or relevant.”

She says her career has been driven by a social purpose and longstanding commitment to make museums even more inclusive and relevant to a wider audience. These range from babies to people living with dementia.

It is something Esme wants to explore even further in her new role, adding: “I am hugely excited to lead the Museum at this critical time, build upon its excellent work to date and realise its potential as the UK’s most inclusive, imaginative and caring museum.”

Esme joined the Whitworth as its Education Officer in 1998 before becoming Head of Learning & Engagement across the Whitworth and Ұ�� Museum in 2010. In recent years she also worked alongside Maria Balshaw to transform the Whitworth and help it win Art Fund Museum of the Year in 2015. Esme also recently completed a year-long , including a placement with the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Professor James Thompson, Vice President for Social Responsibility at The University of Ұ��, said: “I am absolutely delighted that we have appointed the first woman director of Ұ�� Museum.

“Esme will bring vision and innovation to the Museum, continuing its excellent work with academics, students and its commitment to engagement with diverse local, national and international communities.

“The Museum is thriving with record visitor numbers and now, as we build the new , Esme is an ideal appointment for this exciting phase in the Museum’s development.”

University takes centre stage with Prime Minister and Chinese business leaders

Fri, 02 Feb 2018 06:24:28 +0000

Today at the UK China Business Forum in Shanghai, President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell and Nobel Laureate, Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov of The University of Ұ�� addressed a group of specially selected business leaders.

and shared the stage with two of China’s highest-profile business people – Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group and Li Shufu, chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd and Volvo Cars, as well as Theresa May and Liam Fox.

Speaking at the event, the Prime Minister said: “I’m proud to have brought many inspirational women in my business delegation.

“Women like Nancy Rothwell, who spoke to you earlier and whose university, Ұ��, has excellent links with Wuhan, the first stop on my visit, as well as across China.”

Dame Nancy and Sir Kostya were chosen as part of the current delegation in recognition of Ұ��’s position as a global leader in research and innovation for example in the development of advanced materials, such as graphene, in business studies and in health innovation. It also recognises the longstanding role that Ұ�� and its university play in UK-China relations.

There are more than 4,800 Chinese students studying in Ұ�� and the University has had a centre in Shanghai since 2008 with more than 1,000 Global MBA students studying in China since it opened.

This relationship was cemented and its National Graphene Institute in 2015, where he met Dame Nancy, Sir Andre Geim and Sir Kostya and saw some of the latest developments and applications for the 2D material .

During the current trip Dame Nancy has visited Ұ��’s twin city, Wuhan, alongside the Prime Minister and attended the new UK CEO Council in Beijing which took place in the Great Hall of the People. Dame Nancy is a member of the Council alongside about 20 other UK and 20 Chinese CEOs of major businesses.

This marks a new stage in the Ұ��’s relationship with China and follows the recent , which was supported by a £5m donation from businessman, philanthropist and honorary graduate, Dr Lee Kai Hung.

The Institute is tasked with improving mutual understanding in UK-China relations, and the donation will also establish a new Chinese culture gallery at .

The University has also recently announced several new partnerships in China including:

The UK-China Infrastructure Academy commissioned by the Department of International Trade, led by , and with partners from leading UK and international businesses with a strong Northern presence. The Academy is a major initiative, backed by the UK Government, involving CEOs, presidents and other senior delegates from Chinese business and government. Two five-day modules, covering energy and rail specialisms, will establish deep understanding into the benefits of investing in UK infrastructure and opportunities for joint investment in third party countries.
The University has this week signed a memorandum of understanding with Peking University Health Science Centre to establish a Joint Technological Platform for ‘Omics Study covering genomics, proteomics/metabolomics and data science to support the Experimental Medicine Research links between the two institutions, and between The University of Ұ�� and other major hospitals in Beijing, such as the 301 Hospital.
A Tsinghua University collaboration, signed in January, which focuses on health research, materials and engineering.
Another MoU signed this week with Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) School of Medicine to establish a Clinical Research Methods Centre linking the at The University of Ұ�� and the Translational Medicine Centre at SJTU to support research interests at both institutions
Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) Agreement – this will see the development of joint education and research initiatives between The University of Ұ�� and HUST, one of China’s top universities, in Wuhan.

Dame Nancy commented: “Ұ�� has a vibrant Chinese cultural and business community and the country’s links with the University are growing all of the time.

“It was therefore an honour to be chosen by the Prime Minister for this delegation, to join the UK-China CEO forum and to have the opportunity to speak to fellow universities and some of China’s major businesses about ways in which we can work together to solve some of the world’s most pressing issues.”

Ancient DNA results end 4000 year old Egyptian mummy mystery in Ұ��

Wed, 17 Jan 2018 01:00:00 +0000

Using ‘next generation’ DNA sequencing scientists have found that the famous ‘Two Brothers’ mummies of the have different fathers so are, in fact, half-brothers.

The Two Brothers are the Museum’s oldest mummies and amongst the best-known human remains in its Egyptology collection. They are the mummies of two elite men - Khnum-nakht and Nakht-ankh – dating to around 1800 BC.

However, ever since their discovery in 1907 there has been some debate amongst Egyptologists whether the two were actually related at all. So, in 2015, ‘ancient DNA’ was extracted from their teeth to solve the mystery.

But how did the mystery start? The pair’s joint burial site, later dubbed , was discovered at Deir Rifeh, a village 250 miles south of Cairo. They were found by Egyptian workmen directed by early 20^th century Egyptologists, Flinders Petrie and Ernest Mackay. Hieroglyphic inscriptions on the coffins indicated that both men were the sons of an unnamed local governor and had mothers with the same name, Khnum-aa. It was then the men became known as the Two Brothers.

When the complete contents of the tomb were shipped to Ұ�� in 1908 and the mummies of both men were unwrapped by the UK’s first professional female Egyptologist, Dr Margaret Murray. Her team concluded that the skeletal morphologies were quite different, suggesting an absence of family relationship. Based on contemporary inscriptional evidence, it was proposed that one of the Brothers was adopted.

Therefore, in 2015, the DNA was extracted from the teeth and, following hybridization capture of the mitochondrial and Y chromosome fractions, sequenced by a next generation method. Analysis showed that both Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakht belonged to mitochondrial haplotype M1a1, suggesting a maternal relationship. The Y chromosome sequences were less complete but showed variations between the two mummies, indicating that Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakht had different fathers, and were thus very likely to have been half-brothers.

Dr Konstantina Drosou, of the at the University of Ұ�� who conducted the DNA sequencing, said: “It was a long and exhausting journey to the results but we are finally here. I am very grateful we were able to add a small but very important piece to the big history puzzle and I am sure the brothers would be very proud of us. These moments are what make us believe in ancient DNA. ”

The study, which is being published in the , is one of the first to successfully use the typing of both mitochondrial and Y chromosomal DNA in Egyptian mummies.

Dr Campbell Price, Curator of Egypt and Sudan at Ұ�� Museum, said: “The University of Ұ��, and Ұ�� Museum in particular, has a long history of research on ancient Egyptian human remains. Our reconstructions will always be speculative to some extent but to be able to link these two men in this way is an exciting first.”

Visionary gift endows new Ұ�� China Institute

Thu, 14 Dec 2017 14:45:25 +0000

A new £5m donation will allow The University of Ұ�� to establish . It will seek to improve mutual understanding in UK-China relations, and establish a new Chinese culture gallery at the Ұ�� Museum.

The donation, by retired Hong Kong businessman, philanthropist and Honorary Graduate of the University of Ұ��, Dr Lee Kai Hung is a major investment which will promote world-leading research, community outreach activities, and public lectures in Ұ�� and China.

It will also create a new ‘Lee Kai Hung Chinese Culture Gallery’ at , the largest University museum in the UK, displaying artefacts such as ancient bronze sculptures, carved jade and textiles.

With growing links between Ұ�� and China, and the global significance of Chinese policies such as the ‘One Belt, One Road’ strategy, the Ұ�� China Institute is set to play a major role in improving understanding between the China and the UK.

The Centre’s new Director is Professor of Chinese Politics Peter Gries, who has worked extensively on China’s foreign relations.

He said: “The UK and China lie on opposite ends of the Eurasian landmass which is the focus of China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ policy. Ұ��, in particular, has a large Chinese community and historic ties with China which were only strengthened by to Ұ�� and the University in 2015.

“To realise the full potential of UK-China bilateral relations, however, greater mutual trust and understanding are urgently needed. We are therefore extremely grateful to Dr Lee for his generous gift, which is set to put Ұ�� at the forefront of China studies in the UK.”

As well as research, the Centre will have a particular emphasis on working with the local Chinese community and the thousands of Chinese students in the city. It will also seek to serve local businesses and promote peaceful UK-China relations.

Ұ�� has more academics engaged in China and China-related studies than almost any other UK university – working on everything from the arts and humanities to health and science.

It also has a which focuses on teaching Chinese. The new Ұ�� China Institute will be based in its own listed historic building, which will be named in honour of Dr Lee.

Dr Lee said: “The development of China-UK relations is a subject very close to my heart, so I am delighted to be able to help create this Institute at The University of Ұ��. China’s ties with this city, the university and the many Chinese staff and students make this an ideal place to locate the Institute and the China Gallery.”

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Ұ�� said: “We are very grateful to Dr Lee for this gift, which will greatly increase knowledge in a subject of global significance. Alongside the important research outputs, this gift will enable the greater promotion of understanding between the two countries, not least through the programme of outreach and the new gallery at the Ұ�� Museum.”

Find out more at or

Ұ�� is first carbon literate university – and museum – in the world

Wed, 30 Nov 2016 12:43:10 +0000

Ұ�� is celebrating after being named the first carbon literate university and museum in the world.

The University has been awarded a bronze award for its project, which asks every member of staff to take part in collective, measurable improvement towards sustainability. Each member of staff has been given the opportunity to learn about the key issues of sustainability such as travel, responsible purchasing and energy, and the actions they can take to make a big difference.

, part of The University of Ұ��, won a gold award as the great majority of staff have undertaken carbon literacy training and the institution has written carbon literacy into its review and performance processes. Two museum staff developed and delivered bespoke training to help all staff understand the impacts and differences that can be implemented. The Museum will be rolling this training out to other interested museums in the North West.

Lucy Millard, Environmental Sustainability Manager, Emma Gardner, Head of Environmental Sustainability and Julian Skyrme, Director of Social Responsibility, were presented with the awards at a ceremony on the Coronation Street set. The show’s production team was the first TV production team anywhere to undertake carbon literacy training.

