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There has been limited research on why football clubs contribute to charity. This paper examines how football clubs and their charitable conduits report information when discussing their connectedness. In addition, it explores reasons why, and the extent to which, football clubs support altruism via such charitable vehicles.

Case studies of four major football teams (Manchester City/Manchester United in England and AC Milan/Inter Milan in Italy) are discussed, with formal reports of the clubs and their associated charitable conduits being analysed.

Boundaries between the clubs and their charitable conduits are frequently blurred. Evidence suggests that acknowledging the co-existence of different factors may help to understand what is reported by these organisations and address some of the caveats in terms of autonomy and probity of their activities and reporting practices.

The research uses case studies of four major ‘powerhouses’ of the game and their associated charitable spinoffs. While this is innovative and novel, expanding the research to investigate more clubs and their charitable endeavours would allow greater generalisations.

The study provides material that can be used to reflect on the very topical subject of ‘sportswashing’. This has the potential to input to deliberations relating to the future governance of the game.

The paper explores relationships between businesses and charities/nonprofits in a sector so far little investigated from a charitable accountability perspective. It suggests that motives for engaging in charitable activity and highlighting such engagement may extend beyond normal altruism or warm-glow emotions.

This paper aims to explore what impact the recent economic recession and ongoing economic difficulties experienced in the UK might have on crime in Greater Manchester.

In this paper, we summarise existing literature on the relationship between crime trends and economic trends. Then, drawing on data on crime, the economy and other relevant socio‐demographic trends in Greater Manchester some broad conclusions are drawn about likely crime trends in Greater Manchester over the coming years.

The paper concludes that recent reductions in crime might not be sustained, with crime rates in Manchester City's most vulnerable council area levelling out or even rising. This is particularly likely of the rate of violent crime.

This work is part of an ongoing project based at Manchester Metropolitan University to predict future crime trends in Greater Manchester.

This paper will be of value to police forces and local authorities, principally when conducting their strategic assessments.

In 2005 Manchester United was taken over by US businessman Malcolm Glazer, in part because of the club's brand name prominence in the global sport of soccer. This paper examines how Manchester United rose to a pre-eminent position in world football through its on-field performances and its off-the-field management strategies. It shows how the club took its storied history into world markets to take full advantage of globalisation, the opportunities extended through the English Premier League's reputation and developments in global media technologies. Astute management of club resources is identified as the major factor in global brand management.

Manchester's older residents together with statutory, voluntary and independent agencies are leading the development of partnership work and supporting varied initiatives to improve elders' quality of life in Manchester. They aim to tackle the city's health and other inequalities and address specific challenges of growing older in deprived urban areas. Manchester Valuing Older People last year published its ageing strategy and the city has now joined the global network of age‐friendly cities. This paper describes progress and some of the current issues and opportunities.

This piece of work reports on the initial findings of ongoing research conducted at the Victoria University of Manchester UK, aiming at categorizing the city‐region’s different forms of knowledge capital. Using a global knowledge‐based development (KBD) model as an instrument, information about recent urban regeneration and development experiences in its inner city and beyond have been collected, identified and analyzed. Such research is aiming to establish Manchester’s potential to become a knowledge city. In this aim, the current research paper will report first on a review of the theoretical background behind the concepts of the knowledge city (KC) and KBD, which have been the catalysts to a systematic account of facts and figures of urban regeneration developments within Manchester. The review will be followed by the narrative of KDB observations on the continuous flow of creation and renovation initiatives; with observations on outcomes that can be traced out through Manchester’s cumulated and diversified capital repositories and agents. Such flow is presented through the eyes of the different actors involved (authorities, researchers, and partnership organizations), whose voices are present in the diverse capital landmarks of the city. The global knowledge‐based model used has served as a comprehensive framework for consistent, systematic gathering of primary data on capital systems for a deeply contextualized case study. It has facilitated powerful inter‐relational capabilities for researchers’ insights on the city‐region’s potential knowledge capital. It has also provided the platform for systematic identification of socio‐economic issues beyond level one. In the case of Manchester, the model helped interrelating concerns about social inclusion, access, and skills for sustainable development. They were also re‐positioned to their true dimensions as the KBD model has assisted research with the systematic identification of the (knowledge capital) roles that city‐region actors (k‐agents and k‐repositories) are playing, and the solutions they are bringing to those concerns and beyond. Most of all, the KBD model facilitated multiple insights into how global challenges are finding local solutions. And Manchester’s case is undoubtedly filling a gap in the recent literature of knowledge cities. This contribution, amongst many others, is aiming to trigger further debate through a rainbow of contrasting points of view about what KBD has meant for the city‐region of Manchester. It is also hoped that a renewed interest in capital systems research and its social policy implications in and about the city would be triggered as well.

This study aimed to address three key gaps in existing knowledge about postgraduate researchers’ (PGRs) well-being. It investigated 1) the frequency and nature of depression, anxiety and well-being amongst PGRs, and relatedly, characteristics that convey vulnerability, 2) factors that impact PGR well-being, and 3) factors that influence help-seeking.

The mixed-methods design comprised quantitative and qualitative approaches. Using opportunity sampling, 585 PGRs registered at a large UK University completed an online survey. The perspectives of a purposive sample of academic and Professional Services staff (n = 61) involved in supporting PGRs were sought through in-depth focus groups and semi-structured interviews, which were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using inductive thematic analysis.

