The Christabel Pankhurst Institute is a unique partnership that builds on the University’s research strengths to develop transformative solutions to health and care challenges in Greater Manchester.

What Is The Christabel Pankhurst Institute

he Christabel Pankhurst Institute is a £25 million initiative to promote needs-led health technology research and innovation. It uses the research strengths of The University of Manchester to develop ground-breaking innovations in health and care.  

As a unique partnership between the University, NHS, business and local government, The Christabel Pankhurst Institute forms an important part of the Greater Manchester health innovation ecosystem. Through collaboration, it translates world-leading research into new products and services to improve lives. 

The Christabel Pankhurst Institute provides end-to-end support to put research translation into practice and acts as an external flagship for the University’s rapidly expanding health technology portfolio. It’s a place where scientists, engineers, clinicians, businesses, and patients come together to shape the future.  

Building on the University’s research strengths in digital technology and advanced materials, the Institute develops innovative solutions to pressing health and care challenges, fostering new collaborations, improving lives and catalysing growth in the health innovation business sector. 

The institute has brought together hundreds of academics from across the University to create a multidisciplinary Digital Health and Care network and Advanced Materials in Medicine network. Other research disciplines include improving translation for healthcare innovations, personalised medicine through Multi-Omic Health Technologies and addressing digital health inequalities. 

Examples of innovations already underway include using AI to improve diagnosis from medical images, nanomaterials that target the delivery of drugs to the site of disease, the development of digital assistants to help individuals manage chronic conditions and new materials to help repair damaged and diseased tissues and organs. 

Through partnerships between communities, academics, businesses and local government the institute aims to : 

  • Build a community of practice around health technology, engaging with companies, care providers, funders, charities, patient groups, and academics from across a spectrum of disciplines. 

  • Engage with care providers, commissioners, clinicians, patients and businesses to understand local health and care needs and opportunities. 

  • Bring together scientists, engineers, clinicians, patients, and businesses to co-create innovative solutions to real health and care needs in Greater Manchester and beyond. 

  • Broker new partnerships and collaborations across health and care providers, clinicians, academic researchers and businesses, and provide access to seed-corn funding. 

  • Provide comprehensive support across the translational pathway, providing advice on applicability, funding, health economics, regulation, clinical trials, commercialisation and deployment. 

How Will The Christabel Pankhurst Institute Help Business Across Greater Manchester?

This unique partnership aims to be a driver for economic growth across Greater Manchester’s health innovation sector, catalysing growth by fostering collaborations between businesses, care providers, researchers and more. 

The Christabel Pankhurst Institute will provide comprehensive support across the translational research pathway, providing innovators and SMEs with advice on applicability, funding, health economics, regulation, clinical trials, commercialisation, and deployment. 

In supporting advancements in health tech and innovation it hopes to generate new businesses and support the development of technologies and also play a key role in attracting inward investment, adding to the vitality of Greater Manchester’s world-leading health innovation district. 

How Will The Christabel Pankhurst Institute Help Communities Across Greater Manchester?

The Christabel Pankhurst Institute is focused on delivering innovative solutions to real health and care needs, which can address health inequalities in Greater Manchester and provide a greater standard of care across the city-region. 

The institute works with communities and patients to solve real healthcare problems, translating world-leading research into new products and services that can be used in communities and real-life patient care. 

For example, health inequities are an increasingly important topic within health research and policy, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic showed the impact technology can have on people’s access to health services. 

There is an expanding community in Greater Manchester with an interest in this topic. The Pankhurst Digital Health Inequities Programme aims to bring together this community and establish a collaborative programme of research on tackling digital health inequities across the city-region.