James Thompson, Associate Vice President for Social Responsibility, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for the University and brilliant recognition for the staff working on 10,000 Actions and carbon literacy at the Museum. The awards ceremony was held on the set of Coronation Street because carbon literacy should be as normal a part of everyday life as watching Coronation Street is to millions of people around the world."

The unique awards recognise employers who have committed to becoming Carbon Literate Organisations (CLO) – that is, having a substantial number of people who are carbon literate and have a commitment to support them and maintain a low carbon culture. It will typically experience decreased in-house energy and resource consumption, have an improved organisational profile, healthier and happier staff and working environment, a safer supply chain, lower variable costs, enhanced competitiveness, and reduced commercial risk.

Art project explores Ұ�� professor's work on artificial sight

Thu, 27 Oct 2016 11:57:00 +0100

A unique art project showing how artificial and natural sight have been combined for the first time in history has is launched at Ұ�� Science Festival.

An exciting new project is exploring the damage of sight loss caused by Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and the use of the ground-breaking bionic eye for vision restoration.

Artist, Lucy Burscough is bringing the pioneering work of Paulo Stanga, Professor of Ophthalmology and Retinal Regeneration, to life with Ocular Bionica, an exquisitely painted stop-frame animated film made in a hospital setting with support from Arts Council England’s National Lottery funded Grants for the Arts programme.

, Consultant Ophthalmologist and Vitreoretinal Surgeon for the Ұ�� Vision Regeneration (MVR) Lab at Ұ�� Royal Eye Hospital (MREH) and NIHR/Wellcome Trust Ұ�� Clinical Research Facility, , Ray Flynn, with the Argus® II ‘bionic eye’. Ray is the first person in the world to have combined artificial and natural vision.

The art project, part of , tells the story of Ray, who underwent the four-hour operation to have the bionic eye implanted in June 2015. With the Argus II system switched on, Ray is able to make out the outline of people and objects even with his eyes closed. With his eyes open, Ray successfully combines vision from his artificial vision with his remaining natural vision. Lucy’s film is a world first – because it shows what this looks like for Ray.

Lucy spent time interviewing Ray about how he got involved in the clinical research trial and his experiences of taking part. She has painted detailed and vivid pictures including Ray, Professor Stanga and his team, to illustrate the development of the study and how it came to change Ray’s life.

Lucy said: “This work has been inspired by remarkable, cutting-edge technologies that hint at a future of biomedical bionics and the hacking of humanity. The film seeks to show viewers the world through Ray’s eyes, both before and after the device was fitted.

”The film was created in Lime Arts Studios, actually on site in CMFT and follows my previous work including celebrating Ұ�� Royal Eye Hospital’s 200^th anniversary in 2014.

“I am intrigued by perception and the differences between how different people see the same things. I am also interested in finding narratives in biomedical science and showcasing clinical research to a wider audience. I hope that the film inspires people to find out more about research here at Central Ұ�� University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.”

Professor Stanga, who is also Professor of Ophthalmology & Retinal Regeneration at The University of Ұ�� and Principal Investigator on the trial to test the usefulness of the Argus II in patients with total central vision loss due to AMD, said: “Lucy’s work depicts two unique aspects of sight loss for the very first time, which greatly adds to our understanding – and empathy with – a blind patient’s experience.

“The first is that Lucy has interpreted Ray’s ability to successfully combine artificial vision from the Argus II in his central visual field with his remaining natural vision, which is at the periphery of his sight.

“On a personal level, this is a very moving as well as an exciting experience, to literally see through Ray’s eyes and experience the real visual function benefits Ray has gained from his artificial vision. The film clearly shows how the Argus II system provides basic shapes and outlines of objects (or people) to fill in a gap in the centre of Ray’s sight destroyed by AMD, while he is still able to discern detail and colour using his natural vision, not affected by the AMD, at the corners of his eye.

“Ray is only one of five people in the world who have been implanted with the Argus II on the current AMD trial at Ұ�� Royal Eye Hospital, to have combined natural and artificial vision. Ray is a very special bionic man, and thanks to Lucy, to be able to see through his eyes, will help people to understand more fully, the real impact that artificial vision can make to blind individuals.”

Audenshaw resident Ray (aged 81), who once had dinner with LS Lowry at the Grand Hotel in Ұ�� said: “I was delighted to be asked to take part in the film. I very much enjoyed working with Lucy, who visited me on two occasions to take photos and recordings. Art’s an excellent way of explaining medicine and research, and I’m looking forward to seeing the film for the first time.”

The film will be on exhibition at the Ұ�� Museum 27–30 October 2016. Further information is available on , and the project’s and feeds.

Details are also on .

The research study is now closed for recruitment and is currently not looking for patients to take part. However, if you are interested in taking part in research conducted by Professor Stanga, please email MVR.lab@cmft.nhs.uk and/or visit: .

Art and inspiration from Syrian refugees at #JourneysFest Ұ�� Museum Takeover

Mon, 03 Oct 2016 11:00:00 +0100

University researchers, working with the Syrian community in the city, and The Rethink Rebuild Society, will be part of the #JourneysFest Takeover at the Ұ�� Museum on Saturday 8 October. Journeys Festival International is a major new festival which celebrates the artistic talent and incredible stories of refugee artists. (01 - 12 October 2016)

Researchers from The University of Ұ�� have been working with Syrians in the UK and in refugee camps surrounding Syria for a number of years since the start of its civil war.

Psychologists have been particularly focussed on parenting in these communities, helping parents and their children to recover from the traumatic experiences they have suffered as a result of war and fleeing their home country, working on ways to help them during displacement and resettlement.

The #JourneysFest Ұ�� Museum Takeover will provide insight into this work and the other rooms of the Museum, part of The University of Ұ��, will host a variety of activities including the International Kite Project, Conversation Corner, Pop Up Theatre performances from The Royal Exchange and Community Arts Northwest (CAN), music from Sarah Yaseen and spoken word with Hafsah Aneela Bashir.

Artwork created by children from refugee families will be on display, alongside a screening of by Hafsah Naib, a documentary that shows the lives of Syrians who have settled in Ұ��. Visitors will be able to speak to University researchers who have been working on on the Syria-Turkey border; sending in advice leaflets on parenting and coping with trauma inside the wrappers of bread deliveries.

The event is part of Journeys Festival International held in Ұ�� 1-12 October and produced by Leicester-based . Other events on the schedule include The Container Project, in which a shipping container will be transformed into an innovative project space in St. Ann’s Square.

Contact, a theatre near to the University campus, will host the acclaimed production Burning Doors by Belarus Free Theatre (10 – 12 October), which features the theatre debut of Maria Alyokhina from Pussy Riot telling the true stories of persecuted artists; Petr Pavlensky, Oleg Sentsov and Maria Alyokhina.

, who leads the Syrian refugee projects at The University of Ұ�� said: “Creative expression is an important way for people to explore and come to terms with the terrible experiences they have suffered. It is also a way to celebrate the culture and artistic styles of their own country, even though they’ve been forced to leave it.

This event seeks to cover both of these themes and all of the events we have planned for the day promise to be thought provoking and inspirational.”

David Hill, Director of ArtReach, said: "ArtReach is very pleased to be working with The University of Ұ�� and Rethink Rebuild to help facilitate important contributions from the Ұ�� Syrian community in its Journeys Festival International 'Take-over' event at Ұ�� Museums. It is so important to give a voice and platform to this community at such a challenging time and we hope the work will be celebratory as well as thought provoking."

@JourneysFest

#JourneysFest

11 November update: A Facebook gallery from the event is now available .

Ұ�� student puts museum’s fossils on the map

Tue, 23 Aug 2016 11:26:15 +0100

A student from The University of Ұ�� has created a computer application which records the fossil collection of Ұ�� Museum on an interactive map.

As part of his master’s degree project at the University’s School of Computer Science, Olivier Staub has developed the application to allow people interested in fossils and palaeontology to submit discoveries made through the examination of the map.

By using its exploration and filtering functions, users are encouraged to report any findings they consider interesting including patterns, missing information, comments or irregularities.

Researchers expect that discoveries be made through chance while exploring the fossils, a phenomenon also known as ‘serendipity’.This is a collaborative project between the School of Computer Science and Ұ�� Museum. The work was inspired by the needs of the museum and the news about the discovery of archaeological remains using map software.

“Our goal as human-computer interaction specialists is to understand how people make discoveries while they explore maps,” said Lecturer Markel Vigo, who is supervising the project under the advice of David Gelsthorpe, the museum’s Curator of Earth Science Collections. “Ultimately, this understanding will enable the development of tools that facilitate discoveries using geographical information systems.”

Visit to see the site.

Dame Vivienne Westwood to talk climate control at Ұ�� Museum

Thu, 05 May 2016 14:15:23 +0100

Event kicks off a new exhibition
Watch the talk live on Periscope (5-6pm, Tuesday 10 May)

A new Climate Control exhibition, opened by fashion designer and activist Dame Vivienne Westwood, will kick off Ұ��’s commitment to public action on climate change from 11 May.

On 22 April, countries around the world committed to the Paris Agreement on limiting climate change well within 2 degrees centigrade. Ұ�� is the home of the industrial revolution, which has contributed so much towards changing the climate of the planet.

Early in 2016, the city committed to become zero carbon by 2050. Ұ�� Museum, part of The University of Ұ��, is working with , Ұ�� Climate Change Agency (also part of The University of Ұ��) to imagine how that target can become a reality through a series of exhibitions called Climate Control, which aim to enable civic action and participation.

Dame Vivienne Westwood, designer, activist and founder of is set to open Climate Control on 10 May 2016 and speak to University of Ұ�� students in a talk titled Intellectuals Unite. The talk will be live streamed via Periscope to reach audiences across the world interested in climate related issues.

Climate Control is a major contribution to Ұ��’s time as . It isn’t an exhibition about depressing stories of climate change, but focuses on giving visitors opportunities to get really creative, to express what matters to them and what kind of world they would like to live in.

The story of the peppered moth, which evolved rapidly in Ұ�� during the Industrial Revolution, is used as a story of change to link the different exhibitions together.

Designed by , exhibitions include an exploration of the idea that we can’t change the past but we can change the future. Exhibits include fossil plants, a fantastic polar bear, beautiful Arctic animals and birds that migrate to Britain each winter from the Arctic. Visitors choose whether they explore climate change in terms of the past or the future. In the Living Worlds gallery, visitors can find out some simple ways to help nature. The gallery will be transformed by a beautiful sculpture of peppered moths.

