News and events

Read about the most recent activities from the Institute and find out more about our upcoming events, including our programme of seminars and workshops.

Cultural Change in the Construction Sector - The Building Safety Network
12 April 2024
Cultural Change in the Construction Sector - The Building Safety Network

Manchester resilience researchers awarded £4.2 million to help build a secure world
20 February 2024
Manchester’s researchers are on a mission to tackle some of the UK’s most challenging resilience and security problems.

The missing pieces of mental health first aid
9 February 2024
The missing pieces of mental health first aid - article by Sheena Johnson and Susannah Robertson-Hart recently featured in HR magazine.

Our work to assess ONR's safety culture is recognised by the International Atomic Energy Agency
1 February 2024
IRRS mission highlights progress in nuclear and radiation safety in the UK

Registration open: Thomas Ashton Institute Lecture 2024, with guest speaker Dr Ruth Boumphrey, CEO Lloyds Register Foundation
31 January 2024
Registration open: Thomas Ashton Institute Lecture 2024, with guest speaker Dr Ruth Boumphrey, CEO Lloyds Register Foundation

Workplace violence and aggression – employees on the frontline
31 January 2024
Workplace violence and aggression – employees on the frontline

AMBS and Thomas Ashton Institute completes major study of nuclear industry regulator
18 December 2023
A research team from Alliance Manchester Business School and the Thomas Ashton Institute at The University of Manchester has completed a major study assessing the culture at the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), the UK’s nuclear industry regulator.

Violence against workers increased during the pandemic – our research shows how it affected them.
20 September 2023
Violence against workers increased during the pandemic – our research shows how it affected them.

Watch this years Lane Lecture 2023: Convergent Junctions, with guest speaker Professor Ira Madan
1 November 2023
Watch this year's Lane Lecture 2023: Convergent Junctions, with guest speaker Professor Ira Madan

What were the lessons from Covid-19?
2 August 2023
Three years on from the height of the pandemic this podcast hosted by Alliance Manchester Business School explores the lessons learnt from Protect, a major UK government study into the transmission of the Covid-19 virus and the wider UK research programme around Covid-19.

Building relationships with the Office for Nuclear Regulation.
18 July 2023
The Ashton team welcomed members of the Office for Nuclear Regulation's Human and Organisational Capability Specialism group to The University of Manchester, to provide an overview of the work we do, and build new relationships.

The magic of international collaboration
7 July 2023
Read the final report from the team behind the Design for Safety in Construction project.

TAI researchers nominated for FBMH Brilliant Colleagues Award 2023
13 June 2023
TAI researchers nominated for FBMH Brilliant Colleagues Award 2023

Invitation to virtual workshop - Violence and Aggression in a Social Care Setting.
26 May 2023
Invitation to virtual workshop - Violence and aggression in a social care setting.

Watch this year's Thomas Ashton Institute's Annual Lecture: Work, Health, and Wellbeing, post pandemic, with guest speaker Professor Dame Carol Black
26 May 2023
Watch this year's Thomas Ashton Institute's Annual Lecture: Work, Health, and Wellbeing, post pandemic, with guest speaker Professor Dame Carol Black

A showcase of the diverse and innovative research happening in the Thomas Ashton Institute for Risk and Regulatory Research
6 March 2023
In May, Institute colleagues were able to share some of the diverse and innovative research happening in the Thomas Ashton Institute, at this years inaugural showcase day.

TAI researchers develop Safety Development Tool
11 May 2023
Our researchers have worked with Tended to support the creation of their Safety Development Tool. The development of the tool will enable organisations to improve their safety culture, and subsequently their safety performance.

Developing a virtual reality platform of construction safety training for higher education
13 February 2023
TAI hosts colleagues for a stimulating discussion on occupational safety, health and wellbeing research.

Clara Cheung is in the Top 50 Women in Engineering 2023
30 June 2023
Each year when choosing the theme for the Top 50 Women in Engineering Awards and International Women in Engineering Day, the Women's Engineering Society strive to ensure that it is as diverse and inspiring as possible.

