The University of Manchester on March 3 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Médecins Sans Frontières UK, a leading body in international medical assistance and humanitarian response.
The partnership comes at a time of interconnected global crises and is grounded in two-way learning. MSF’s frontline operational experience will inform research-led teaching at Manchester, while the University’s interdisciplinary expertise will support critical reflection, enquiry-based learning and innovation in humanitarian practice.
The collaboration is expected to deepen the relationship between the two institutions by developing teaching and research partnerships, improving awareness of their respective expertise and expanding networks that facilitate cooperation.
MSF operates in more than 75 countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan, where it provides life-saving medical humanitarian assistance to people in crisis and works to ease suffering around the world.
“This is partnership at its best – which is at the heart of our Manchester 2035 strategy. Our researchers and students stand to gain enormously by learning from MSF’s expertise and frontline experience in humanitarian response.
Meanwhile, our innovative research is shaping how humanitarian leaders are trained – across ethics, human rights, health, climate change and disaster preparedness. All of which means MSF, with our support, stays at the cutting-edge of crisis response,” Professor Duncan Ivison, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester, said.
For the next four years, the University will continue to take on cohorts of MSF staff for blended learning through its Leadership Education Academic Partnership Programme in Humanitarian Practice. The programme is a collaboration between the University’s Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and MSF.
The new partnership aims to build on the benefits of staff exchange, stimulate academic input in research and development projects at MSF, and create joint seminars and events. Staff from both organisations will also hold a mutual presence on steering committees and bodies such as MSF’s internal think tank, Centre de Réflexion sur l’Action et les Savoirs Humanitaires.
Professor Nicolas Lemay-Hébert, Executive Director of HCRI, said: “The HCRI is committed to bringing together a broad range of expertise to facilitate positive global change and improve worldwide crisis response.
“Our part in helping to train MSF’s leaders through our multi-disciplinary approach to humanitarian solutions is an essential part of this mission. This partnership will benefit from a sharing of valuable expertise and resources and will work to accelerate that global change.”
The partnership also builds on strong student engagement with MSF through Friends of MSF Manchester, a student-led society for students interested in international crises, health equity and humanitarian work.
University officials said the new arrangement will allow the institution to influence humanitarian activity by providing world-class research and resources to support MSF’s global operations in crises such as the civil war in Sudan and widespread malnutrition, while gaining insight from MSF’s work across the globe.
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