Climate Control includes a packed programme of events for all ages and interests. Visitors will have opportunities to talk to researchers from The University of Ұ�� about their latest discoveries, and to local enthusiasts. Through the summer holidays, visitors will take part in activities to imagine, design and build the Ұ�� of the future.

Through this programme of exhibitions and events, the Museum aims for visitors to gain insights into the science and impacts of climate change, and what can be done, individually and collectively, to imagine and realise the future. The Museum is working in partnership with the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and the Global Development Institute (both within The University of Ұ��), with Ұ�� City Council and Ұ�� Climate Change Agency to bring research to life in public events.

runs from 11 May to 4 September 2016. Admission is free.

Watch the Dame Vivienne Westwood event live on , 5-6PM on Tuesday 10 May

Ұ�� Museum Celebrates Heritage Lottery Fund Success

Tue, 19 Apr 2016 10:29:31 +0100

Ұ�� Museum, part of The University of Ұ��, has received initial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for its Courtyard Project,it was announced today. The project will transform the Museum with a major two-storey extension, a new main entrance, and much-improved visitor facilities inspired by a new ethos of a ‘museum for life.’

Work will commence in May 2018 and the finished building will reopen in early 2020. Development funding of £406,400 has been awarded to help Ұ�� Museum progress its plans to apply for a full grant at a later date.

The Courtyard extension will create a major new Temporary Exhibitions Gallery, providing almost three times as much space as the Museum currently has for temporary and touring shows. The new facility will enable the Museum to become one of the North of England’s leading venues for producing and hosting international-quality exhibitions on human cultures and the natural world.

In addition, a permanent South Asia Gallery will be created in a landmark partnership with the British Museum. Bringing together the very best of Ұ�� Museum’s own South Asian collections and world-class sculpture, textiles and artefacts from the British Museum, the Gallery will explore the history and culture of South Asia and its relationship with communities in the North West of England.

Wide ranging improvements to visitor facilities - including a new street-facing entrance to create a much more visible and welcoming first impression - will enrich the experience and comfort of all. Particular emphasis will be placed on accessible design for older visitors and people with a disability.

The Courtyard Project aims to redefine the social purpose of the Museum. Inspired by the idea of a ‘museum for life’, it will place health, wellbeing and social inclusion at the very forefront of the Museum’s role. Physical improvements will be accompanied by greatly enhanced opportunities in education and public engagement, supported by 120 new, trained volunteers.

The total cost of the Courtyard Project is expected to be £12.4million. News of HLF support marks the second major commitment to the scheme, following a Treasury announcement of £5million towards the South Asia Gallery in November 2015.

Dr Nick Merriman, Director of Ұ�� Museum, said, ‘We are thrilled that the Heritage Lottery Fund has given us this support. Ұ�� Museum has been delighting, inspiring and educating our visitors for over 125 years. The Courtyard Project will enable us to realise our potential on a national and international stage, whilst strengthening our commitment to our local communities. Through these measures, more people than ever before willbe able to experience our world class collections.’

Ұ�� Museum launches UK’s first inflatable museum

Tue, 12 Apr 2016 16:49:06 +0100

An inflatable copy of Ұ�� Museum
The Inflatable Museum project will deliver workshops in school halls across Greater Ұ��
In-Museum visits are already at capacity and demand for workshops growing all the time

Ұ�� Museum (part of The University of Ұ��) is launching the UK’s first Inflatable Museum which will bring the museum experience to school halls all over Greater Ұ��.

Developed in partnership with stage designers and sound artists, this inflatable copy of incorporates a performance area, exploratory activity spaces, and high quality projection and audio equipment.

Funded with the support of The Zochonis Charitable Trust, the Inflatable Museum project is part of the widening participation strategy of The University of Ұ��, which connects young people from some of Greater Ұ��’s most disadvantaged areas to the Museum’s collection.

Beginning with pupils from five partner primary schools based in local Longsight, Levenshulme and Crumpsall, the Inflatable Museum project will deliver workshops in school halls across Greater Ұ��. The Inflatable Museum will recreate the sense of wonder the Museum naturally conjures, assisting in extending children’s classroom learning.

Dr Nick Merriman, Director of Ұ�� Museum, said: “Ұ�� Museum has the oldest continuous free museum education programme in the UK, and we are delighted to move it into its next phase with our quirky and innovative Inflatable Museum. It will allow the Museum to meet the demand for our oversubscribed schools programme in a fun and accessible way.”

Each year, Ұ�� Museum offers engaging and interactive ‘out of school’ cultural and learning experiences to approximately 25,000 early years and primary pupils, and 5,000 secondary and post-16 students from across Greater Ұ�� and the surrounding area. However, with in-Museum visits already at capacity and demand for workshops growing all the time, the development of the new outreach programme is essential to growing the Museum’s reach further.

Transportable in the Museum van and inflatable in less in 30 minutes, the Inflatable Museum is a dynamic space capable of accommodating a full class, and designed with ultimate flexibility in mind. Incorporating moveable ‘cabinets’, a large, open presentation area, and HD projection equipment, the Inflatable Museum’s adaptability reflects the diversity of Ұ�� Museum’s work, and represents the ideal environment in which to safely handle real objects and specimens from the collection.

The Inflatable Museum will be launching in Albert Square, on Wednesday 13 April, from 8am – 6pm, outside Ұ�� Town Hall. This Ұ�� landmark was chosen as it is designed by the renowned architect Sir Alfred Waterhouse, who also developed plans for Ұ�� Museum which opened in 1890.

Emma Martin, Stanley Grove Primary School, said: “We just can't wait to experience the Inflatable Museum! Some of our families are put off going to museums or galleries. This can be because of transport costs, not knowing what there is to see, but also feeling intimidated by grand old buildings. By bringing the inflatable out to us, it will stimulate curiosity and build a bridge between our community and Ұ�� Museum. What a fantastic idea!”

Ұ�� Museum £5m for permanent South Asia Gallery

Wed, 02 Dec 2015 17:46:54 +0000

Following a manifesto commitment, the Chancellor George Osborne announced that £5 million will support Ұ�� Museum (part of The University of Ұ��) to create a new South Asia gallery in partnership with the British Museum.

The gallery will form the centrepiece of the Museum’s new £11.5 million capital expansion which will include a much larger space for temporary exhibitions, a new entrance and expanded public facilities.

The South Asia gallery will draw on some of the best of the national collections from the British Museum to showcase the history and cultures of this pivotal region, in a way that will engage the city-region’s diverse communities, day visitors and tourists. It will also be developed in close consultation with local communities.

It is particularly appropriate to site this gallery in Ұ��, as nearly 9% of the Greater Ұ�� population is of South Asian origin. This large population has come about because of the strong historic links between Ұ�� and the Indian sub-continent through the textile trade. However, their culture and history has been under-represented, and bringing the British Museum’s collection to northern England provides an opportunity to address this.

The Director of Ұ�� Museum, Dr Nick Merriman, said ‘I am delighted that the Chancellor has announced this funding. It means that, with a commitment from the University, we have already raised over 50% of the funding needed to deliver the facilities we need for the Ұ�� Museum to engage with larger and broader audiences. The South Asia gallery will be a great draw for local residents and tourists alike, and is the natural outcome of our partnership work with the British Museum, which has been developing for more than a decade.’

Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum said 'We are delighted that the Chancellor has recognised the important role that museums and galleries play in the life of the UK and to Britain’s role in the world. The South Asia gallery at Ұ�� Museum is the latest in a series of partnership galleries which the British Museum has undertaken with key UK partners. The £5 million announced by the Chancellor is a significant investment which will benefit local and national and global audiences alike.’

Museum of the Citizen

This autumn the British Museum has organised a programme of public discussions at partner museums throughout the country called the Museum of the Citizen. As part of this programme the British Museum and Ұ�� Museum are holding a discussion on Friday 4 December from 12.30-2.00 for a select invited audience of key political, business, academic and community stakeholders which will take its theme from Ұ��’s plans to create a large new permanent South Asia gallery in partnership with the British Museum. The event will explore the powerful potential for museum collections to build stronger connections within changing local communities, showing how key loans and partnerships with national museums can open new dialogues with the public.

The discussion panel members include Sir Richard Lambert, Chairman of the British Museum, Dr Nick Merriman, Director of Ұ�� Museum, and Professor Colin Bailey Deputy President, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of The University of Ұ�� and Talat Awan, Journalist and Presenter, BBC.

During the event live tweeting will take place to open up the discussion across social networks both locally and globally using the hashtag museumofthecitizen. The digital home for the Museum of the Citizen programme can be found at

Notes to Editors

About Ұ�� Museum

Ұ�� Museum hosts a collection which includes archaeology, anthropology and natural history and is owned by the University of Ұ��. Sited on Oxford Road at the heart of the university's group of neo-Gothic buildings, it provides access to about 4.5 million items from every continent. It is the UK's largest university museum and serves both as a major visitor attraction and as a resource for academic research and teaching. It has around 430,000 visitors each year.

About The British Museum

The British Museum holds in trust for the nation and the world a collection of art and antiquities from ancient and living cultures. Housed in one of Britain's architectural landmarks, the collection is one of the finest in existence, spanning two million years of human history. Access to the collection is free.

The Museum was based on the practical principle that the collection should be put to public use and be freely accessible. It was also grounded in the Enlightenment idea that human cultures can, despite their differences, understand one another through mutual engagement. The Museum was to be a place where this kind of humane cross-cultural investigation could happen. It still is.The British Museum across the UK:

· The British Museum is recognised as the museum with the largest, most long-standing and inclusive UK programme, supporting hundreds of museum partners each year

· Last year, three million people in the UK saw British Museum objects at venues outside of London – in addition to two million people from across the UK who visited us in Bloomsbury.

· In 2014-15 the British Museum loaned over 2,800 objects to UK venues

British Museum Partnership galleries:

Since 2003 the British Museum has worked with a number of partner museums to develop a series of Partnership Galleries. The galleries are part of the displays at museums across the UK and are developed in collaboration with the British Museum to support research and object selection. The galleries are a combination of the fantastic collections at the partner museum and carefully chosen objects from the British Museum. The galleries represent an on-going curatorial relationship with the partner museum and include:

Yorkshire Museums Trust, Roman York
Great North Museum, Newcastle, Ancient Egyptian Gallery
Birmingham Museums Trust, Buddha Gallery
Royal Cornwall Museum, Ancient Worlds Gallery
Tullie House, Carlisle, Roman Gallery
Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, Glasgow, Ancient Egyptian Gallery
Ұ�� Museum, Money Gallery

For the curious, the makers, the searchers and the sharers

Thu, 13 Aug 2015 13:14:00 +0100

Ұ�� Museum reinvents part of its historic Alfred Waterhouse building to create an entirely new space for research, imagining, exploring – and thinking.