Workshop to explore developing a British sustainable occupational exposure-control intelligence system
9 February 2023
TAI hosts a workshop to explore the practicalities of developing a British sustainable occupational exposure-control intelligence system.

Project visit to Malaysia
30 January 2023
Project visit to Malaysia

Keeping the UK Building Safely phase 2 report published
18 January 2023
This Keeping the UK Building Safely (KUBS) report is part of the PROTECT National Core study, and explores four themes

Seminar Series Feb - June 2023
20 January 2023
Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health - Seminar Series Feb - June 2023

Institute CO-Director awarded CBE in the King's New Years Honours list 2023
6 January 2023
Institute CO-Director awarded CBE in the King's New Years Honours list 2023

The man behind the Thomas Ashton Institute for Risk and Regulatory Research
3 November 2022
The launch of the Thomas Ashton Institute in 2017 signified a major acknowledgement of the importance in ensuring the safety and health of a rapidly changing workforce. But who was Thomas Ashton?

Successful Postgraduate Seminar on Construction Research
15 November 2022
Colleagues from the Design for Safety (DfS) in Construction project held a successful seminar on Construction Research, bringing together academics, researchers and students in the construction research community.

TAI colleagues meeting with GO-Science team
7 November 2022
The Government Office for Science have begun a six-month pilot working on the UoM campus.

TAI hosted recent meeting of the Hazards Forum
7 November 2022
TAI hosted recent meeting of the Hazards Forum

Watch again
14 October 2022
The Institute YouTube Channel has recordings of all our recent Lectures, seminars and showcases. Click the links to watch again.

Watch again: Lane Lecture 2022 - Have workplace studies had their day?, with Guest Speaker Professor Nicola Cherry
25 August 2022
Improving health and safety in the workplace – or the best management of occupational ill-health when it occurs – needs to be evidence based.

Violence and Aggression research network (VARN) update
16 September 2022
Violence and Aggression research network (VARN) update

Design for Safety in Construction (DfS) researchers visit Manchester
2 September 2022
Design for Safety in Construction (DfS) researchers visit Manchester

ONR Projects continuing
5 September 2022
The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) are committed to carrying out an assessment of its regulatory culture, and have engaged colleagues from the Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS) to carry out this task.

TAI Workshop Planning 2022/23
1 September 2022
The Thomas Ashton Institute for Risk and Regulatory Research has begun planning its workshop programme for academic year 2022/23.

Updates from the PROTECT National Core Study
11 September 2022
The PROTECT COVID-19 National Core Study on transmission and environment is a UK-wide research programme improving our understanding of how COVID-19 is transmitted, and how this varies in different settings and environments.

New TAI Deputy Director appointed
4 July 2022
Dr Richard Kirkham has been appointed as the UoM Deputy Director of the Institute.

TAI Core team move into Engineering Building A, the new home of engineering at The University of Manchester.
10 July 2022
From the 14th June 2022 you will be able to find the team in Core 1W on the 6th floor, at the Grosvenor Street end of the building.

TAI Researchers win RAMP Outreach Innovation Award
21 April 2022
TAI Researchers win RAMP Outreach Innovation Award to showcase how simulation modelling can be used to simulate COVID-19 transmission risk on a construction site.

Original Thinking Lecture - Sheena Johnson
20 April 2022
This Original Thinking Webinar will be hosted by Alliance Manchester Business School's Sheena Johnson who will discuss 'Research with impact: health and wellbeing, ageing workforce and Covid-19'.

Watch again: Removing the blinkers – why is it so difficult?, with Guest Speaker Dame Judith Hackitt.
6 April 2022
TAI lecture: Removing the blinkers – why is it so difficult?, with Guest Speaker Dame Judith Hackitt.

