Manchester–Melbourne–Toronto (MMT) Research Fund
The MMT Research Fund was the first major initiative of our new trilateral alliance and is open to applications from all research areas.
In recognition of strong bilateral partnerships between the universities of Manchester, Melbourne and Toronto, the three institutions formed a trilateral alliance in 2021.
The alliance aims to facilitate further collaboration between the three partners, drawing on joint expertise and resources.
Funding
The 2024 call has now closed. Details on any further calls will be added here.
Staff can sign up for the international partnerships newsletter to be notified when new calls are announced.
Awarded Projects
Awarded projects from the Manchester–Melbourne–Toronto and the previous bilateral Manchester–Melbourne and Manchester–Toronto funds from the last few years can be viewed below.
Manchester–Melbourne–Toronto
Manchester lead |
Melbourne lead |
Toronto lead |
Faculty (UoM) |
School (UoM) |
Title of the research project |
Dr Guy Baldwin | Dr Jayani Nadarajalingam | Dr Andrew McDougall | HUMs | School of Social Sciences | Ensuring constitutional accountability in the UK, Australia and Canada |
Prof Patrick Cai | Prof Mike Tyers | FSE | School of Natural Sciences | Genetic tools for rapid assembly of biosensors in saccharomyces boulardii | |
Dr Jiaoyan Chen | Prof Jia Xue | FSE | School of Engineering | AI-driven solutions for child protection: utilising LLMs and knowledge graph | |
Dr Xiaoxiao Cheng | Dr Jonathan Eden | Prof Hugh Liu | FSE | School of Engineering | Model-guided data-driven techniques for collaborative robot-human applications in complex environments |
Dr Joan Chang | Dr Brooke Farrugia | FBMH | School of Biological Sciences | How do immune cell-derived proteoglycans regulate collagen deposition? | |
Dr Natalia Espinoza-Sepulveda | Dr Shang Gao | Dr Daeho Kim | FSE | School of Engineering | Advancing health-safety sustainability in construction demolition network (MMT-HSS network) |
Prof Joseph Firth | Dr Kate Filia | Professor Catherine Sabiston | FBMH | School of Health Sciences | Exercise programs for mental health: improving access and scalability |
Dr Keith Jensen | Prof Kang Lee | FBMH |
School of Health Sciences |
Deception in human and non-human primates | |
Dr Alexander Oldroyd | Dr Ophir Vinik | FBMH | School of Biological Sciences | Establishing international prospective data collection on cancer screening in myositis | |
Dr Emma Stanmore | Dr Mahima Kalla | Dr Lisa Wickerson | FBMH | School of Health Sciences | Advancing research partnerships in digital health technology, rehabilitation and aging |
Dr Matthew Wells | Dr Aleksandr Bierig | HUMs |
School of Environment, Education and Development |
The architect as economist | |
Dr Xiaomin Xu | Dr Yifa Wang | FSE | School of Engineering | Enhancing floating wind turbine mooring |
Manchester lead |
Melbourne lead |
Toronto lead |
Faculty (UoM) |
School (UoM) |
Title of the research project |
Dr Claudia E Henninger | A/Prof Suzie Reichman | Professor Heather MacLean | FSE | School of Natural Sciences | Molly Fish-ing Microfibre-pollution, legacy and future investigations through engaging stakeholders |
Dr Wei Zheng | Dr Jue Wang | HUMS | School of Environment, Education and Development | Characterising spatial inequality of obesity and the underlying obesogenic environment | |
Prof Jens Chluba | A/Prof Christian Reichardt | Prof Adam Hincks | FSE | School of Natural Sciences | Cosmic gas in the Universe’s largest structures |
Professor Sophia Ananiadou | Prof Eduard Hovy | FSE | School of Engineering | Misinformation in health in the era of ChatGPT | |
Dr Zhonghua Zheng | Prof Arthur Chan | FSE | School of Natural Sciences | Deciphering airborne nanoplastic patterns: lab analytics merged with machine learning | |
Prof Dawn Dowding | Dr Sophie Jones | Dr Jennifer Stinson | FBMH | School of Health Sciences | Standards for reporting and auditing children’s pain in EHRs |
Dr Alissa Ferry | Dr Monika Molnar | FBMH | School of Health Sciences | Neural measures of speech segmentation in diverse populations | |
Prof Graeme Black | A/Prof Lauren Ayton | Prof Elise Heon | FBMH |
School of Medical Sciences |
Improving care for children with inherited retinal diseases |
Prof Stephen Hutchings | Dr Dara Conduit | Dr Kenzie Burchell | HUMS | School of Arts, Languages and Cultures | Beyond disinformation: Assessing digital communications strategies of hybrid neo-authoritarian empires |
Prof James Thompson | Prof Kathleen Gallagher | HUMS | School of Arts, Languages and Cultures | THRIVE: Fostering urban social and creative thriving through the Arts | |
Dr Jose Ricardo Aguilar Cosme | Dr Rachael Moses | FSE |
School of Engineering |
Exploring capacitive electrostimulation for improving dental implant osseointegration | |
Dr Lujia Chen | Prof Jason Monty | FSE | School of Engineering | Improving reliability of dynamic cable for floating offshore applications |