Ұ�� Museum, part of The University of Ұ�� and the largest university museum in the UK, opens The Study in September 2015. A reworking of the entire top floor of its historic Grade II*-listed building, it has been reimagined by BKD with architects Wilson Mason as a space designed to spark wonder, curiosity and a passion for research in all of its visitors.

The Study sits inside the 1885 building originally designed by celebrated Victorian architect, Alfred Waterhouse. What was formerly an uninviting space has been opened up, new roof lights and windows installed and original features, such as ebony-black display cases that cluster around a central atrium, painstakingly restored. But The Study is not only about restoration. It features bespoke furniture designed by BKD and state of the art equipment, such as a video microscope capable of sharing still images direct to Twitter alongside digital access to the museum’s collection.

The Study itself is made up of three parts: a gallery, which opens with photography by West African artist, Nyaba Ouedraogo; a research space, filled with tools, resources and curious objects taken from the museum’s four million object-strong collection; and an expanded collections study centre, designed for in-depth research.

The Study is a unique space. It opens with, for example, an aquaponics installation created by the Biospheric Studio, a project typical of what will happen in the space. Here, a fish tank filled with carp generates the nutrients needed to grow mint plants - a live research project that provides data, demonstrates alternative food production methods, and is supported by courses and information for those who want to find out more or perhaps develop their own projects.

The Study also opens with a new exhibition by Nyaba Ouedraogo, the self-taught photographer who lives and works in France and West Africa. The Phantoms of Congo River is both a ballad to and a deconstruction of Joseph Conrad’s famous 19th-century novel, Heart of Darkness, a book that explored colonialism and racism via the story of a voyage along the Congo River. Ouedraogo re-enacts scenes from the novel and follows the journey taken in it, while questioning notions of savagery and the residues of colonialism in present-day Africa. Ouedraogo’s striking images are accompanied by some of the museum’s own objects from the Congo.

Bringing The Study to life is a lively programme of events, talks and workshops aimed at adults. It begins in September with events from Ұ�� Science Festival, the European Researchers’ Night and a “bio-historic banquet” with chef Robert Owen Brown. Ұ�� Craft Mafia has also been commissioned to create original work that will go on display at The Study, alongside running a series bespoke “making” guides and craft courses.

Taken as a whole, the different elements of The Study are designed with one thing in mind: to enable all visitors to the museum to think about the world in new ways.

Dr Nick Merriman, Director of Ұ�� Museum said, “The Study is an extremely important project for Ұ�� Museum. It will be a wonderful and inspiring new space, which combines cutting edge research into contemporary science and human and natural history, with the widest possible access and opportunities for new thinking. We are delighted to be working with BKD, Wilson Mason architects, the Biospheric Studio, Nyaba Ouedraogo and Ұ�� Craft Mafia on the opening, and are very grateful to all the funders of this exciting new project.”

The Study is a major capital project costing around £700,000. It has been funded with the generous support of The DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund, Arts Council England’s Designation Development Fund, the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Mercer’s Charitable Foundation and alumni and friends of The University of Ұ��.

The Study opens on 11 September 2015. Entry and use is free.

BBC Horizon: Egypt's dark secret

Mon, 11 May 2015 17:10:00 +0100

Up to 70 million creatures were wrapped and buried in underground catacombs
Many of the animal mummies are, in fact, empty

University of Ұ�� team helps to uncover the story behind 70 million animal mummies

A team from and The University of Ұ�� features on tonight’s BBC Horizon programme entitled 70 Million Animal Mummies: Egypt's Dark Secret.

The programme, which airs at 9pm on BBC 2 (Monday 11 May), looks at the Egyptian practice of mummifying animals and reveals that up to 70 million creatures were wrapped and buried in underground catacombs.

A university team of radiographers and Egyptologists are filmed using the latest medical imaging technology to scan hundreds of animal mummies removed from Egypt during the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

Through their work, they discovered that many of the animal mummies are, in fact, empty.

, who led the team, said: "We always knew that not all animal mummies contained what we expected them to contain, but we found around a third don't contain any animal material at all - so no skeletal remains."

Dr McKnight’s team used a CT Scanner and X-ray machine, that would normally be used on children, to see beneath the wrappings without damaging the ancient specimens inside. Horizon joined them over three nights last Autumn and filmed around a dozen of the scans.

The work forms the basis of tonight’s documentary which explores the bizarre role animals played in ancient Egyptian belief.

The team scanned animal mummies including wading birds, falcons, cats, shrews and a five-foot long Nile crocodile. In one instance, a crocodile- shaped mummy was found to contain eight baby crocs carefully wrapped together. In another case, scans revealed that for thousands of years, an intricately crafted cat-shaped mummy , with tiny ears and a nose, in fact contained only a few pieces of cat bone.

Horizon - 70 Million Animal Mummies: Egypt's Dark Secret, will air on BBC 2 on Monday 11 May at 9pm.

Moai Hava arrives at Ұ�� Museum

Mon, 23 Mar 2015 10:20:00 +0000

Ұ�� Museum received a new arrival on Friday (20 March): a moai, commonly known as an Easter Island Head.

Moai Hava, on loan from the British Museum will be shown in a new exhibition, , opening on Wednesday, 1 April.

The monumental stone statues of Pacific island Rapa Nui (named Easter Island by European explorers) are some of the most widely recognised and fascinating archaeological objects in the world.

Following recent fieldwork on the island, Professor Colin Richards, an archaeologist at The University of Ұ��, has developed this exhibition, which will take a fresh look at these impressive statues.

Moai Hava, meaning ‘dirty statue’ or ‘to be lost’ entered Ұ�� Museum in a five and a half hour operation. Cranes and other specialist lifting equipment were needed to get the statue, which stands 1.56 metres tall and weighs 3.3 tonnes, into the building.

It’s understood that the Moai were made on Rapa Nui between AD 1100 and 1600. The size and complexity of the moai increased over time and Moai Hava is one of only 14 moai made from basalt; the rest are carved from the island’s softer volcanic tuff.

Over a few hundred years the inhabitants of this remote island quarried, carved and erected around 887 moai.

The exhibition runs from Wednesday, 1 April to Sunday, 6 September, though Moai Hava will remain in the Museum entrance hall for a number of years.

Ұ�� Museum wins 2015 Lever Prize

Mon, 05 Jan 2015 15:53:00 +0000

Ұ�� Museum has won the prestigious Lever Prize 2015 for the project 'Real Life Science'.

The Lever Prize is an annual award given to arts organisations in north-west England who are judged to be regionally distinctive with international or potentially international significance, and who show a high calibre of existing work and can demonstrate exciting future developments.

The Real Life Science programme at Ұ�� Museum encourages secondary and post-16 students to develop practical investigative skills through an array of science workshops. This programme uniquely combines practical science with Ұ�� Museum’s collection and displays, together with the chance to meet scientists from across The University of Ұ��.

Nick Merriman, Director of Ұ�� Museum, commented: “We are delighted to have won the 2015 Lever Prize. This prize will enable us to strengthen our existing secondary and post-16 science programme by showcasing cutting-edge applications of science in industry and inspiring the innovators of the future.

“The opportunity to benefit from the advice and support of the NWBLT will make a huge difference in the future development of this crucial aspect of our work, and we are greatly looking forward to a productive partnership over the course of the coming year.”

Now in its ninth year the Lever Prize is judged by the North West Business Leadership Team (NWBLT) in partnership with Arts & Business. As winner the Museum will get a cheque for £10,000 and the opportunity of collaborating with some of the region’s most influential business leaders.

Geoffrey Piper, Chief Executive of NWBLT, commented: “Ұ�� Museum, which is situated at The University of Ұ��, has developed some really creative ideas for working with the NWBLT membership throughout the year. The Real Life Science project links in well with some specific areas which we are focusing on and we very much look forward to a rewarding partnership with our worthy Lever Prize winners.”

Previous winners of the Lever include Liverpool Biennial in 2006, Ұ�� International Festival in 2007, TATE Liverpool in 2008, The National Football Museum in 2009, FutureEverything in 2010, The Whitworth in 2011, DaDaFest in 2012, Hallé St Peter’s in 2013 and Contact, Ұ�� in 2014.

Visit the
Visit the

Wonder Women at Ұ�� Museum

Sat, 01 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Celebrate International Women’s Day at the Ұ�� Museum

Connecting Communities and Coral

Sat 8 March, 1-4pm

Drop in, free

Celebrate International Women’s Day at the Ұ�� Museum, meet artists Lucy Burscough, Rachael Elwell and Nicky Colclough, as they discuss their artistic practice, and female influences past and present; and their current work at Ұ�� Museum which is part of the Coral; Something Rich & Strange exhibition.

Enjoy drop-in workshops with demonstrations from:

Lucy Burscough, 1pm - she paints people. They inspire her to put paint to canvas. She is interested in them as fellow human beings, in their families, backgrounds, histories and experiences that each shape the figure they are at the moment they sit for her. Her scrupulous style of painting means that she never loose sight of the fact that she is a painter of incredibly stunning corporeal animals

Rachael Elwell, 2pm - her drawings explore the perceptual connections between line, form and space through contemporary drawing processes. Her work focuses on the relationship between chance as an essential dimension of art, and an interest in control and structure in the composition of image making.

Nicky Colclough, 3pm - a visual artist and creative practitioner working in community settings, creative education and arts in health. She likes to play, push and experiment with lots of different materials and ideas.

The event is part of the Wonder Women series of events.

Notes for editors

After Hours: Coral at Ұ�� Museum

Thu, 27 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

*Tonight* Encounter the unexpected…

Come along to Ұ�� Museum for a vibrant and eclectic evening celebrating the Coral: Something Rich and Strange exhibition.

Enjoy highlights tours of the exhibition with Dr Marion Endt, see and handle some amazing objects from the museum’s stores, and meet artists Lucy Burscough, Rachel Elwell and Karen Casper who all have work exhibited at the museum. Delve deep into the history of Coral with Dr Melanie Giles & find out more about Coral in the Iron Age. Hear poetry and have a go at creating your own coral poetry in a workshop with Melanie.

Join Lucy Burscough and help to create an amazing hyperbolic crocheted coral reef and see Karen Casper demonstrating techniques used in making the fan Ventalina on display in the exhibition.