TAI Update
23 February 2022
Recent activity from the TAI

Report explores perceptions of COVID-19 virus transmission risk on public transport
23 February 2022
Report explores perceptions of COVID-19 virus transmission risk on public transport

Free online seminar 03/03/2022 - Food manufacturing: a high-risk environment for COVID-19 virus transmission?
23 February 2022
Free online seminar 03/03/2022 - Food manufacturing: a high-risk environment for COVID-19 virus transmission?

Colleagues from the Institute present work at first PROTECT COVID-19 Conference on transmission and environment
26 November 2021
Colleagues from the Institute present work at first PROTECT COVID-19 Conference on transmission and environment

Award Winning Research from the Institute
26 November 2021
Colleagues from the Thomas Ashton Institute for Risk and Regulatory Research were winners at the recent Construction Computing Awards.

Annual lane lecture: Long-COVID - should this be in the occupational disease fast lane? Dr Lesley Rushton
5 October 2021
Annual Lane Lecture: Long-COVID - should this be in the occupational disease fast lane?

New publications from the Thomas Ashton Institute for Risk and Regulation
17 September 2021
New publications from the Thomas Ashton Institute for Risk and Regulation

Keeping the UK building safely: PROTECT report examines sector’s COVID-19 response
8 September 2021
A report published today as part of the PROTECT COVID-19 National Core Study on transmission and environment assesses the UK construction sector’s efforts to build ‘COVID-secure’ workplaces

COVID-19 search system demonstrated by Professor Sophia Ananiadou, Director of the National Centre for Text Mining
10 June 2021
The search system aims to facilitate navigation of the scientific literature related to various aspects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Stressing so much that defects don't matter
1 June 2021
Wouldn’t it be marvellous to live in world where we knew that matter had a single strength so that response could be predicted precisely and damage could be avoided?

Webinar: How to build a resilient world post-pandemic
1 June 2021
COVID-19 has presented the most challenging healthcare and societal challenge in living memory. The pandemic has coincided with extreme environmental change leading to wild-fires, flooding and marine extinctions.

Inaugural Thomas Ashton Institute lecture - 21 April 2021
23 April 2021
First annual Thomas Ashton Institute lecture

Keeping the UK Building Safely - KUBS
9 February 2021
The Thomas Ashton Institute is working with stakeholders from the construction industry to deliver a scoping review and a proposal for a research programme that will build a bio secure construction sector.

Fire, explosion, flood and pestilence: how to build a resilient world post-pandemic
12 February 2021
Professor Neil Bourne, MACE, is presenting the first talk, hosted by the Institute of Physics, in a series from experts within the field of high strain-rate pressure phenomena.

HSE Health Science Framework
8 July 2020
The University of Manchester has been named as a preferred supplier for the HSE as part of its Health Science Framework.

Annual Lane Lecture 2020: Droplets and aerosols – the complex physics of respiratory disease transmission, Professor Cath Noakes
27 October 2020
Annual Lane Lecture 2020 Professor Cath Noakes, Droplets and aerosols – the complex physics of respiratory disease transmission

Thomas Ashton Covid-19 Response Group
8 July 2020
How the Thomas Ashton Institute has responded to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Award Winning Research from the Thomas Ashton Institute
26 May 2021
Bill Collinge, Karim Ibrahim, Mogjan Hadi Moselh, Patrick Manu and Clara Cheung won the buildingSMART International Award for Professional Research 2020, with their novel construction sector risk safety tool.

Publication highlights
30 June 2020
Publication highlights

Development of a new digital health and safety risk tool
8 July 2020
Dr Bill Collinge, has led the team (Dr Clara Cheung , Dr Mojgan Hadi Mosleh , Dr Patrick Manu, Dr Karim Ibrahim) on the Discovering Safety Programme Project BIM Safety Risk Library for Construction.

Thomas Ashton Institute awarded Health Science framework projects
26 May 2021
Researchers from the Thomas Ashton Institute have recently completed projects under a Health Science Framework.

