Empowering leaders, transforming education – a new innovative model

Centre for Learning Enhancement and Educational Development

The Innovation Scholar Scheme is a sector leading People & Organisational Development initiative that has transformed how Manchester Met delivers strategic educational change.

Launched in 2023, the scheme empowers academic and Professional Services colleagues to lead major institutional priorities through a unique distributed leadership model. Scholars drive innovation across active learning, belonging, differential outcomes, digital capability, enterprise education and learner analytics - creating sustained, systemwide impact.

Now one of the University’s most vibrant and high impact development programmes, the scheme has built cross university Communities of Practice involving more than 1,000 staff, developed institution specific pedagogic and belonging frameworks, and delivered award-winning interventions including STRIVE, implementation of RIPIAG and a Belonging framework. These initiatives have contributed to measurable improvements in student outcomes, including reductions in awarding gaps and increases in progression and confidence.

The scheme has also strengthened organisational capability, enhancing leadership, collaboration and data-informed practice while attracting national and international recognition. Scholars have secured prestigious sector awards, influenced national conversations on distributed leadership, and been featured in forthcoming academic publications.

By placing staff leadership at the heart of educational transformation, the Innovation Scholar Scheme positions Manchester Met as a pioneer in inclusive, innovative and evidence-informed education.

Leading and Managing at DMU – Embedding A Refreshed Approach to Empowering Excellence

People Services Team

How we launched a new leadership and management framework, setting clear expectations of roles and behaviours, linked to pay and performance management, as part of our ambition to be an Empowering University.

Our approach involved the co-creation and design of a leadership and management framework which included three elements - a suite of leadership and management standards and behaviours linked to our organisational strategy, vision and values; reviewing our organisation design for leadership and managerial roles, creating a new job evaluation process and rolling out a new pay and grading scheme; the launch of a novel appraisal and performance management process.

Co-owned and led by People Services and senior stakeholders, the framework was launched in a holistic way to enable a refreshed approach to empowering excellence.

The framework has been aligned with the leadership lifecycle and core people processes such as recruitment, induction, probation, performance management, development and progression.

Professional Services Leaders of Colour Programme

Equality Diversity and Inclusion Team

The Professional Services Leaders of Colour (PSLC) Programme is first-of-its-kind and sector leading pilot designed by and for racially minoritised senior Professional Services staff across five regional universities and a Students’ Union. Coordinated by the University of Birmingham’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Centre, the programme addressed longstanding gaps in leadership development, representation, and peer support for racially minoritised staff within Higher Education. Across five full day sessions held over eleven months, participants explored themes they cocreated—including navigating organisational politics, recognising strengths, responding to microaggressions, shaping personal brand, and understanding how race and identity influence senior roles. The programme brought in high impact external speakers and created an intentionally inclusive, identity affirming space.

Evaluation showed significant improvements in confidence, sense of belonging, career clarity, and ability to handle challenging workplace situations. Participants consistently highlighted the value of the peer network formed through the programme. The pilot demonstrated the need for ongoing, collaborative, and regional approaches to developing racially minoritised leaders. Future plans include an alumni network, wider sector expansion, third-party partnerships, and more structured institutional support to strengthen both personal development and systemic change.

Purple Place: a new home for Benefits and Recognition

Reward Team

Purple Place represents the University of Manchester’s biggest investment in reward, benefits and recognition, bringing meaningful and measurable improvements to the colleague experience. Developed in response to fragmented benefits provision and a lack of instant, peer‑to‑peer recognition, the platform centralises everything into a single, modern and intuitive hub designed to support over 12,000 colleagues across diverse roles and locations. Since launch, Purple Place has transformed engagement—achieving a 421% increase in activations, over £2.5 million spent through the platform, and more than 8,500 eCards sent, demonstrating a significant cultural shift towards everyday appreciation.

The project has also enabled the introduction of long‑requested initiatives such as the fully electric vehicle scheme, reflecting the University’s commitment to social responsibility and sustainability. Cross‑department collaboration has been a hallmark of the work, with teams such as Wellbeing and Alumni Relations partnering to deliver financial wellbeing campaigns, payroll giving initiatives and multi‑channel communications that have broadened reach and impact.

Purple Place not only enhances everyday colleague experience but sets a strong foundation for future innovation. It is a model of how thoughtful design, creativity and collaboration can reshape reward and recognition at a university‑wide scale.