Enjoy music from the Seychelles, Jamaica and Belize where coral reefs are prevalent, with sets from DJ Mayeva, Golty Farabeau, and Calypso George.

Other events throughout the evening:

Find out more about clay and clay sculpture with Pascal Nichols and help to create a coral installation.
Discover how we explore the sea bed and find out what the rocks are that lie beneath kilometers of water, with students from Ұ�� University’s School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences.
Rachel Elwell will introduce you to a concept which plays around with form compositions by transforming a simple, geometric shape, through a repetitive line drawing process to produce a new abstract form, and then back again to its former shape.
At 6.30 and 7.30pm: Human survival in many ways depends not only on physical but also on psychological resilience, on the ability to maintain healthy emotional, social and mental life functions in the face of adversity. Join historian Nirvana Romell and examine numerous artefacts in the Museum’s collections as examples of people’s efforts to develop psychological resilience. Meet by the handling table in the Ұ�� Gallery.

Free, drop in, adults

Notes for editors

Treasures from under the sea go on show

Thu, 28 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

A spectacular exhibition combining historic and contemporary art, new commissions and natural history specimens is to feature at Ұ�� Museum.

Coral: Something Rich and Strange explores the enduring fascination with coral as a material and inspiration for artists, cultures and societies, from antiquity to the present day.

The displays will include fascinating and beautiful objects, telling a story about biodiversity and the importance of marine environments and bringing to our attention coral’s fascinating natural, scientific characteristics; the diversity of its shapes and patterns; its uses in different cultures and contexts; and the urgency of marine habitat protection.

Natural history specimens from the Museum’s zoology collection, fossils, glass models of marine invertebrates, and scientific illustrations will be seen alongside cultural artefacts such as charms, talismans, funerary objects, rosaries, netsuke and jewellery ‘curiosities’.

Paintings, prints, textiles and objects from the collections of Whitworth Art Gallery, Ұ�� Art Gallery and the V&A will also be on display alongside artworks from 15 national and 3 international institutions.

The exhibition will also include commissions of new works from the internationally renowned artist Mark Dion and the Lancashire-based textile artist Karen Casper, as well as a large-scale community engagement project, Ұ��’s very own Crochet Coral Reef.

A beautifully illustrated book, Coral: Something Rich and Strange, accompanies the exhibition, containing an essay on coral in art and nature, an interview with the artist Gemma Anderson and several object stories by experts from different disciplines, ranging from art history and archaeology to history of science and biology, published by Liverpool University Press.

The exhibition is curated by Dr Marion Endt-Jones, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in Art History and Visual Studies, University of Ұ��. She explained how the exhibition is the culmination of a three year project: “Ұ�� Museum, as a multi-disciplinary university museum, presented itself as an ideal venue for giving a public outlet to my research on the cultural history of coral as an organism, material and symbol. The exhibition hopes to illustrate what rich and diverse cultural tradition we put at risk by polluting, overfishing and acidifying the world’s oceans.”

Dr Nick Merriman, Director of Ұ�� Museum said: “According to a recent authoritative report, half of the world's coral reefs have been destroyed in the last 30 years, and if we do not take action immediately to reverse this decline, we will see all of them disappear before the end of the century. This exhibition is timely by showing the beauty of coral, both in nature and in the ways it has been used artistically, and what we risk losing if we stand by while it is destroyed”.

Notes for editors

Coral: Something Rich and Strange (#MMCoral), supported by Arts Council England and The Granada Foundation, runs from 29 November 2013 to 16 March 2014.

For media enquries contact:
Rachel Fitzgerald
Press Officer at Ұ�� Museum
Rachel.fitzgerald@manchester.ac.uk
0161 275 8786

Ұ�� Museum to share in Lottery grant success

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

IWM North, part of Imperial War Museums, working in partnership with Ұ�� Museum, part of The University of Ұ��, are today celebrating the news of a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant of £528,700 for a ground-breaking volunteer and learning programme.

The three-year project, Improving Futures: Volunteering For Wellbeing, will build on the huge success of the previously HLF-funded In Touch* project which, as part of its evaluation, highlighted the need for greater public involvement and volunteer opportunities at key heritage venues across Greater Ұ��. It also highlighted the potential heritage volunteering has to change people’s lives.

The new Improving Futures projectis a life changing social learning programme, which uses the heritage assets of IWM North, Ұ�� Museum, Museum of Science and Industry and other partner venues to help volunteers move away from social and economic isolation. It will provide personal development opportunities to those who need help reintegrating into society.

225 people from a diverse range of backgrounds - including people between the ages of 16-25 and over 50 years old, as well as ex-service personnel - will be given the chance to become volunteers and benefit from a bespoke training programme accredited by The Ұ�� College. They will get the chance to work with some of the most prestigious heritage venues in the North West, including the Whitworth Art Gallery, Ұ�� City Galleries, People’s History Museum, Ұ�� Jewish Museum, Dunham Massey and Ordsall Hall. These venues in turn will be able to cultivate a valuable volunteer base that will enhance the visitor experience and provide access and interpretation to the collections.

This is the first major project to measure the impact of responsible volunteering in the heritage sector on health and wellbeing, exploring how it can combat social and economic isolation. IWM North and Ұ�� Museum hope the project will demonstrate enormous benefits to volunteers, museums and society.

Learning opportunities forming the core of this project will include a varied range of heritage training courses, work placements at the selected venues, volunteer-to-volunteer mentoring, and the chance to visit and learn from a range of national and local heritage venues. The scheme will help to create three new posts and a paid internship placement, who will work across both Ұ�� Museum and IWM North.

Sara Hilton, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund North West, said: “The Improving Futures project provides a unique opportunity to create a diverse and highly-skilled volunteer workforce in Greater Ұ��. We at HLF know the far-reaching benefits volunteer time, dedication and passion can bring to heritage organisations and we are committed to providing participants with the skills and knowledge they need to make a real difference. This is an inspiring project that should be used as an example for heritage venues across the UK.”

Graham Boxer, Director of IWM North, said: “We are delighted to have Heritage Lottery Fund support. Together with the support of so many partners across Greater Ұ�� we will recruit and provide opportunities for participants to volunteer, find work and learn more. Improving Futures: Volunteering for Wellbeing represents an exciting opportunity to continue our pioneering work developing inspiring volunteering opportunities, training and support to individuals who might not normally visit and engage with museums. We can now take this further by developing robust evidence of how volunteering in museums can change people’s lives and support wellbeing, as well as practical tools for advocacy and supporting other heritage organisations developing their own volunteering practice.”

Nick Merriman, Director of Ұ�� Museum, said: “This is fantastic news for the Ұ�� Museum, IWM North, our partners and the wider sector. Improving Futures will have a significant impact on the organisations it involves, transform the lives of those we engage and create a lasting legacy for heritage volunteering. At the Ұ�� Museum, the project encompasses our core values, ambitious plans and commitment to engaging communities with our unique collections. We are delighted to receive the support of the HLF to capatilse on learnt experiences and take the lead with our partners on the development of socially engaged volunteer programmes.”

Kate Green MP, said: “I’m really pleased that IWM North and Ұ�� Museum have received this grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which makes it possible for the museums to run the Improving Futures Programme. Volunteering is so important and benefits both the local community and the volunteer themselves. Volunteers can help make new friends, learn new skills, advance their career, and even stay healthy. It’s great that IWM North and Ұ�� Museum are giving the opportunity for people in Trafford, Ұ�� and beyond to get involved in this exciting volunteer and learning project.”

The multi award-winning IWM North is designed by world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind to represent a globe shattered by conflict and explores how war shapes people’s lives from the First World War to the present day. Ұ�� Museum is one of the UK’s great regional museums and the country’s largest University museum, all of its collections are designated by the government as being of national and international importance. Both have established and successful volunteer programmes already in place however this project will enable them to expand them and allow them to work much closer with the volunteers.

Notes for editors

*The In Touch project, funded through an HLF grant of £424,500 in 2006, helped Ұ�� Museum and IWM North diversify and expand their existing volunteer groups and engage with new audiences. Approximately 200 people from Salford, Trafford and Ұ�� took part in a ten-week training course to develop their literacy, learning and employment skills.

Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) aims to make a lasting difference for heritage, people and communities across the UK and help build a resilient heritage economy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported almost 35,000 projects with more than £5.3bn across the UK. .

IWM North

IWM (Imperial War Museums) tells the story of people who have lived, fought and died in conflicts involving Britain and the Commonwealth since the First World War. Our unique Collections, made up of the everyday and the exceptional, reveal stories of people, places, ideas and events. The multi award winning IWM North, in Ұ��, was designed by world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind to represent a globe shattered by conflict. The iconic building, innovative and dynamic exhibitions, use of digital media through hourly Big Picture Shows and public events explore how war shapes lives and inspire and encourage debate. Since 2002, IWM North’s innovative and award-winning Volunteer Programme has provided training and skills to hundreds of people who have needed help reintegrating into society - including people who are long term unemployed, loan parents, young people in danger of exclusion, people with disabilities and refugees. It was the first programme of its kind in the cultural field and has attracted wide interest from central government and regional agencies to international cultural venues.

Ұ�� Museum

Ұ�� Museum is the UK’s largest university museum and all of its collections are designated by the government as being of national and international importance. As a university museum, Ұ�� Museum uses its international collection of human and natural history for enjoyment and inspiration. Working with people from all backgrounds, the Museum provokes debate and reflection about the past, present and future of the earth and its inhabitants and uses it collection to promote understanding between cultures and to work towards a sustainable world. The Museum has a long established tradition of working with volunteers, its approach to involving volunteers was formalised in 2003 with the introduction of Public Engagement Volunteers who pioneered object handling sessions on the museum’s galleries. The award-winning In Touch programme evolved out of a strategic approach to integrating community involvement within the museum’s practices. At Ұ�� Museum we seek to remain true to the core values that have defined our distinctive approach by continuing to provide original ways for involving volunteers.

For further information please contact

Tim Manley, Head of Marketing at Ұ�� Museum: tim.manley@manchester.ac.uk or 07810 152655

£390,000 boost for Whitworth Art Gallery and Ұ�� Museum

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Grants totalling £4 million to help improve 36 museums and galleries across the country have been announced by Culture Minister Ed Vaizey. The grants, jointly funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Wolfson Foundation, include substantial awards to The Ұ�� Museum and The Whitworth Art Gallery.