Manchester lead |
Melbourne lead |
Toronto lead |
Faculty (UoM) |
School (UoM) |
Title of the research project |
Dr Wendy Thompson | Dr Leanne Teoh | Dr Sonica Singhal | FBMH | School of Medical Sciences | Dental antibiotic stewardship: development of a sustainable and adaptable approach |
Dr Ian Mell | Dr Marie Dade | Prof Tenley Conway | FHUMS | School of Environment, Education and Development | Valuing the benefits that people perceive from their urban forests |
Dr Jo Mylan | A/Prof Jane Dyson | Prof Tania Li | FHUMS | School of Social Sciences | University student food insecurity: towards a shared, multinational research agenda |
Prof Martie van Tongeren | Dr Tania King | Dr Peter Smith | FBMH | School of Health Sciences | Understanding and addressing long COVID impacts on work participation |
Dr Abigail Gilmore | Dr Christiaan de Beukelaer | Prof Deborah Leslie | FHUMS | School of Arts, Languages and Cultures | Beyond the creative city: new interdisciplinary topographies for creative placemaking |
Dr Yi Jin | Dr Laura Burchill | FSE | School of Natural Sciences | Missing links in global sulfur metabolism | |
Dr Abi Stone | Dr Jan-Hendrick May | FHUMS | School of Environment, Education and Development | A southern-hemisphere perspective on human-environment relations along desert margins | |
Dr Jenna Mittelmeier | Dr Samantha Marangell | FHUMS | School of Environment, Education and Development | Spaces of global higher education: exploring the purpose of 'campus' | |
Dr Viktor Schlegel | Dr Daniel Beck | FSE | School of Engineering | Robust natural language processing for healthcare | |
Dr Bahar Koymen | Dr Samuel Ronfard | FBMH | School of Health Sciences | A cross-linguistic approach to children's social learning and listening | |
Dr Yawei Zhao | Dr Zachary Hyde | FHUMS | School of Environment, Education and Development | Making rent: generational inequality and the housing crisis | |
Dr Pauline Whelan | Dr Lindsay Jibb | FBMH | School of Health Sciences | Transforming health self-management: building a trans-Atlantic digital intervention co-design lab | |
Dr Byron Bitanihirwe | Prof Stephen Matthews | FHUMS | School of Arts, Languages and Cultures | Implications of antenatal corticosteroid exposure on neurocognitive outcomes in offspring |
Manchester–Melbourne
Manchester lead |
Melbourne lead |
Faculty (UoM) |
School (UoM) |
Title of the research project |
Dr Elvira Uyarra | Dr Kathryn Davidson | HUMS | Alliance Manchester Business School | Innovation districts: embedding societal missions into new urban models |
Dr Richard Allmendinger | Dr Hadi Khorshidi | HUMS | Alliance Manchester Business School | FinTech and financial crimes: methods, applications, and regulations |
Dr Ali Bhagat | Dr Melissa Johnston | HUMS | School of Social Sciences | Debt, financial inclusions and intersections in (post) COVID-19 |
Prof Radha Boya | Dr Nikolai Dontschuk | FSE | School of Natural Sciences | Investigation of novel 2D-magnetic materials with quantum diamond microscopy |
Dr Natalie Cook | Associate Prof Richard Tothill | FBMH | School of Medical Sciences | Elucidating Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP) through molecular classification |
Prof Sarah Cartmell | Dr Vini Gautam | FSE | School of Natural Sciences | Nanowire scaffolds for neural and bone tissue engineering |
Dr Lin Ma | Dr Januka Attanayake | FSE | School of Engineering | Bridging micro-to macro-scale characterisation of subsurface energy storage |
Dr Farshad Arvin | Dr Simon Baxter | FSE |
School of Engineering |
Combining engineering and ecology to transform insect surveillance capabilities |
Dr Ahu Gumrah Dumanli-Parry | Dr Devi Stuart-Fox | FSE | School of Natural Sciences | Bioinspired structurally coloured responsive pigments |
Dr Jonathan Worboys | Dr Philippa Saunders | FBMH | School of Biological Sciences | Ligand density dictates the activation/inhibition threshold of immune cells |
Manchester lead |
Melbourne lead |
Faculty (UoM) |
School (UoM) |
Title of the research project |
Dr Simona Giordano | Prof Lynn Gillam | HUMS | School of Social Sciences | Gender diverse adolescents: a Manchester – Melbourne collaborative research |
Prof Edward Johnstone | Dr Clare Whitehead | FBMH | School of Medical Sciences | Developing novel biomarkers and therapeutics for pregnancy complications |
Dr András Vörös | Dr Johan Koskinen | HUMS | School of Social Sciences | Developing statistical models for social influence in large-scale educational networks |
Prof Kevin Ward | Professor Michele Acuto | HUMS | School of Environment, Education and Development | Financing and governing urban mobility infrastructures in an uncertain world |
Prof Pei Sun | Associate Professor Helen Hu | HUMS | Alliance Manchester Business School | Understanding governance and internationalisation of Asian multinationals |