PGRs scored lower on measures of well-being and higher on measures of anxiety and depression than aged-matched groups in the general population. PGR well-being was positively affected by personal and professional relationships, and negatively affected by academic challenges and mental health problems. Academic supervisors were the primary source of support for students experiencing well-being difficulties. Thematic analysis revealed four domains that impact upon PGR well-being: postgraduate researcher identity; pressures and expectations of postgraduate research; complexity of the supervisor role; and pinch points in postgraduate research. Each domain had associations with help-seeking behaviours.

This study provides evidence that the PGR experience is perceived to be distinct from that of other students, and this helps understand sources of stress and barriers to help-seeking. It provides a steer as to how higher education institutions could better support the PGR learning experience.

Developing technological innovations in healthcare is made complex and difficult due to effects upon the practices of professional, managerial and other stakeholders. Drawing upon the concept of boundary object, this paper explores the challenges of achieving effective collaboration in the development and use of a novel healthcare innovation in the English healthcare system.

A case study is presented of the development and implementation of a smart phone application (app) for use by rheumatoid arthritis patients. Over a two-year period (2015–2017), qualitative data from recorded clinical consultations (n = 17), semi-structured interviews (n = 63) and two focus groups (n = 13) were obtained from participants involved in the app's development and use (clinicians, patients, researchers, practitioners, IT specialists and managers).

The case focuses on the use of the app and its outputs as a system of inter-connected boundary objects. The analysis highlights the challenges overcome in the innovation's development and how knowledge sharing between patients and clinicians was enhanced, altering the nature of the clinical consultation. It also shows how conditions surrounding the innovation both enabled its development and inhibited its wider scale-up.

By recognizing that technological artefacts can simultaneously enable and inhibit collaboration, this paper highlights the need to overcome tensions between the transformative capability of such healthcare innovations and the inhibiting effects simultaneously created on change at a wider system level.

The Village model, most extensively developed in the USA, is an innovative response to ageing populations and older adults who wish to remain living independently within their community. The “Urban Villages” participatory action research study aimed to test the potential of the Village model to work with groups of older adults in two economically deprived, inner-city neighbourhoods in Manchester, UK.

Participatory methods were used to work with residents to, first, adapt the Village model to the Manchester setting, and second, to develop and deliver community projects that supported ageing in place. The study aimed to involve marginalised individuals and groups in the co-design, leadership and implementation of the projects. Ethnographic methods were applied to observe and reflect on the development of “Urban Villages”. Interviews and focus groups were organised to gather the views of the residents involved in the community projects.

Residents were supported to develop and test seven projects, all aimed at reducing social isolation and supporting ageing in place. The study provides new insights into challenges related to co-production with older people in deprived neighbourhoods. These challenges are presented under the following headings: individual capacity and expectations; collective capacity including communication and knowledge; and the capacity of place.

To date, only a limited amount of literature is available showing how co-production with older adults can be realised when working with marginalised groups and deprived communities. The paper explores the potential of participatory approaches to develop age-friendly initiatives through strengthening the capacity of older adults to age in place.

This paper aims to present a set of strategic options for Research and Innovation (R&I) stakeholders in the light of new and emerging ways of organising and performing research.

The paper first reviews the evolution of the R&I landscape and identifies the most influential stakeholders engaged in R&I. In the light of the scenarios developed for the year 2030, a set of strategic options are identified and assessed for each stakeholder group.

R&I systems are now more complex than 50 years ago and will be even more in the future. Radical changes are expected in terms of the ways research is funded, organised and carried out. Some of these transformations are captured by the scenarios developed. The analysis of scenarios indicated that their feasibility and desirability differ across different sectors of industry, and research areas within the research landscape.

Scenarios and strategies presented in the paper bring new considerations on the way research activities are practiced. Further research is considered to be useful on the new modes of research and implications for academia, industry, society and policy makers.

The discussion around the responses of different stakeholders vis-à-vis specific scenarios about the future in R&I practices and organisation gives a practical view about how to deal with associated emerging trends and issues.

Society is a crucial stakeholder of all R&I activities. The transformative scenarios suggest that society will not only be playing a reactive role on the demand side but also more proactive role on the supply side in the decades to come.

The paper is based on work undertaken within the Research and Innovation (RIF) 2030 project. As R&I activities will be important for the development and competitiveness of the EU and its member states, the work presented here is considered to be of value by highlighting how to create more resilient strategies in a fast-changing R&I landscape.

This paper aims to explore the social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on issues facing older people living in urban areas characterised by multiple deprivation.

The paper first reviews the role of place and neighbourhood in later life; second, it examines the relationship between neighbourhood deprivation and the impact of COVID-19; and, third, it outlines the basis for an “age-friendly” recovery strategy.

The paper argues that COVID-19 is having a disproportionate impact on low-income communities, which have already been affected by cuts to public services, the loss of social infrastructure and pressures on the voluntary sector. It highlights the need for community-based interventions to be developed as an essential part of future policies designed to tackle the effects of COVID-19.

The paper contributes to debates about developing COVID-19 recovery strategies in the context of growing inequalities affecting urban neighbourhoods.