Ed Vaizey said: “The announcement shines a light on the breadth and diversity of museums and galleries in England. We are incredibly fortunate to have so many rich and fascinating collections, many of which have been improved, enhanced and made more accessible by the continuing generosity of the Wolfson Foundation.The Wolfson Foundation has an ongoing dedication to improving museums and galleries both large and small, across the whole country and the Government is delighted to be able to match that funding.”

Paul Ramsbottom, Chief Executive of the Wolfson Foundation, said:  "We are delighted to be working in such a productive and exciting partnership with government. The quality of projects funded demonstrates once again the sheer range and richness of the country’s heritage collections. Each project will help to improve the experience of visitors."

The Ұ�� Museum will receive £140,000 for Nature’s Library, an extensive renovation and a complete redisplay of its historic Birds & Insects gallery. The Grade II* listed gallery occupies the second floor of the Museum’s ‘1885 Building’, designed by the renowned Victorian architect Alfred Waterhouse. The gallery has been virtually untouched for 25 years and Nature’s Library will see a comprehensive redisplay, which combines respect for tradition with a showcase for contemporary themes and research.

Nick Merriman, Director of the Ұ�� Museum said: "We are very excited about the news of this grant from the DCMS/Wolfson Museums & Galleries Improvement Fund. Funding for ‘Nature’s Library’ will enable us to create a stunning redisplay of The Ұ�� Museum’s natural sciences collections and create much-improved resources for the 350,000 people who visit the Museum each year."

The Whitworth Art Gallery, Ұ��, has been awarded £250,000 for renovation and extension of the Exhibition Galleries. The DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund funded project, is part of a larger, £12m project (The 21st Century Gallery in the Park: A New Future for the Whitworth Art Gallery) which will transform the Gallery over the next two years.

Dr Maria Balshaw, Director, Whitworth Art Gallery added: "We are delighted that the DCMS and the Wolfson Foundation have made the decision to support the project. Their funds will create three extraordinary new gallery spaces which will give us the opportunity to bring the very best exhibitions and artworks to Ұ��."

Notes for editors

Contact Jon Keighren, Media Relations Manager, The University of Ұ�� 0161 275 8384

Major exhibition China: Journey to the East opening at Ұ�� Museum

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 01:00:00 +0100

3,000 years of Chinese history and culture are explored in this major touring exhibition China: Journey to the East from the British Museum.

Exploring themes of play, technology, belief and festivals, food and drink, and language and writing, it will open at The Ұ�� Museum on 25 September 2010.

China has been a major influence on many parts of the world through trade and the movement of peoples. Chinese Diaspora communities form a vital part of the history of many other countries, including Britain. Ұ�� has its own thriving Chinese community and the city is home to the first true Imperial Chinese arch erected in Europe.

From the world's earliest porcelain to shadow puppets and wei qi (Chinese Chess). From picnics and coca cola to afterlife jam tarts and a pillow wishing everlasting peace, China: Journey to the East combines fantastic objects from the British Museum with stories from one of the world's fastest growing economies. Complementing the displays will be photos and mementoes of modern day Wuhan, Ұ��’s sister city in China.

Commenting about the exhibition, Curator of Living Cultures Stephen Welsh said,

‘China: Journey to the East presented us with the perfect opportunity to explore links with our colleagues at Wuhan Municipal Museum. It’s easy to see why the cities are sisters as they are both right in the centre of their respective countries, have a long industrial tradition and an umbrella is absolutely essential when you’re out and about. We all hope that the cultural bonds between the two cities will grow and flourish over years to come.’

During the exhibition, the Chinese Moon Festival and Chinese New Year will be celebrated with special events marking their importance in the Chinese calendar. A programme of talks organised in partnership with the Confucius Institute also compliment the exhibition. This will be the last opportunity to see this unique touring exhibition before it returns to the British Museum in June 2011.

China: Journey to the East is a British Museum Tour supported by BP, a CHINA NOW legacy project. It will be on display at The Ұ�� Museum from 25 September 2010 to 26 June 2011.

LINKED EVENTS:

Life in China

Tuesday 21 Sep 2010, 12.45-1.30pm

Book on 0161 275 2648, free, adults and older children

Part of a series of talks by The Confucius Institute at The University of Ұ��. At each talk you can learn two Chinese characters and one useful phrase or sentence. Part of our exhibition.
In this talk Lee Davies, from the Confucius Institute, will share his experiences of China, having taught English to young people at Nanjing No. 9 Middle School in China for a year after graduating with a linguistics degree from the University of Durham in 2005. Lee Davies will talk about his first impressions of Nanjing, as a major international city with Starbucks and KFC, yet as a place where he had a lot to get used to, from squat toilets to the constant sound of honking horns. The biggest thing he had to get used to though was the Chinese language. Lee will briefly cover the main issues for foreigners learning Chinese: new words, grammar, pronunciation, tones, different Romanisations of Chinese and Hanzi and the intrinsic link between Chinese language and Chinese culture.

Big Saturday: Chinese Moon Festival

Saturday 25 September 2010, 11am-4pm

Most activities are free and drop-in. Some activities may need to be booked on the day and may cost up to £1.50. All ages

Celebrate Chinese Moon Festival with hands-on activities, experts and object handling at the Museum and The Whitworth Art Gallery. Part of our exhibition.

Chinese tea ceremony

Wednesday 6 October 2010, 2.30-4pm

Drop-in, free, adults and older children

Take part in a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. The art of serving and drinking tea plays a major role in Chinese culture. The Chinese tea ceremony is quite different from English or Japanese tea ceremony. Come and experience Chinese tea ceremony! Also you could taste different Chinese tea. There are three parts to the event: tea introduction, tea ceremony and tea taste. Part of our exhibition.

Chinese history

Tuesday 19 October 2010, 12.45-1.30pm

Book on 0161 275 2648, free, adults and older children

Part of our series of talks by The Confucius Institute. At each talk you can learn
two Chinese characters and one useful phrase or sentence. Part of our exhibition.

October half term: Chinese technology

Monday 25-Friday 29 October 2010, 11am-4pm

Drop-in, free, all ages

Craft activities based on a Chinese technology theme, as on display in our exhibition - see some silk moths and have a go at paper weaving and printing.

Chinese archery and technology

Wednesday 27 October, 1-3pm
Drop-in, free, all ages

The Ұ�� Museum has an extensive collection of archery. Find out about the role of archery in China with an opportunity to get up close to some museum objects.

Archaeology of China Day School

Saturday 13 November 2010

Chinese movies

Tuesday 16 November 2010, 12.45-1.30pm

Ideas Café: China and globalisation

Monday 6 December 2010, 6-8pm

Chinese economy

Tuesday 14 December 2010, 12.45-1.30pm

Chinese paper craft

Monday 20-Thursday 23 December & Monday 27-Friday 31 December 2010, 11am-4pm

February half term: Year of the Rabbit

Monday 21-Friday 25 February 2011, 11am-4pm

Big Saturday: Journey to the West

Saturday 11 June 2011, 11am-4pm

Further details of the above events are to follow in listings information.

More talks will be scheduled for 2011.

Notes for editors

The British Museum

CHINA: JOURNEY TO THE EAST is supported by BP, a CHINA NOW legacy project. Further support is provided through the DCMS/DCFS National/Regional Education Partnerships Programme 2008-9.

The tour is organised through the British Museum’s Partnership UK scheme.

This is the second in a series of British Museum travelling exhibitions, working with UK partners to offer students, teachers and families around the country the chance to encounter real objects from the major civilisations in world history. (Visit to find out about Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors and Heroes, the first touring exhibition in this series.)

Schools’ programme

A free CHINA: JOURNEY TO THE EAST exhibition teacher’s pack is available for use with your visit. Download this special resource at

British Museum websites written for Key Stage 2 & 3 teachers which contain background information and activity ideas can be found at and

BP is the British Museum’s most longstanding corporate sponsor, supporting the Museum on an annual basis since 1998. BP has recently supported the Fra Angelico to Leonardo: Italian Renaissance Drawings exhibition and will be supporting Journey through the afterlife: ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead which opens at the British Museum on November 4^th 2010.

Confucius Institute

The Confucius Institute at the University of Ұ�� belongs to a network of over 300 Confucius Institutes across the world, with an aim to promote Chinese language and culture and the understanding of China. The Institute was established in 2006 and has worked extensively with local schools and cultural organisations. Our activities range from language taster, cultural workshop, language classes, teacher training to public talk, screening of Chinese films, literary events, exhibitions, etc. The Institute takes pride in serving the local community by bringing contemporary China closer to Ұ�� and the North West

The Ұ�� Museum

As a university museum, The Ұ�� Museum uses its international collection of human and natural history for enjoyment and inspiration. Working with people from all backgrounds, the Museum provokes debate and reflection about the past, present and future of the earth and its inhabitants.

The Ұ�� Museum is home to one of the largest and most important collections of ancient Egyptian artefacts in the United Kingdom. The Vivarium houses a wide variety of live animals including frogs, toads, snakes and other reptiles and amphibians. One of the star attractions in the Museum is the T.rex, displayed in the pre-historic gallery alongside rare examples of fossils dating back to the Ice Age.

The Ұ�� Museum was Highly Commended in the Large Visitor Attraction category of the Ұ�� Tourism Awards 2008

The Ұ�� Museum,

The University of Ұ��, Oxford Road, Ұ��, M13 9PL.

T: (0)161 275 2634 F: (0)161 275 2676
Open: Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm, Sunday, Monday and Bank Holidays 11am – 4pm with FREE ENTRY

Creativetourist.com is an online magazine, a series of city guides and a collaborative project that has been put together by Ұ�� Museums Consortium, a group of nine museums and galleries - Cornerhouse, Imperial War Museum North, The Lowry, Ұ�� Art Gallery, The Ұ�� Museum, Museum of Science & Industry (MOSI), People’s History Museum, Urbis and The Whitworth Art Gallery - in Ұ��. These venues have a dual vision: the desire to stage intelligent, thought-provoking and international exhibitions and events and to celebrate the city in which they live, work and play. Creativetourist.com, with its mix of exclusive features, interviews, arts news and city guides, allows readers to discover more about what’s happening in the city, uncover its outstanding cultural programme and collections, and perhaps come to be as passionate about Ұ�� as its inhabitants.

Film explores attitudes to climate change ‘tipping points’

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 01:00:00 +0100

A provocative new film asks internationally renowned climate experts, global campaigners and environmental activists to assess the value of issuing climate change deadlines, ultimatums and points of no return.

Called ‘Beyond the Tipping Point?’, produced and directed by Dr Stefan Skrimshire from The University of Ұ��, the work is launched this week (15 July) at the University’s Ұ�� Museum.