Dr Patrick Manu | Dr Shang Gao | FSE | School of Engineering /Department of Mechanical Aerospace and Civil Engineering | Industry 4.0 for construction occupational safety and health (Con-OSH 4.0) |
Dr Meghan Tinsley | Prof Barry Judd | HUMS | School of Social Sciences | After repatriation: new approaches to indigenising the Museum |
Prof Mark Travis | Prof Laura Mackay | FBMH | School of Biological Sciences | Determining novel pathways regulating memory T cell formation and function |
Prof Jonathan Green | Dr Mirko Uljarevic | FBMH | School of Biological Sciences | Leveraging international autism trial datasets to understand children’s social-communicative development |
Manchester–Toronto
Manchester lead |
Toronto lead |
Faculty (UoM) |
School (UoM) |
Title of the research project |
Prof Robert Bristow | Prof Marianne Koritzinsky | FBMH | School of Medical Sciences | Tumour heterogeneity and the microenvironment: Tracking and exploiting vulnerabilities |
Dr Andrew Whitworth | Dr Marlene Scardamalia | HUMS | School of Environment, Education and Development | Knowledge building in digital collaborative Assessment environments |
Dr Ali Bhagat | Dr Melissa Johnston | HUMS | School of Social Sciences | Debt, financial inclusions and intersections in (post) COVID-19 |
Prof Sarah Haigh | Prof Tobin Filleter | FSE | School of Natural Sciences | In-situ TEM fatigue characterisation of two-dimensional materials |
Dr Peter Gallimore | Prof Jonathan Abbatt | FSE | School of Natural Sciences | Understanding the health and climate impacts of particles from wildfires |
Prof Frank Boons | Dr Jayeeta Sharma | HUMS | Alliance Manchester Business School | Urban food security and sustainability in times of crisis |
Prof Tao Wang | Prof Craig Simmons | FBMH | School of Biological Sciences | Microfluidic iPSC-based modelling of genetic neurovascular diseases |
Dr Alex Casson | Dr Milad Lankarany | FSE |
School of Engineering |
Transforming deep brain stimulation, combining invasive and non-invasive brain sensors |
Prof Richard Bardgett | Prof Marc Cadotte | FSE | School of Natural Sciences | Assessing the impact of anthropogenic urban stressors on soil biodiversity |
Prof Clare Mills | Prof Thomas Eiwegger | FBMH | School of Biological Sciences | Food allergy: from populations and cells to molecules and mechanisms |
Prof John Ainsworth | Dr Quynh Pham | FBMH | School of Health Sciences | An innovation pipeline to advance digital health and therapeutics |
Dr Graeme Donald | Dr Kelly O'Brien | FBMH | School of Health Sciences | Advancing physical and mental health outcomes in HIV and ageing |
Manchester lead |
Toronto lead |
Faculty (UoM) |
School (UoM) |
Title of the research project |
Dr Anne Hyland | Prof Steven Vande Moortele | HUMS | School of Arts, Languages and Cultures | Towards a micro-theory of romantic form in Viennese music, 1815–28 |
Prof Simon Hubbard | Prof Walid Houry | FBMH | School of Biological Sciences | Investigating the role of molecular chaperones in viral replication |
Dr Paul Armstrong | Dr Carol Campbell | HUMS | School of Environment, Education, Development | Schooling in the COVID-19 era: Experiences from Manchester and Toronto |
Prof Matthew Paterson | Prof Matthew Hoffmann | HUMS | School of Social Sciences | Climate change governance and decarbonisation pathways |
Dr Emma Gowen | Prof Timothy Welsh | FBMH | School of Biological Sciences | Interconnected action execution-imagination-perception in adults with and without autism |
Prof Richard Edmondson | Dr Marcus Butler | FBMH | School of Medical Sciences | Building collaborations in Adoptive Cell Therapy (ACT) |
Dr Marco Domingos | Dr Naomi Matsuura | FSE | School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering | Bioengineered Intervertebral Disc (IVD) tissue implants: A multimodal approach |
Prof Joseph Lampel | Prof Joel Baum | HUMS | Alliance Manchester Business School | Coevolutionary dynamics of metrics regimes and organisational and institutional fields |
Prof Grace Burke | Prof Jane Howe | FSE | Department of Materials | In situ characterisation of helium nanocavities in alloy during heating |
Prof Martin Humphries | Dr Sergey Plotnikov | FBMH | School of Biological Sciences | Challenging the dogma: Regulation of cell migration by calcium signaling |
Dr Meera Mehta | Prof Douglas Stephan | FSE | School of Chemistry | Ionic pair activation of small molecules using zintl clusters |
Dr Kostas Arvanitis | Dr Cara Krmpotich | HUMS | School of Arts, Languages and Cultures | Equity, empathy, and ethics in digital heritage practice and research |
Further information
If you have any questions that aren’t covered by the guidelines, please get in touch with the relevant contact at your institution:
The University of Manchester
Helen Lusty, International Relations
E: international.partnerships@manchester.ac.uk
The University of Melbourne
Researcher Development Schemes team
E: res-devschemes@unimelb.edu.au
The University of Toronto
Rikki Zhao, Director, Partnerships Office