UCL Mental Health Training for Student-Facing Staff

Workplace Health (Wellbeing)

Supporting the supporters: Mental Health Training for Student-Facing Staff is a strategic mental health training initiative designed to enhance staff wellbeing while improving the student experience. Developed in response to rising student mental health needs, the programme was co-designed with staff and rapidly adopted across the institution.

Within three months, more than 500 staff enrolled. Evaluation using matched pre- and post-training data (N = 218) demonstrated statistically significant improvements across all measures, including a 27% increase in knowledge of referral processes and a 22% increase in confidence initiating wellbeing conversations.

By reframing mental health training as a preventative staff wellbeing intervention, the programme reduces emotional strain, strengthens safeguarding consistency, and builds institutional resilience. It demonstrates how HR-led innovation can deliver
measurable improvements in staff capability, organisational performance, and sustainable student support at scale.

One Aston Thrive: Employee Experience Platform

Human Resources and Organisational Development Department

One Aston Thrive is Aston University’s unified digital platform that brings together appreciation tools, financial benefits, wellbeing resources, and community content in one accessible, mobile‑friendly place. Launched in October 2025 to replace a previously fragmented experience, it ensures that colleagues across all roles, including those without regular computer access, can easily find support and information when they need it.

A targeted adoption plan, regular communication and strong senior sponsorship, including active involvement from the Vice‑Chancellor, enabled the platform to exceed its early goals, achieving over 80% activation within four months. Automated daily HRIS updates ensure new starters receive timely access, improving onboarding and reducing manual processing.

Engagement has been strong and meaningful. In the first four months, colleagues sent nearly 400 e‑cards, accessed wellbeing resources consistently, and made extensive use of financial benefits. SmartSpending and high‑value schemes generated more than £10k in colleague savings, while salary sacrifice benefits delivered £136.9k in employee savings. In addition, the University realised over £59k in employer NI savings, highlighting the platform’s value for both colleagues and the institution.

Analytics guide evidence‑based improvements, ensuring the platform evolves in line with colleague needs.

Designed around the principles of inclusivity, transparency, and trust, and supported by mobile accessibility, robust data governance, and an opt‑out mechanism, One Aston Thrive strengthens a culture of appreciation, wellbeing, community belonging, and improved access to benefits. It now stands as a flagship element of Aston University’s Great Place to Work ambition and serves as a scalable model for the wider sector.

Transforming Lives Together: Creating a great place to work

People and Organisational Development

Over the past 18 months, Manchester Metropolitan University’s People and Organisational Development Directorate has delivered a comprehensive transformation programme that has reshaped the colleague experience and embedded lasting cultural change. Anchored in the Great Place to Work and Inclusive & Diverse Culture strategies, the work spans every stage of the employee lifecycle—from attraction and development to wellbeing, ways of working and inclusion.

A sector leading Employee Value Proposition, Transforming Lives Together, has strengthened the University’s employer identity and contributed to year-on-year increases in senior academic appointments and a rise in candidates citing the institution’s reputation and values as reasons for joining. 

New benefits, fairer recognition schemes and modernised systems, including McrMet Plus and Oracle, have enhanced transparency and user experience. 

Leadership development, inclusive recruitment, distributed education leadership and a revitalised engagement model have driven measurable improvements in internal progression, trust and organisational resilience.

The University now has higher-than-sector representation and disclosure rates, reduced pay gaps, award-winning networks and two consecutive Outstanding Workplace awards.

Together, these initiatives demonstrate a holistic, innovative and data driven approach that other institutions can readily adopt to create meaningful, sustainable change.

Angela Carter

Angela is an exceptional HR professional whose technical expertise, compassionate leadership and remarkable resilience make her a true HR Star. She has led complex, sector leading pension changes with clarity, care and integrity, earning widespread trust across the university. Her ability to navigate complexity with calm professionalism is deeply valued.

Beyond her professional achievements, Angela has undertaken significant charity challenges, including completing a 50 mile walk in 24 hours in memory of her husband. She has also supported charities that have cared for her son during major health issues. She approaches these commitments with humility, strength and determination, which are qualities that also define her work.

Angela embodies our institutional values and consistently lives our behaviours: she listens, supports, respects, builds trust and approaches challenges with optimism and ambition. She is a colleague others turn to for advice, clarity and encouragement, contributing to a positive, high performing and people centred HR culture.

Angela delivers exceptional work with warmth and professionalism. She shapes not only what we achieve, but how we work together. She is, in every sense, a true HR Star.