Interviews include a Met Office international climate expert, Bangladeshi social justice campaigners; Plane Stupid activists, Buddhist leaders and protestors at last year’s UN climate talks in Copenhagen.

In addition to the film - which will be seen for free in schools, universities and community centres - a book called "Future Ethics: Climate Change and Apocalyptic Imagination" edited by Dr Skrimshire, is published by Continuum later this month.

The film and book are the result of a three year research project funded by the Lincoln Theological Institute, based in the University’s School of Arts, Histories and Cultures.

Some of the contributors argue that ‘shock and awe’ will force the public to take action. Others say activists must be more careful in the way they communicate.

Also discussed are why so many people are disinterested or think we aren’t able to change our behaviour to combat climate change.

One interviewee argues that the fight has been lost – so we should focus our attention on adapting our neighbourhoods to combat the unavoidable effects of rising temperatures.

Dr Skrimshire, from The University of Ұ�� said: “This film forces viewers to confront these important issues – perhaps for the first time.”

“But it is not another film about the science or the facts about global warming, nor is it a manifesto for taking a particular course of action.

“Rather, it is an attempt to probe the deeper questions that allow us to make sense of our decisions.

He added: The film asks what people actually mean when claiming it is ‘too late’, whether it be for the human species, civilization, or simply the lifestyles to which we have become accustomed”.

“Do the apocalyptic tipping points we all read about generate despair, or galvanise political responses to crises?”

The film ends with three “futures” described by 11-year-old Maria Colares who lives in the Amazon region of Brazil.

Either the Amazon, she says, will have clean air for its inhabitants, or polluted and undrinkable water.

Her final future is a world so polluted, the only option will be to find another planet to live on.

Notes for editors

A DVD of the film is available by contacting Stefan Skrimshire at

Visit www.beyondthetippingpoint.com

For media enquiries contact:

Mike Addelman
Media Relations
Faculty of Humanities
The University of Ұ��
0161 275 0790
07717 881567
Michael.addelman@manchester.ac.uk

Reflective Room at The Ұ�� Museum

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 01:00:00 +0100

An exciting new temporary structure - Reflective Room – is currently being constructed in The Ұ�� Museum’s courtyard, due to be completed by 6 July 2010.

It was chosen as the winning design in a competition between 5th year Architecture students from the Prototype and Re_Map studio units at the Ұ�� School of Architecture (msa).

The Courtyard Project invited the students to design an environment within the Courtyard space outside The Ұ�� Museum's entrance to align with the summer programme and exhibitions and to form part of the preparations for the major redevelopment of the Museum’s Animal Life 1 (mammals) gallery, closing in September 2010 and reopening in May 2011. A shortlist of five proposals were selected and developed further, a summary of which you can see on display at the Museum.

Dr Nick Merriman, Director of the Ұ�� Museum, said ‘Reflective Room is a great example of collaboration between the Museum and the students and staff of the School of Architecture in the University. It will bring real interest to our otherwise rather deserted courtyard, and I very much hope that it will be the first of a series of installations in this space’.

The Design Team from the Prototype unit led by Matthew Mills includes: Adam Atrakzi, Mark Bonshek, Spencer Fretwell, David Kent and Anna Parker.

Inspired by the changes that unfold in the Courtyard over the course of the day, the Reflective Room team designed a new environment in which people can reflect and re-engage with their surroundings. Using everyday materials, including plywood and black glazed ceramic tiles, its design is both subtle and delicate and creates an experiential space. The aim is to utilise the ordinary to create the sublime.

Fabricating a room within the Courtyard space will enable people to sit and relax whilst reviving their awareness of the environment. Enclosing this space will enable the courtyard to be revealed in a less direct way, reducing it to a more accessible human size. Edges, materials, weather and the surrounding environment will become more apparent through subtle reflections.

The Reflective Room was fabricated in the Art and Design Workshops at MMU and assembled by all students involved in the project. It will stand in the Courtyard from July–October 2010.

The Prototype studio unit takes material as a primary resource from which to develop the possibilities of tectonic assembly and the exploration of architectural space. Experimental workshop processes are utilised to investigate ways in which ‘analogue’ hands-on making can inform the use of ‘digital’ contemporary technologies. The unit aim is to develop a material practice that connects thinking and making. The reductive deployment of resources, materials and fabrication methodologies are regarded as opportunities in relation to a sustainable culture. The unit is led by Ming Chung and Nick Tyson of Chung Tyson Architects.

Reflective Room has been generously supported by:

msa

The Ұ�� School of Architecture was formed in 1996, as an innovative collaboration between Ұ�� Metropolitan University and The University of Ұ��.

MIRIAD

MIRIAD is the Ұ�� Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design based at Ұ�� Metropolitan University.

Pilkington’s Tiles Plc

Atelier One

Atelier One is an Engineering consultancy committed to creating innovative solutions which are appropriate for and contribute to building design through the close collaboration with the design team.

Reflective Room blog:

Notes for editors

For more information contact Corinne Leader on 0161 306 1584

The Ұ�� Museum

Over the next year The Ұ�� Museum’s Animal Life 1 (mammals) gallery will be undergoing a major redevelopment. Looking at issues such as habitat loss, extinction and climate change, the new gallery will reveal how we are all part of the natural world and how we can make a positive difference. The Museum is working with fashion events company, Villa Eugénie, so you can expect the new gallery to look spectacular. The current gallery is very popular with visitors so the focus will be on bringing out its best features and making it even better - revealing more of the original architecture and including even more stuffed animals - not just mammals. Particular favourites such as the Sperm Whale skeleton, Polar Bear and Tiger will certainly be there.

The Ұ�� Museum, The University of Ұ��, Oxford Road, Ұ��, M13 9PL.

T: (0)161 275 2634 F: (0)161 275 2676
Open: Tuesday–Saturday 10am–5pm, Sunday, Monday and Bank Holidays 11am–4pm with FREE ENTRY

msa

The Ұ�� School of Architecture was formed in 1996, as an innovative collaboration between Ұ�� Metropolitan University and The University of Ұ��. The msa draws upon extensive teaching and research expertise within both institutions and is set to grow into a leading international centre for research and teaching in architecture and urban studies.

MIRIAD

MIRIAD is the Ұ�� Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design based at Ұ�� Metropolitan University. It is the North West's leading Higher Education centre for advanced cultural inquiry the study of the creative arts. Reflective Room has received a MIRIAD Research Project support fund.

Pilkington’s Tiles Plc

Pilkington’s was established in 1891 and is the UK’s largest manufacturer of ceramic tiles. The tiles, which have been donated for the project, are manufactured at the factory and UK Head Office, in Ұ��. Pilkington’s are committed to continuous environmental improvement. The manufacturing of the tiles does not require the use of materials that are harmful to the environment.

Atelier One

Atelier One is an Engineering consultancy committed to creating solutions which are appropriate for and contribute to building design through the close collaboration with the design team. Through the projects undertaken, Atelier One continues to pursue efficient, aesthetic and architecturally ambitious engineering solutions to enhance the built environment.

Rare frog find gives herpetologist hope

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:00:00 +0100

A rare female frog has been seen for the first time in 20 years during an expedition to Central America by scientists from The University of Ұ�� and .

The tiny tree frog Isthmohyla rivularis was seen in Costa Rica's Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve.

This species was thought to have become extinct two decades ago, but last year from The University's found and photographed a male.

But the discovery of the pregnant female and also more males suggests this species is breeding and has been able to survive – while many other species have been killed by a deadly fungal skin disease.

Speaking to BBC Online, which is accompanying the party in Costa Rica, Andrew Gray from Ұ�� Museum at the University of Ұ��, said: "This has been the highlight of the whole of my career.

"Now that we know that both sexes exist in the wild, we should intensify efforts to understand their ecology and further their conservation."

The team trekked deep into the forest to a spot close to where the male Isthmohyla rivularis was spotted last year. They had few clues about where the frogs might be and the search could only take place at night.

After discovering another male from its soft insect-like call, Luis Obando, head of park maintenance at Monteverde's Tropical Science Centre, found the tiny female, which was sitting on a leaf.

Mr Gray told the BBC: "It is hard to describe just how unlikely it was to have discovered a female of this particular species.

"The only time you ever come across a female is by chance - and it is only once in a blue moon that they come down to lay their eggs. You really have to be in the right place at the right time.

"You could come out here every night for a year and not see a thing. I really think that this time we have had luck on our side."

The 2.5cm-long female was released after the discovery – but only after a swab was taken from its skin to test whether it is carrying the deadly chytrid fungus.

In recent days, physicist from at The University has been able to use a small, portable pen-like device called a spectrometer to examine the skin of several tree frogs.

This non-invasive technique allows them to see how much light the frog is reflecting and understand more about the properties of their skin.

The researchers believe that the ability to sit out in the sun may allow the frogs' skin to heat up just enough to kill off the fungus - preventing the disease from taking its grip.

However, there are concerns that increased cloud cover in their natural habitat as a result of global warming may limit their opportunities for sunbathing.

A team from The University of Ұ�� and Chester Zoo has been working out in Costa Rica over the last two weeks.

Notes for editors

For more information please contact Alex Waddington, Media Relations Officer, The University of Ұ��, Tel 0161 275 8387 / 07717 881569.

DNA reveals sister power in Ancient Greece

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:00:00 +0100

University of Ұ�� researchers have revealed how women, as well as men, held positions of power in ancient Greece by right of birth.

Women were thought to have had little power in ancient Greece, unless they married a powerful man and were able to influence him. But a team of researchers testing ancient DNA from a high status, male-dominated cemetery at Mycenae in Greece believe they have identified a brother and sister buried together in a richly endowed grave, suggesting that she had as much power as him.

The team, led by and at the Faculty of Life Sciences and Professor John Prag at , have been studying Grave Circle B at Mycenae for 10 years. Their paper revealed by ancient DNA typing appears in the Journal of Archeological Science.

The Bronze Age citadel at Mycenae is one of the most evocative prehistoric sites in all of Europe. The legendary home of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, Mycenae held a natural attraction for early antiquarians in the years before its first systematic study by Heinrich Schliemann in the 1870s. Schliemann s famous telegram, sent during his excavation of Grave Circle A in 1876, stating that he had gazed upon the face of Agamemnon , turned out to be erroneous for the burials that he had uncovered predated the Trojan War by some four centuries, but his excavations were nonetheless significant as they established Mycenae as one of the richest and, by implication, most powerful of the Aegean states during the 17th to 12th centuries BC.