Study to research role of delivery workers in preventing COVID-19 transmission
8 July 2020
Study to research role of delivery workers in preventing COVID-19 transmission

COVID-19 Secure and Biosafe Air Transport (COSBAT)
8 July 2020
COVID-19 Secure and Biosafe Air Transport (COSBAT) is a multi-university proposal with University of Cranfield and draws from expertise across the faculties at The University of Manchester, TAI and HSE.

Keeping the UK Working Safely (KUWS)
8 July 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed new risks in the workplace and severe challenges for particular sectors

Investigating the application of virtual technologies on safety training
8 July 2020
Investigating the application of virtual technologies on safety training

Jobs at The University of Manchester
30 June 2020
Research Associate - BIM Safety Risk Library for Construction

CDSD Conference Associated Chair - Dr Clara Cheung
30 June 2020
Dr Clara Cheung, theme lead for Safer Infrastructures will be the Associated Chair to organise the Construction Digitalisation for Sustainable Development (CDSD) 2020 Conference

ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering
30 June 2020
Dr Clara Cheung will be the guest Chief Editor of the ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering for a special issue entitled 'Leadership and Employee Well-being in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (A/E/C) industry'

Outstanding Book Award
30 June 2020
Taylor and Francis 2019 Outstanding Monograph Engineering Award Winner: Construction Health and Safety in Developing Countries

Integrity and Risk in Additively-Manufactured Components
9 March 2020
Additive manufacturing (AM) is set to revolutionise production chains and reduce costs across several industrial sectors including nuclear, oil and gas, power, petrochemical and medical devices.

TAI secures funds from Tyndall Centre for COMAH Project
17 March 2020
The institute has been able to secure funding from the prestigious Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.

Semantic annotation for improved safety in construction work
12 February 2020
First joint publication for text mining work - Semantic annotation for improved safety in construction work

Hydrogen, CCSU, Oil and Gas Seminar
19 December 2019
In early November, the institute hosted the first in a series of energy seminars.

Reducing Risks to Personnel during Integrity Management Interventions on Offshore Wind Energy Facilities
19 December 2019
Our recent workshop on Reducing Risks to Personnel during Integrity Management Interventions on Offshore Wind Energy Facilities was a great success with input from both academia and industry

Industrial application case scenario (risk, exposure, hazard related to graphene based materials)
19 December 2019
TAI Staff attend interactive workshop at the Graphene Engineering and Innovation Centre

Automation, Fatality and Human Ingenuity; Innovations with Fatal Consequences
23 September 2019
Automation, Fatality and Human Ingenuity; Innovations with Fatal Consequences

Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing
23 September 2019
The Institute has close links with Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing (MICRA).

Register for new SaRS Webinars
23 September 2019
The Safety and Reliability Society has produced a series of new webinars that are available now for registration - live webinars are open to members and non-members.

Stakeholder workshop on health and safety performance in the cement industry
5 September 2019
The Hazards in Cement Industries workshop focused on discussing health and safety data in Nigeria and the UK and sharing good practice.

Discovering Safety Launch
26 June 2019
The official launch of the ambitious Discovering Safety programme was held on the 26 June 2019 at Lloyd’s Register building in London.

TAI hosts professional drivers workshop on sleep disturbance and shift work
5 June 2019
The workshop brought together experts to explore opportunities for innovation in data collection, data analysis and data insights.

Thomas Ashton Institute to host 2018 Lane Lecture and Symposium
31 October 2018
Registration is now open for the 2018 Lane Lecture and Symposium, which will focus on occupational health and takes place on Tuesday 6 November.

Thomas Ashton Institute hosts safer structures workshop
19 June 2018
The workshop helped identify opportunities for the Institute to make a difference with leading research.

Occupational health reporting and surveillance event hosted by Thomas Ashton Institute
4 April 2018
The workshop brought together experts to explore opportunities for innovation in data collection, data analysis and data insights.