Vision and strategic priorities

Our core agenda is revitalising and rehabilitating political economy as a field of study.

We're aiming to achieve this by developing a distinctive cross-disciplinary approach to the study of political economy and fostering innovative research into key issues of contemporary global concern.

Cross-disciplinary research

We're bringing together expertise from across the University, including the School of Social Sciences, School of Environment, Education and Development and the Alliance Manchester Business School, as well as from the School of Law and the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures.

By consolidating the considerable strength that exists in political economy, we aim to develop an institute of international standing in research and teaching. This builds on a long and highly distinguished tradition of political economy at the University. A chair of political economy was first established here in 1854, and the University boasts a history that features an array of distinguished political economists, including John Jewkes, Michael Polanyi, Sir Arthur Lewis and W.S. Jevons.

Benefiting from these strong foundations, our efforts include:

• a strong and exciting research and publishing agenda;
• events and activities designed to further collaborative and individual research projects reaching across traditional disciplinary boundaries; and
• the development of a strong and vigorous international network of individuals and institutions in order to facilitate collaborative research activities.