Advances in data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and analytics are completely changing the way we think about and do business. In our first podcast of 2023, which was also filmed in our new podcast suite, Professor Richard Allmendinger from AMBS and David Walters from North-West based fund manager River Capital joined Chair Jim Pendrill from AMBS to discuss the issue. Richard, who is a Professor of Applied Artificial Intelligence, and also a Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute, recently joined the advisory board of the North’s first dedicated AI fund run by River Capital. The fund focuses specif ..read more

This episode will be hosted by Elvira Uyarra, Professor of Innovation Studies at Alliance Manchester Business School. In recent years, and in response to major societal challenges such as climate change, migration, or food and energy security, innovation policy has both broadened its scope for action and widened the goals it is expected to address. This implies a shift from generic and primarily R&D-based innovation support measures towards a new (or third) ‘generation’ of innovation policy - variously referred to as challenge-led, mission-orientated or transformative innovation polic ..read more

Berne Ferry, Head of the National School of Healthcare Science, will deliver this year’s Teddy Chester lecture Into the foreground: The emergence of healthcare science and public consciousness. This annual lecture marks the contribution of Teddy Chester, who was the first professor of social administration at the University of Manchester. From his appointment in the early 1950s, to his retirement in the 1970s he was an influential pioneer in management development, using evidence and research with policy makers, and working with clinical leaders. He was involved in founding and leading th ..read more

At this Vital Topics event we will explore how Covid-19 has created opportunities for change across both central and local government, while our panel will also share their thoughts on the need for deeper resilience building as life gradually returns to normal in the wake of the pandemic. Much has been written over the past two years about how the pandemic will create opportunities for transformative change. But where do we stand today, and is that transformative change really likely to happen? At this Vital Topics event we will look at how Covid-19 has created opportunities for change across ..read more

In this episode we will hear from Jan Iceton, Chair of Smart Works Greater Manchester. Smart Works Greater Manchester is a truly inspiring charity that has helped over 3,500 unemployed, disadvantaged and often vulnerable women get back into employment. Their motto is “get the clothes, get the confidence, get the job”.... and 72% of their clients do just that. They bounced back quickly after Covid and now deliver circa 100 appointments a month from their centre in Stockport. Now, at this time of exceptional need, they are working towards opening a new Smart Works in Manchester by April 202 ..read more

In this episode, Professor Duncan Shaw explores how Covid-19 has created opportunities for change across both central and local government. He also shares his thoughts on the need for deeper resilience building as life gradually returns to normal in the wake of the pandemic ..read more

This episode will be hosted by Javed Siddiqui, Professor of Accounting, Alliance Manchester Business School. Pressures from various donor agencies (such as the World Bank), combined with the pursuit of legitimacy by governments in many developing countries, have resulted in various western accounting and corporate governance mechanisms to be exported to the developing world. Accounting researchers have identified the inherent limits to what (western) governance systems can achieve, especially in certain (non-western) contexts, and have often termed these practices as ‘ritualistic’. Drawin ..read more

In this episode we will hear from Miki Shika, founder of Ekhaya Empowerment Community Interest Company and an entrepreneur with a passion for childcare, families and integration. Miki qualified as a Montessori directress (teacher) almost two decades ago and in that time has mastered her skills in childcare and community engagement with a specialised focus on children, working on the needs of pre-primary school aged children. She has managed nurseries and currently runs a childcare business. Miki originates from South Africa where her interests in education and child development were spurred. H ..read more

The Scale-Up Forum is a peer-to-peer network for ambitious scaling up businesses in Greater Manchester. It gives businesses at all stages of the scale up journey the opportunity to share experiences, challenges and lessons learnt for mutual business benefit. Launched in 2018, it provides a platform for businesses in the scale up phase to gain insight from their peers and from academic experts on challenges experienced by business growing at pace, whatever their sector. The Forum is managed and delivered by our Business Engagement and Knowledge Exchange team, who help to identify routes for mut ..read more

Audit in the UK is in transition, with major reform and increased regulation being planned by the Government and the Financial Reporting Council. This episode with ICEAW Manchester and Alliance MBS will give the business community the opportunity to feedback to the government and to comment on the proposed reforms. This episode will also look to highlight the areas where practising and business accountants and Directors can start to understand how to deal with the changes. There will be ample opportunity for the audience, both present and online, to question the panel and make constructive com ..read more