Grave Circle B spans c.1675-1550 BC and predates A with possibly fifty years overlap. Within Grave Circle B there is a development from simple cist burials to larger, deeper and richer Shaft Graves with weapons, pottery and gold ornaments including a face-mask made of electrum (a naturally-occurring gold-silver amalgam). Generally they were less well endowed than the remarkable gold-laden burials in Circle A, but the richness of both Grave Circles leaves little doubt that their occupants were elite members of early Mycenaean society.

The team, funded by , wanted to ascertain the relationships within this elite group, in particular whether the individuals were members of a single family or small number of families who had established themselves as the ruling dynasty in early Mycenae.

John Prag and Richard Neave of The University of Ұ�� had previously applied modern techniques of facial reconstruction to the seven best preserved skulls. These faces are on display in the Making Faces gallery in the Ұ�� Museum, and visitors can see how the results suggest that these seven individuals fall into three groups, the heart-shaped faces (which includes the brother and sister), the long faces and one beaky face. Dr Abigail Bouwman in Professor Brown's group then tested mitochondrial DNA from the bones and was able to confirm the relationships.

Professor Brown recalled: "We were surprised to discover what appears to be a sister buried beside her brother in the high status, male-dominated grave circle. The implication is that she was buried in Grave Circle B not because of a marital connection but because she held a position of authority by right of birth.

"DNA analysis has therefore enabled us to glimpse the factors contributing to the organisation of the higher echelons of society at the beginning of the Mycenaean age."

Keri Brown added: "Homer's stories are thought to be memories: tales of the Bronze Age retold some 400 years later, as the early archaeologists who went in search of the places he described found them, not just Mycenae rich in gold but also wall-girt of Tiryns and other sites.

"We certainly haven't unearthed the real Electra and Orestes. They were the brother and sister who in the Greek epic tradition avenged their father Agamemnon s death at the hands of their mother Clytemnestra, but if they were real people then they lived centuries after our pair. We will never know who our lady was but it is tempting to think that she might have been a little like the Electra of legend, who seems to have been such a powerful woman that the later stories tell how she was forced to marry a peasant to dilute her influence.

Professor Brown said: "On a purely scientific note, our results also show that while it is difficult apply this type of analysis to archaeological remains ancient DNA is generally poorly preserved and the problems caused by contamination with modern DNA are more acute ancient DNA can greatly advance understanding of kinship when used to test hypotheses constructed from other evidence.

"It is fascinating work and we have learned a lot. In future we hope to do similar research at other sites in Greece if we can find any at which ancient DNA is preserved."

Notes for editors

For more information or to arrange an interview with Professor Terry Brown contact Media Relations Officer Mikaela Sitford on 0161 275 2111 or 07768 980942 or Mikaela.Sitford@manchester.ac.uk.

Editor s Note:

A copy of the paper, Kinship between burials from Grave Circle B at Mycenae revealed by ancient DNA typing , Journal of Archeological Science, authors Abigail S. Bouwman, Keri A. Brown, A. John N. W. Prag and Terence A. Brown, is available at .

The Mycenaean civilisation flourished between 1700 BC and the collapse of Bronze Age civilization around 1100 BC. The collapse is traditionally attributed to the Dorian invasion, but it formed part of a political and economic disintegration of the Eastern Mediterranean that probably had its root in factors such as natural disasters, climate change and population movements. The major Mycenaean city-sites were Mycenae and Tiryns in Argolis, Pylos in Messenia, Athens in Attica, Thebes and Orchomenos in Boeotia, and Iolkos in Thessaly. Mycenaean civilization was dominated by a warrior aristocracy. Around 1400 BC, the Mycenaeans extended their control to Crete, centre of the Minoan civilization, and adopted a form of the Minoan script called Linear B to write their early form of Greek. Not only did the Mycenaeans defeat the Minoans and send out settlements around the Eastern Mediterranean, but according to legend they led an alliance of Greeks under the leadership of their king Agamemnon to defeat Troy, a powerful city-state that controlled the vital trade-route through the Dardanelles.
The Faculty of Life Sciences (FLS), with more than 1000 people involved in research, 1700 undergraduate students and an annual total budget of £65 million, is one of the largest and most successful unified research and teaching organisations of its kind in Europe. See

The Ұ�� Museum was highly commended in the Large Visitor Attraction of the Year category at the 2008 Ұ�� Tourism Awards and its worldwide collection encompasses both natural world environments and world cultures. It is home to one of the largest and most important collections of ancient Egyptian artefacts in the United Kingdom. The Vivarium is home to our chameleon, frogs, toads, snakes and other reptiles and amphibians. The highlight of the pre-historic gallery is the T.rex, displayed alongside rare examples of fossils dating back to the Ice Age. See .

The Leverhulme Trust, established at the wish of William Hesketh Lever, the first Viscount Leverhulme, makes awards for the support of research and education. The Trust emphasises individuals and encompasses all subject areas. With annual funding of some £40 million, the Trust is amongst the largest all subject providers of research funding in the UK. See

Mikaela Sitford, Media Relations Officer (Weds-Fri) Tel 0161 275 2111 Any urgent media enquiries on Mon and Tue should go to Aeron Haworth Tel 0161 275 8383

Lindow Man: A Bog Body Mystery

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Opening 19 April at

The story of a man found in a peat bog over 2,000 years ago, wearing only a fox fur arm band, is told in Lindow Man: A Bog Body Mystery, an intriguing new exhibition opening at The Ұ�� Museum on 19 April 2008.

Lindow Man, one of the British Museum’s most popular exhibits, is on loan for a year, along with important Iron Age artefacts such as the Wandsworth Shield boss, through the British Museum’s Partnership UK scheme.

From the time Lindow Man was discovered on Lindow Moss in 1984, scientists, archaeologists, historians and curators have been trying to unpick the mystery surrounding his story. This exhibition looks at the different angles to that story through the voices of seven people. Exploring a variety of perspectives, the stories include those of a peat digger, forensic archaeologist, museum curator and druid priest, amongst others.

Many questions still remain unanswered in Lindow Man’s story and much has changed since he was found. How, why and when he died still continues to be a matter for debate. Lindow Man: A bog body mystery doesn’t seek to answer all the questions, but presents a series of viewpoints and experiences, looking at what he means to us today.

Bryan Sitch, Head of Human Cultures said: ‘There are few moments in life when you can look into the face of someone who is 2000 years old and ask questions about them. This exhibition offers us a unique opportunity to do just that. We have used many objects to illustrate Lindow Man’s story, some of them like the Wandsworth Shield Boss and crow feathers have obvious links, others like the Care Bear are more surprising. Each of them shows us what he means to people today.’

Attitudes to the display of human remains are changing and The Ұ�� Museum’s human remains policy is very clear about treating them with respect and dignity. This exhibition will prepare you for an encounter with Lindow Man, and offer an intriguing personal insight to his story.

This everyman of prehistoric Britain, has been in the care of the British Museum since his discovery, and previously displayed at The Ұ�� Museum in 1987 and 1991. He will be staying in Ұ�� until 19 April 2009.

Notes for editors

For further press information or images contact Ros Helliwell in the Press Office:

T: 0161 306 1583 E: ros.helliwell@manchester.ac.uk

Lindow Man: A bog body mystery has been generously funded and supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Wellcome Trust, the Dorset Foundation, The Foyle Foundation and Renaissance North West.

Lindow Man was previously on loan to the Ұ�� Museum from April – December 1987 and then again between 25 March and 21 September 1991.
Lindow Man is on loan from the British Museum through their Partnership UK scheme
For more information about The Ұ�� Museum go to
A full programme of events and activities will be taking place throughout the year in relation to the exhibition.

Museum faces up to its slave trade past

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:00:00 +0100

A 'promenade' play taking place at one of the country's best loved museums is to tackle the difficult issue of its own links with the slave trade.

The performance of ‘This Accursed Thing’ is a product of an funded project led by Tony Jackson, who is a Senior Lecturer in at The University of Ұ��.

Visitors to - which is part of the University - will spend an hour in the company of six characters connected with the slave trade - played by two actors.

They will move around the building with a museum curator, anti-slavery campaigner Thomas Clarkson, African and British slave traders, escaped slave James Watkins and a Lancashire cotton worker.

It was written by one of the actors, Andrew Ashmore, following his extensive research into the slave trade and Ұ�� Museum’s collection.

The performance will launch a conference examining the uses and impact of performance as a medium of learning in museums and at historic sites.

‘This Accursed Thing’ was developed in partnership with the Museum as part of its policy of exploring the hidden and sometimes contentious stories behind the collection with its visitors.

Tony Jackson said: "At first glance you might wonder why a performance about slavery is taking place alongside the famous archaeological, botanical and Egyptology exhibits - amongst others.

"One answer is that parts of the collection were paid for by wealthy individuals who benefited from the slave trade.

"This is a history behind a history: it's a chance for Ұ�� to acknowledge its slave trade links - but also to remember the proud contribution the city made to its abolition."

He added: "A highlight of the performance is when the audience meets an 1807 slave trader who challenges them to say what they think he' s doing is wrong.

"It can be quite dramatic and shocking.

"James Watkins was an escaped slave who went on a lecture tour in the UK in an effort to gather support for President Abraham Lincoln' s fight against slavery.

" It apparently worked: Lancashire cotton workers voted to boycott cotton from the Southern States - an amazingly compassionate act which threatened their own livelihoods.

"Lincoln himself sent the Lancashire workers a formal expression of gratitude."

Pete Brown, Head of Learning and Interpretation at The Ұ�� Museum, said: "Visitors’ eyes light up when they realise the issues and debates being played out in front of them.

“Challenging the preconceptions about museums and their displays, this performance sends out a powerful message that live interpretation has a key part to play in presenting our own past”

Notes for editors

This Accursed Thing takes place on April 3rd (3.30 and 5pm) and 4th (11am, 1.30 and 3pm). The performance at 1.30pm will be Audio Described and 3.30pm performance will be British Sign Language interpreted. For bookings and enquiries, phone 0161 275 2648.

The conference Performing Heritage : Research and Practice takes place from 3-5 April at The University of Ұ�� and brings together practitioners and researchers from across the world.

This Accursed Thing will also be available online as part of the Revealing Histories website in the near future.

Images are available

Tony Jackson is available for comment.

For media enquiries contact:

Mike Addelman
Media Relations Officer
Faculty of Humanities
The University of Ұ��
0161 275 0790
07717 881 567
michael.addelman@manchester.ac.uk

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